Great Himalaya Trail team reaches Gorkha

On his historic trek on the Great Himalaya Trail Apa Sherpa and his team reached Gorkha today on the 52nd day of the trek.
After walking 720-km since it began, Apa and his team were welcomed and felicitated by the local villagers in Tallo Durbar of Gorkha district today, according to Great Himalya Trail Development Programme.
The chief guest state minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Dilip Maharjan, joint secretary at the ministry Balkrishna Ghimire also attended the programme, where Apa said that he was honoured to be a part of GHT-CSCT organised by Himalayan Climate Initiative.
"My own life exemplifies how tourism helps a climate victim," he said, adding that Great Himalaya Trail is Nepal’s response to Climate Change. "We must convert the idea to action now."
"The government is fully committed to build Great Himalaya Trail as one of the greatest tourism products of Nepal," Maharjan said, adding that the fact that it helps to deal with Climate Change makes it even more significant for Nepal.
"Building Great Himalaya Trail as the world’s first climate smart trail will make Nepal a global leader in addressing Climate Change in ways that are economically beneficial and socially inclusive," the event lead of GHT-CSCT and the chief executive of HCI Prashant Singh said, "With the massive support of partners we are confident to make it a reality soon."
The renowned mountaineer Apa Sherpa, who has climbed Mt Everest a world record 21 times, has been walking on the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) – Climate Smart Celebrity Trek since January 15. He will be walking the 1700-km and 120-days long trek to highlight the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas, and to promote Great Himalaya Trail.
During the historic trek he will visit hundreds of villages meeting thousands of people to interact and more importantly to share their views with the world.Apa is accompanied by a two-times Mt Everest Summiteer, a climate-activist and a blogger Dawa Steven Sherpa; a climate champion, journalist, videographer and blogger Saurav Dhakal and photographer Sameer Jung Thapa.
The trek is aptly named Climate Smart Trek, as Apa and his entourage are making every effort to keep their activities during the trek environment friendly and less carbon intensive.
In the end, the trek will be converted to a carbon neutral effort by buying carbon offset to neutralise unavoidable carbon emissions. Himalayan Climate Initiative (HCI) — the organiser of the historic trek — is a civil society led national initiative to build a peaceful, prosperous and climate resilient Nepal, and to establish environmental, social and economic significance of the Himalayas across the globe.

Climate smart trek team reaches Khandbari

Apa Sherpa and his team members, who are on the 1,700-km long Great Himalaya Trail resumed their trek from Khandbari yesterday.
The team comprising Apa Sherpa, Dawa Steven Sherpa, Saurav Dhakal and Samir Jung Thapa were welcomed in a traditional manner by a score of people, including the senior government officials, Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FNCCI), Nepal Federation of Journalists, representatives of different political parties and civil society.
"It is important to develop roads but let us make sure that we do not destroy the traditional trekking trails," said Apa Sherpa on the occasion.
The team has already walked 242-km in last 17 days.They began their historic trek on Great Himalayan Trail from Ghunsa — the eastern most destination of the trek — to pay respect to the conservation pioneers who lost their lives in a tragic helicopter accident back in 2006.
"The impacts of the climate change can be seen clearly along the trail," according to another team amember Dawa Steven Sherpa. "It is lessening the agricultural productivity and causing massive landslides threatening the existing trails that are already fragile," he added.
The Climate Smart Celebrity Trek on the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) began on January 15 and will finish in early May when the team will reach Darchula in Far-western Nepal.
The team is carrying the Nepali flag handed over by President Dr Ram Baran Yadav during a public function in Kathmandu before their departure. The trek is organised to highlight the impacts of climate change in the Himalayas and to promote the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) as the best trekking trail in the world — offering trekkers the possibility to experience extremely rich cultures, breathtaking landscapes and diverse range of flora and fauna.
GHT-CSCT is organised by Himalayan Climate Initiative with support of the government. It is also supported by DFID, British Council, SNV, NTB and TAAN.
Supported by corporate partners like Geo-Eye, Asian Trekking, North Face and Dell, the GHT trek will help develop tourism and provide employment as well as education which in return will help improve the lives of the in some of the remotest regions in the world.
The Great Himalaya Trail Development Progamme (GHTDP) will work towards harnessing tourism with a market-led approach to improve livelihoods and bring sustainable development opportunities to remote and poor communities through the creation of an iconic and globally significant new tourism product for Nepal.
The 'Great Himalaya Trail' (GHT) is a network of existing paths and trade routes spanning the length of the country from Darchula and Humla in the West to Kanchenjunga in the East, packaged and promoted into one of the world’s great walks. Over the longer term, the GHT has the potential to traverse the length of the Himalayan Range stretching through impoverished mountain areas of Pakistan, India and Bhutan.