Northern India & Nepal for 2016

I notice that the itinerary for this trip in 2016 has been posted (as well as in the new Exotics brochure.)

My question is how is this possible to visit this devastated city of Katmandu and environs, even in early 2016? It seems as if it would be so difficult for this poor country to host tourists at this time; even though I know, financially, they would benefit. My heart goes out to these kind people of Nepal.

Comments

  • Tauck has just notified travelers holding reservations for the autumn 2015 embarkations that the hotel which they have used in Nepal has been ruled "safe" to inhabit. Flight-seeing around Mount Everest will continue. Sightseeing in Kathmandu and surrounding valleys goes forward with safety being foremost in priority.

    Nepal was only a few days in this exciting itinerary. Based on our experiences with Egypt in February 2012 (when Tauck cancelled most of its embarkations due to political unrest), the Nepalese population who serves tourism will benefit when visitors finally can arrive. The welcome will probably be very warm among the people in Nepal who survived this tragedy.

    The New York Times has featured several video reports on the situation in Kathmandu since the earthquakes occurred (including the powerful aftershocks that happened after recovery efforts had already begun). Many artifacts cannot be seen during the 2015 or 2016 tours. Art historians and museum curators are preserving as much as possible for reconstruction that will take five to seven years (to prevent those art treasures from being carried off by looters as occurred in Egypt). Young people are shown at work in the NYT videos; now that the bodies are cremated, they are clearing away areas that would attract tours. The affected population lives in waterproof tents. The Tauck tours show every indication of keeping the three Nepal days in their tour of Northern India.
  • KathrynH: We, too, received the news from Tauck and we're looking forward to the trip. What trip are you on? We're on the 10/20 departure.
  • LeeM wrote:
    KathrynH: We, too, received the news from Tauck and we're looking forward to the trip. What trip are you on? We're on the 10/20 departure.

    We are most eager to hear your impressions of this tour, LeeM. We are on the mid-November departure and excitement is mounting. Please let us know what was good and bad about this adventure!
  • We completed the tour and learned that the "town center" of Kathmandu was so badly damaged that the tour does not visit that particular town center. We visited the "town centers" of Patan and Bhaktapur instead. Everything was fascinating to see. Nepal is a very poor country and it was sad to see piles of bricks stacked neatly next to a photo of what was once standing in a particular site.

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