Asia Times: Plush flush toilets and more for trekkers



	August 14, 1999	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Plush flush toilets and more for trekkers
By Ramyata Limbu

UPPER MANANG, Nepal - Warm under the bedcovers,Tshering Maya Gurung diligently reads ''How to Shit In the Woods - An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art.''

The exercise appears to be pointless. Just a few feet away from her bed in a Manang lodge is an attached toilet, a tap and running water. The last time she visited this western valley four years ago, Gurung spent most mornings looking for a bush or a rock behind which to take cover.

Toilets aside, she's espied other changes, too. In Manang village, the largest of six village panchayats that make up Upper Manang, a remote area a few days walk from the Tibetan plateau, workmen hammer, saw and chip away at a crop of new buildings. Lodges in the making, the multi-storied structures, rising amidst pink buckwheat fields, stand apart from the flat-roofed cluster of traditional stone homes.

Open to trekkers since 1976-77, Manang falls on the popular Annapurna Circuit trek. A couple of days walk from the Tibetan plateau in the north, the area has been experiencing a steady influx of tourists in the past few years.

An estimated 10,642 visited in 1995. More than 12,000 passed through in 1998. Blessed with panoramic views and rugged vistas but lacking in arable land and other income-earning opportunities, local Manangis, who once traded in salt, herbs, jewels and a variety of goods, have not been slow to cash in on tourism.

During February to May and September to December, the peak tourist seasons, more than 90 inns and hotels operate in the district. Between the early 1970s and early 1990s, lodges grew at the rate of four a year.

More than a dozen lodges line Manang Village's narrow main street. Half a dozen more are nearing completion. Tiny shops sell Mars bars, toilet paper and camera film. Tourism poses a series of challenges - cultural and environmental.

''Pancakes have replaced buckwheat bread for breakfast. Rice flour reigns over 'tsampa' or roasted barley flour. And you see more jeans and baseball caps than 'bakkhus' [tunics],'' observed a candid Michung Gurung, proprietor of one of Manang's oldest lodges.

The district's juniper, birch and pine forests are fast diminishing as lodge owners buy up trees to ensure that the interiors of Manang's mushrooming lodges are paneled in wood.

As lodges get larger and the competition more intense, conservationists fear that locals may lose sight of the bigger picture. ''The lodges that are being built today don't fit in with our objectives of sustainable and eco-friendly tourism,'' said Raju Gurung, tourism assistant for the Annapurna Conservation Area Project's (ACAP's) Manang Base.

ACAP, which has been operating in the district for six years, helps with the formation of local lodge management committees, imparts conservation education, and runs hotel and lodge management training courses.

Entry fees from tourists are put back into community development, tourism management, resource conservation and environment education. ''Our aim is to maintain environmentally-sound structures and see that they meld into the local surroundings,'' he explained.

Despite being legally empowered to ensure that conservation and environment concerns receive priority, ACAP realizes the need to tread gently. ''Strong community practices prevail here. In many instances, government laws are not adhered to. Traditional authority prevails,'' says Naresh Pradhan, Officer-In-Charge of ACAP, Manang.

In case of forest fires, miscreants are not fined. They are expected to express their repentance by making offerings to the wronged party, in accordance with local custom.

In the face of the traditional power structure, ACAP's Conservation Area ManagementCommittee,comprising community representatives and ACAP officials, is finding it difficult to make its presence felt.

Attempts to control the indiscriminate use of timber, a major concern, haven't been successful. As long as one pays the required fee to the Village Development Committee, one can buy any amount of wood. Laborers carry timber from the forests in Hunde, a two-hour walk away.

''It's hard to say whether it's good or bad,'' admitted Michung Gurung. ''Because of the prospects of tourism, people who once migrated to the cities are returning and investing in the area. They're building bigger and better lodges. We realize it's a strain on our natural resources.''

Back in the '70s, Gurung ran a tiny hotel from his home. Today, he owns one of the most successful lodges in the district. Coke, beer, and a variety of liquors line the glass cabinets in the three-story lodge. The menu offers eggs and toast, pancakes, macaroni and cheese, french fries and chocolate pudding.

''Things are different today,'' acknowledged Gurung. ''There was a time when tourists used to sleep on the floor, eat whatever the household members ate and happily drink black tea.''

(Inter Press Service)

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