Honey hunting festival can lure more tourists

Ghalegaun-Ghanpokhara in Lamjung observed the Honey Hunting festival to attract more local and foreign tourists to the district.

"An event like this can help draw more local and foreign tourists if included in the calendar of events," said Lamjung CDO Baburam Bhandari, asking Nepal Tourism Board to help publicise the event.

A 17-member delegation of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal (TAAN) also participated in the festival on November 22.

TAAN president Mahendra Singh Thapa, on the occasion, also called for publishing the event as it could lure more tourists to the district. "But locals should change the traditional way of honey hunting for safety reasons," he added.

Likewise, a renowned mountain guide and goodwill ambassador of Gorkha district Sunar Bahadur Gurung provided rock climbing ropes to honey hunters for them to harvest honey in a safer way. "We are ready to give local honey hunters rock climbing training, if needed,” he added.

October-November in winter and April-May in summer are considered the main seasons for honey harvesting. In recent years, locals have been trying to develop honey hunting as a tourism product.

A significant chunk of honey, which is believed to posses medicinal values, harvested in the village is exported to different international markets, according to locals.

Besides honey hunting — one of the important events in the area — the association is also studying the prospects of including honey hunting and canyoning in trekking packages in Lamjung.

The honey hunting site in Ghanpokhara-8 can be reached after a trek of two-and-a-half hours from the nearest motorable road near Ghimrang.

There are many honey hunting sites in and around the Gurung village, which have become an important source of livelihood for the people of Ghalegaun and Ghanpokhara.

The locals use indigenous techniques to collect honeycombs from steep cliffs.