Marriott opens hotel in Kathmandu

KATHMANDU, 7 June 2017: Marriott International marks its entry into Nepal’s hotel market with the opening of the Fairfield by Marriott.

Fairfield by Marriott has close to 850 hotels around the world.

Its latest addition, Fairfield by Marriott Kathmandu, is located in Thamel, a district at the heart of the Nepalese capital’s central commercial hub. Read more

Lukla lives up to its nickname

KATHMANDU, 29 May 2017: The co-pilot of a cargo plane that crashed at Lukla a small airport near Mount Everest, killing the pilot, has died from his injuries, Nepali officials said Sunday.

Lukla has been nicknamed the world’s most dangerous airport, but still remains the gateway for Everest trekkers and climbers.

The plane, which had departed from Kathmandu, broke into three pieces when it crashed in heavy fog while trying to land at Lukla airport on Saturday. Read more

Everest claims more lives

KATHMANDU, 23 May 2017: Three climbers died on Everest over the weekend and another is missing, officials confirmed Monday, in one of the deadliest episodes on the peak since an avalanche swept through base camp and killed 18 two years ago.

More than a dozen climbers have been rescued from the 8,848 metre (29,030 foot) mountain in the last three days after running into difficulties on the world’s highest peak, helicopter rescue operators told AFP.

The weekend fatalities appear related to altitude sickness and bring the death toll to five during a season marked by unpredictable weather, strong winds and unusually cold temperatures. Read more

Nepal moves rhinos to new home

CHITIWAN, 5 April 2017: Conservationists captured a rare one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal, Monday, as part of an attempt to increase the number of the vulnerable animals, which are prized by wildlife poachers.

Five rhinos — one male and four female — will be released into a national park in Nepal’s far west over the coming week in the hope of establishing a new breeding group.

The first, a large male estimated to be around 12 years old, was located by rangers in Chitwan National Park after a four-hour search on elephant-back. Read more

Himalaya to fly to Yangon

YANGON, 26 January 2017: Himalaya Airlines, a Nepal-based airline, will launch flights between Kathmandu and Yangon in Myanmar, 24 February.

The airline will operate two flights weekly on the route on Monday and Friday using an Airbus 320.

Kathmandu Post confirmed that Nepal had signed an air service agreement with Myanmar in April 2006. Previously, Union of Burma Airways offered flights between Yangon and Kathmandu. Read more

Tourists stay clear of Nepal

LANGTANG, NEPAL, 26 April 2016: Former guesthouse owner, Tenzing Lama, remembers when foreign tourists thronged Nepal’s Langtang valley, trekking through the breathtaking Himalayan wilderness and soaking up the tranquillity.

But the massive earthquake that ripped through Nepal one year ago killing almost 9,000 people, obliterated the valley, part of the country’s oldest national park, along with the tourism industry on which it relied.

Villagers have since returned to the valley and started the Herculean task of clearing trails and rebuilding homes and guesthouses flattened in a massive quake-triggered avalanche. Read more

Nepal extends climbing permits

KATHMANDU, 2 March 2016: Nepal has extended the climbing permits of hundreds of mountaineers forced to abandon Everest after last year’s massive earthquake, to try to lure tourists back to the Himalayas, an official said Tuesday.

Climbers, who paid USD11,000 each for a permit last year, quit their expeditions in droves when the April quake triggered an avalanche on Everest base camp that killed 18 people.

The quake marked the second year with almost no summits on Everest after the deaths of 16 Nepali guides in an avalanche in 2014 sparked a shutdown of the world’s highest peak. Read more

Another plane crashes in Nepal

KATHMANDU, 29 February 2016: Two pilots were killed when a small passenger plane crash landed in Nepal on Friday but all nine passengers survived, an airport official said.

It is not clear what caused the accident, which came two days after a Tara Air Twin Otter turboprop plane crashed into a mountainside in Nepal killing all 23 people on board.

A spokesman for the Tribhuwan International Airport in Kathmandu confirmed that a rescue team had confirmed all the passengers survived. A helicopter was used to airlift the injured for treatment. Read more

Tara Air crashes in Nepal

KATHMANDU, 25 February 2016: Rescuers have found the burnt-out wreckage of a passenger plane that crashed into a mountainside in Nepal, Wednesday, killing all 23 people on board, officials said.

The Twin Otter turboprop aircraft lost contact with air traffic control eight minutes after taking off from the tourist town of Pokhara early Wednesday.

The army had deployed helicopters and foot soldiers to search Myagdi, a mountainous district around 220 kilometres (160 miles) west of Kathmandu, after locals reported seeing possible wreckage of the Tara Air plane. Read more

Nepal curtails road travel

KATHMANDU, 28 September 2015: Nepal on Sunday imposed nationwide restrictions on vehicle use due to growing fears of a fuel shortage after protesters seeking changes to a new constitution blocked a major border trade route.

Drivers are allowed on the road only on alternate days, depending on whether their licence plates end in odd or even numbers, as a result of the blockade on the India-Nepal border since Thursday night.

“The government has decided to limit the number of vehicles moving across the country due to the fuel shortage,” home ministry spokesman Laxmi Prasad Dhakal told AFP.

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