Nation’s leading beauty pageant organizer RK Entertainment Group Pvt. Ltd. has officially announced the audition dates for Miss Grand Nepal 2021.

In the press meet at Hotel Nepalaya, Thamel, organization’s head Lucky Ram K.C. announced Bhadra 15, 2078 as the deadline for the registration to participate in the competition.

According to Ram, the auditions will be held from Shrawan 20 to Bhadra 11, 2078 in the regions,  Nepalgunj, Chitwan, Butwal, Birgunj, Pokhara, Dharan and Jhapa.

Whereas the auditions in Kathmandu and the grand finale are scheduled on Bhadra 20, 2078.

According to the organizing team, Miss Grand Nepal 2021 event finalizes five winners, who will be representing Nepal at five different international beauty pageants.

Also Read: Nepali Beau Garima Wins ‘Miss Nepal America 2021’ Crown!

The international pageants are Miss Tourism International, Miss Landscapes International, Miss Scuba International, and Miss Multinational. The fifth international franchise will be added from this year, which is yet to be revealed.

The winners will be awarded with trophies and cash prizes. Top of these, they will get an opportunity to debut at Nepali cinema.

NepaliSansar Extends Best Wishes to All Aspiring Nepali Beauties!

More News:

• Beauty Queen Kanaujiya to Represent Nepal at Miss Supranational Nepal 2021!
• Nepal SEE 2077/78 Results Published: Check Live Results Here!
• SAFF Championship 2021 to be Hosted in Maldives, not Nepal!
• Miss Nepal Beauty Pageant Winners List From 1994-2020
• Mexican Beauty ‘Andrea Meza’ Becomes ‘Miss Universe 2021’!

The post Miss Grand Nepal 2021 Audition Dates Announced! Apply Now! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

A Cabinet Meeting held on Sunday decided to suspend domestic flights from Monday midnight and international flights from Wednesday midnight. According to Foreign Affairs Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, the flights will remain suspended till May 14.

However, the Cabinet has permitted chartered flights of domestic and international airlines to operate as usual even during the suspension period.

This is the latest addition to the list of lockdown restrictions imposed by the Nepali Government in a bid to fight the unprecedented second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The government has already imposed partial and complete prohibitory orders in as many as 41 districts. According to the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP), complete prohibitory orders have been imposed in 30 districts and partial orders in 11 districts.

Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur, Kaski, Surkhet, Parsa, Kailali, Kanchanpur, Dang, Chitwan, and Rupandehi districts are some of the regions that are under strict prohibitory orders.

The government has also banned long-haul public transportation to control the pandemic.

Nepal on Sunday recorded the highest-ever single-day spike with 7,211 new COVID-19 cases, taking the cumulative count of cases to 336,030. With 27 people succumbing to the infection in the last 24 hours, the death toll has mounted to 3,325. Currently, there are 48,711 active cases and 283,994 recoveries in the country.

According to the MoHP, the number of coronavirus cases has increased by 136.8% compared to the last week, indicating a 2x increase in infection rate just in a week.

Stay Tuned to NepaliSansar for Latest Nepal COVID-19 Updates!

More Articles

• PM Oli to Take Floor Test in Parliament on May 10!
• 12 Best Movie Theatres in Nepal You Must Try!
• Trending Nepali Celebrity Posts on Instagram!
• Nepal Braces for Devastating Second Wave of COVID-19 Pandemic!
• Richest Nepalese in the World
• Gold Price Today in Nepal!
• Nepali Short Films on YouTube!
• Miss Nepal Beauty Pageants 1994-2020!

The post Nepal Bans All Domestic, Int’l Flights Till May 14 appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Padam’s two elephants were kept busy from dawn to dusk until March 2020. But as soon as the Covid-19 pandemic restricted travel worldwide, one of Nepal’s most popular tourist sites was largely deserted. Although the Nepali government has now lifted most travel restrictions, Chitwan hoteliers like Padam are still faced with less than 50% occupancy.

Captive Asian elephants are used for tourist rides, wedding processions  and temple ceremonies. The practice is highly controversial, with campaigners attesting the long-lived animals are often taken from the wild and subjected to cruel treatment to make them compliant.

In February, Padam sold one elephant for NPR 6.5 million (approximately USD 56,000) to a trader in India. He hopes this decision will reduce his hotel’s monthly running costs by at least USD 1,000, which had been spent on the elephant’s food and mahout (keeper).

Bishal, another hotelier who leads a cooperative of elephant owners, says the group’s members have sold at least 20 elephants to Indian traders in 2021. They now hold 35 elephants, the lowest number since the cooperative was formed two decades ago.

However, Nepal and India are both signatories to the global Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Asian elephants are listed on Appendix I of the convention, a category for species that are “threatened with extinction which are or may be affected by trade”. Importing live animals listed on Appendix I (or their parts) for “primarily commercial purposes” is not allowed so as not to “endanger further their survival”.

CITES rules state that before Appendix I species can be transported from one country to another, the exporting CITES Scientific Authority must have advised that export will “not be detrimental to the survival of the species”, while the CITES Management Authority must be satisfied that the animals were legally obtained, after which they may issue an export permit.

Meanwhile, the importing country’s Management Authority must issue an import permit, having been satisfied that the animal(s) are “not to be used for primarily commercial purposes”, and following determination from the Scientific Authority that the import will be “for purposes which are not detrimental to the survival of the species” and that the recipient of a live animal is “suitably equipped to house and care for it”.

In order to implement CITES, the Nepali government introduced the Act to Regulate and Control International Trade in Endangered Wild Fauna and Flora in 2017. It states, “No person shall purchase, sell, possess, use, plant, rear, captive-breed, transport or import or export or cause to be done so a threatened or vulnerable wild fauna or flora or a specimen thereof.” As defined in the act, “threatened fauna or flora” are all species included on Appendix I of CITES.

In 2019, the government published a set of regulations on how to implement the act. Section 2 of the regulations notes that any person wishing to trade in such species or their parts should meet various statutory obligations and obtain a permit from the government.

There is no evidence that any of these rules have been followed in the cross-border sale of live elephants. Hari Bhadra Acharya, spokesperson for the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation – the government agency responsible for implementing the act – says no one has sought any approval so far.

‘Clearly illegal’ trade

The ongoing trade is clearly illegal, and the government has a responsibility to stop it, says senior advocate Prakash Mani Sharma. The department has not done anything because it has not been “formally” informed about the trade, says Hari Bhadra Acharya. Nevertheless, he adds, he has heard about these activities, and “needful action would be taken once the sale is proved”.

Acharya also says Chitwan National Park officials have been “made responsible” to look into the issue, but the park’s information officer Lokendra Adhikari says the park has done nothing about it.

The Third Pole contacted Chitwan’s chief district officer Prem Lal Lamichhane to ask if he had taken any initiative to stop the trade, two days after reports of an elephant being sold to India appeared on social media and one day after the issue was covered in a national media outlet.

“We tried to confirm what’s going on, but we were told that there was nothing unusual,” Lamichhane said. “We couldn’t confirm the news.”

“If you formulate a law but fail to implement it, it is meaningless,” said Sharma. “The state failing to implement it suggests there is a big nexus between the two [the state and the traders]. We are also violating the international law that we are signatory to.”

Lack of records on captive elephants

The 2019 regulations also say any person or business holding an endangered animal captive should register it with the relevant government agency or face confiscation. No one has applied for registration yet, nor has any elephant been confiscated.

The government does not have any official record of the number of captive elephants in Nepal. A CITES review in 2016 put the number at 216, with almost half being under the management of the government and the rest kept by individuals and businesses. Around 80% of privately owned elephants are estimated to be in Sauraha and Amaltari towns outside Chitwan National Park.

The park authorities may not have taken any action against the elephant sellers, but last year they did start recording the number of captive elephants in the area. As of late 2020, hoteliers in Sauraha, Amaltari and Kasara owned 65 elephants, according to information officer Adhikari. Hotelier Rishi Tiwari estimates the population at around 80 as of last year.

This would mean mean that a quarter of all elephants in the area have been sold to Indian traders in the past three months.

Amir Sadaula, a wildlife veterinarian at the National Trust for Nature Conservation’s Biodiversity Conservation Centre in Chitwan, has been monitoring animal trade for the past five years. He says that to prior to this, he had seen at most three elephants being sold a year, and within Nepal. “People sell them whenever they do not give any profits. But in the past, that was not the case,” he says.

Carol Buckley, founder of the US-based non-profit Elephant Aid International, calls this an exodus. “The pandemic has been going on for a year, but now the market is flooded with buyers. The payment they are offering is inflated and always in cash,” she says.

Sold into uncertainty

Activists are also worried about the kind of life the elephants will lead in India. Surajan Shrestha, an animal rights activist in Chitwan, notes that in India, “captive elephants are used in religious functions and even protest rallies”.

Buckley suspects these elephants could be sold over and over again within India or even further afield, maybe again into Nepal. Those selling the elephants now do not know where the animals are being taken. Most Indian traders operate through Nepali middlemen.

Animal rights NGO Association Moey has said that this elephant, photographed in Sauraha near Nepal’s Chitwan National Park in March 2021, is ready to be sold to India [Image by: Association Moey]

“Some might think it’s a good thing,” states Association Moey, an international NGO that once tried to retire the captive elephants of Chitwan into freedom, in a Facebook post. “But, that only shifts the suffering of elephants elsewhere, away from our eyes. They will endure loneliness, abuse and bad living conditions on a daily basis, in temples, weddings, chained and shown as objects of prestige.”

Campaigners oppose the use of elephants in tourist rides. This has created a schism, says Ashok Ram, a wildlife researcher. “Activists opposing the rides make the hoteliers think they cannot earn from the animal any more. Elephants have been used by humans since ancient days.” Hotelier Bishal argues that laws should be revised to meet the interests of people as well as animals.

Activists like Carol Buckley and Surajan Shrestha maintain it is inhumane to hold the animals captive for riding or other activities. Shrestha says the government should establish an elephant sanctuary in Chitwan, acquire all the captive elephants and set them free there. He believes the towns could still benefit from the elephants by attracting tourists, thereby generating revenue and promoting the sanctuary as a model conservation project.

Meanwhile, oscillating between tour operators and animal rights activists, government spokesperson Hari Bhadra Acharya blames the lockdown forced by Covid-19 for the failure to implement the laws of the land.

Source: Thethirdpole

The post Nepal elephant ride operators illegally selling animals to India appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Located on the western top of Damauli Bazar in Ward No 5 of Byas Municipality, Manahukot has become the newest popular tourist spot in Nepal.

The new tourist spot has received around 1,000 domestic tourists every day since the breath-taking pictures went viral. Surprisingly, it witnessed over 10,000 visitors on Saturday. People queued up since 3:00 am on Saturday to go to Manahukot.

“It was like a big fair organized during the festival season with the highest number of visitors to date,” said Ward Chairperson Mohan Kumar Shrestha.

Before this, Manahukot used to receive around 200-300 tourists during the tourist season. Now, the road leading to Manahukot is facing traffic jams for hours.

Meanwhile, the unprecedented tourist arrivals are drawing huge concerns as the gatherings may lead to the risk of coronavirus spread. Most tourists are from nearby districts, including Kaski, Lamjung, Syangja, Gorkha, and Chitwan.

Tourists arrive at the spot a day earlier to witness the fantastic view of sunrise over the clouds early in the morning. Besides the sunrise, the place is known for its amazing sunset, the Himalayan range, the beautiful view of the Modi and Seti rivers, and Damauli Bazar.

Stay Tuned to NepaliSansar for Latest Nepali Tourism News!

The post After Pics Goes Viral, ‘Manahukot’ Draws Over 10,000 Tourists A Day! appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

The Nepali Government has received FDI worth NPR 5.50 billion for the tourism business during mid-July and mid-September of the current fiscal year 2020/21.

According to the Department of Industry (DoI), the FDI commitment the government received for the tourism industry in the first two months of the current fiscal is almost the same as that of the last fiscal.

Of the total amount pledged, Nepal received FDI worth NPR 5.35 billion from China, the highest of all. The Chinese investors have proposed to open around 30 hotels and restaurants and provide employment opportunities to 618 people.

China has been leading in FDI pledges to Nepal, especially in the tourism sector, for the last few years. As Nepal has become a leading tourism destination for Chinese tourists, the investors from China have been showing a deep interest in opening hotels and restaurants, mainly in Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara, and Chitwan.

As per the DOI records, the tourism sector has received a total of NPR 32.80 billion foreign investment in the past five years. Chinese investors have poured in NPR 23.23 billion, making up 71% of the total proposed amount.

Aslo Read: Nepali Tourism 2019: Foreign Arrivals to Chitwan Shrink

In the FY 2019/20, Nepal received a foreign investment commitment of NPR 25.79 billion for the tourism sector, with China proposing to invest NPR 11.66 billion.

Stay Tuned to NepaliSansar for Latest Tourism News!

More News:

• Nepal Announces NPR 85 Bn FDI for Hydel Projects
• Significant Barriers Undermine Foreign Investment in Nepal: US
• COVID-19 Inflicts NPR 168 Billion Loss on Nepal Economy

The post Nepal Tourism Receives NPR 5.50Bn FDI in First Two Months of Current FY appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

With this, the coronavirus cases in the country crossed 5,000-mark to stand at 5,062.

Meanwhile, a 57-year-old man from Malarani Rural Municipality-4 has died from COVID-19 infection, taking the total death tally to 16.

However, 16 patients were discharged from various hospitals after a successful recovery, taking the total recoveries to 877.

In the last 24 hours, the Nepali Government has conducted the PCR test on 5,925 COVID-19 suspects.

So far, 309,914 suspects were tested for coronavirus in Nepal. Of these, 121,862 suspects were tested through the PCR method and 188,052 through the RDT method.

Despite improving testing capacity, the country has been witnessing an exponential rise in coronavirus cases, with around 3,200 infections in the last ten days.

With the sudden spike in cases, the youth across the country protested against the Nepali Government’s apathy towards controlling the coronavirus pandemic.

Demands of the protestors include

• Expenses of the procurement of COVID-19 equipment to be made transparent
• Stopping Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDT)
• Withdraw decision to impose an additional tax

People held demonstrations across various locations including Kathmandu, Nepalgunj, Pokhara, Dharan, Chitwan, and Birgunj.

A Glance at COVID-19 in Nepal

• Total Cases – 5,062
• Recovered – 877
• Active Cases – 4,169
• Deaths – 16
• PCR Tests – 121,862
• Quarantine – 158,050

The post Nepal Records Highest Single-day Spike with 448 COVID-19 Cases appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Under the initiative, the government has promised of adding 100 new tourist destinations in a move to touch the untapped tourism potential of Nepal.

Patihani of Chitwan is one among the government’s 100 new priority tourism destinations being promoted under the Visit Nepal Year campaign.

Government is turning its promises into reality, say the locals, citing the ongoing development at the Someshwar Hill of Madi.

As the locals say, Patihani is undergoing a fast-paced transformation with the government implementing various tourism infrastructure developments in the region.

“Patihani is situated in a prime location of Bharatpur Municipality. This destination for tourism was chosen to keep its natural beauty in view. Apart from several new locations for sightseeing, our diverse culture is going to give a different taste to the tourists,” says Bishnuraj Mahato, Chairperson of the Ward. No.222 of the municipality that Patihani belongs to.

Speaking about Patihani’s potential as a tourism spot, Mahato compares it with Nepal’s renowned tourist destination Sauraha, which is known for elephant rides, jungle boating, a buffer zone of wide a variety of flora and fauna species.

“It should have happened much earlier. Sauraha has been in the eyes of the tourists for long. Patihani isn’t any less than Sauraha to mesmerize tourists,” Mahato adds.

Despite the delay, locals are happy about the recognition that Patihani is drawing now.

“Including our place within the 100 new destinations has spread the positive message among the people. Locals are quite elated. Arrival and stay of tourists in our area means our businesses will grow,” says Mahato.

Patihani – The New Tourism Spot

Major Attractions

Kamal Pokhari is one of the major tourism attractions of Patihani, which locals have been urging for due promotion since long.

“Kamal Pokhari is a mesmerizing place. We are trying to fix necessary facilities there in order to woo tourists,” said Mahato. He added that tourists do visit the place even now, but the number is not impressive. After two years, the visit-Nepal 2020 is going make it tremendously popular, adds Mahato.

According to the Operator of Jungle Villa Resort Ganesh Sharma Poudel, Kamal Pokhari is definitely a magical place that can give a thrilling experience.

“There are many other attractions for tourists. But this one is amazing. We must promote this to the optimum,” adds Poudel.

He further informed that the tourist arrivals to the area up by 25 percent last year, with many tourists loving the serenity of the environment and local culture, and a wide variety of wildlife.

“We do have all the components which are necessary to excite tourists. We are blessed to have such a serene natural beauty here. Tourists feel relaxed, charged, energized,” adds Poudel.

Chief Development Officer of Chitwan Jitendra Basnet calls Patihani a place with yet-to-be-explored rich tourism potential. He is hopeful that the region will be a great experience for tourists.

“There are many such places here, which have not been ventured. It is not just an entry point to Sauraha, but a great natural wonder itself. We are building the necessary infrastructure for tourists in the view of Visit Nepal 2020. But while doing so, we make sure that the originality of this place and its uniqueness is not messed up,” adds Basnet.

According to Basnet, there is a growing interest among investors to invest in tourism development of Patihani. Besides, many local ethnic groups and indigenous communities such as Tharu have also been expressing interest to showcase their cultures and tradition to tourists. Tharu food & culture are two of the major tourist attractions in Chitwan, besides vulture and gharial reproduction centers in Patihani.

For the Future

Coming to regional development, Patihani currently has four 3-star hotels operating with nine other hotels offering quality service at reasonable pricing. Famous Belsar and Birendranagar community jungles come under the ambit of Patihani border.

“There are other facilities being built for them. And, then they can take a round of the jungles to watch animals and birds,” Mahato adds.

As the local sources say, three new 3-star hotels and four ordinary hotels are being constructed in the region with an aim to address tourists’ concerns. Big hotels in the region contain over 300 luxury rooms, while the small ones have 150-room capacity.

“We have adopted an integrated approach. All the stakeholders have been asked for due cooperation,” Mahato adds.

It’s now an exciting time for tourists to see when Patihani will take its full form!

Read More:

• Lumbini Draws 1 Million Tourists!
• 2018 Nepal Tourist Arrivals: 33.8% Growth Y-o-Y in Jan-Sept
• Bharatpur: Nepal’s Center of Trade

The post Chitwan’s Patihani Among 100 New Nepali Tourism Spots appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

For the first time in its history, Nepal is hosting the International Buffalo Symposium 2017 at Sauraha of Chitwan starting November 15-19, 2017.

The four-day symposium, being organized by the faculty of Animal Science, Veterinary Science and Fisheries of the Agriculture and Forestry University of Chitwan, will be discussing economic and food value of buffaloes.

The symposium, with the theme ‘Increase in buffalo production for food and economic growth’, will be witnessing the participation of various scientists from 11 countries including Nepal, USA, China, India, Pakistan, Thailand and Bangladesh.

The scientists are likely to present 90 different working papers on several aspects of commercial rearing of buffaloes.

Government of Nepal, Ministry of Livestock Development Nepal, Department of Livestock Service, Nepal Agriculture Research Council and Michigan State University, USA are supporting the event.

The post Nepal Hosting International Buffalo Symposium 2017 appeared first on Nepali Sansar.

Fighting back the major challenges posed by natural disasters in the recent past, Nepal’s tourism is on the path of recovery and hoping big this time.

Even though Nepal has been the right destination for tourists across the world, the country’s tourism sector has been facing some key issues.

Over the years, the country has allocated various resources for external tourism and as a result, large scale of outbound tourism was observed from the country. However, the domestic tourism on the other side, could not get its required attention.

Addressing such concerns, this time, NTB has decided to boost domestic tourism on par with the external tourism by promoting various local tourist destinations.

Proper tapping of the opportunities created by the increasing disposable income and spending power of Nepalis can give enough boost to the growth of the domestic tourism, opines NTB.

For this, the country’s tourism sector also expects the stakeholders to do their part in addressing key challenges such as infrastructure and investment, promotion and disaster management, and proper marketing, among others for the expansion of domestic tourism.

Towards this end, the Government of Nepal also declared Nepali year 2073 as the Nepal Travel Year and NTB has also allocated Rs 2 million for implementation of promotional activities.

NTB Hopeful of This Season

NTB has planned big for the Nepal Tourism Season 2017.

“Last year, there was an exponential growth in the domestic tourism sector as around 4.5 million internal tourists visited different parts of the country. We are hopeful that this year, more number of domestic tourists will visit different parts of Nepal,” says Deepak Raj Joshi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), NTB.

According to Deepak Joshi, the board is carrying out various promotional activities in this regard to boost the domestic tourism activity during this season.

“For the development of domestic tourism, NTB is currently continuing the last year’s Travel Nepal programs and we have also added other programs such as Photo Nepal for advocating Nepali tourism through photography, Safa Nepal to promote cleanliness around heritage sites and Chulo Nepal to promote Nepali food along with food hygiene,” he informed.

Besides, NTB is also organizing programs to support home-stay services through capacity building, market linkage and other training schemes.

“NTB is only promoting Nepal in international platform. It must introduce programs to promote domestic tourism within Nepal. Furthermore, it should also engage in dialogue with the private sector and allocate budget for programs after discussions and consultation,” says Dilip Mainali, President of Chitwan Tourism Development Committee.

Seasonal Trends and Related Concerns

The domestic tourism in Nepal is majorly dependent on seasonal trends. On the flip side, these trends are also posing serious challenges to the industry players in the Nepali tourism sector.

With the tourists flocking to major domestic tourism spots only during the peak season, the tourism entrepreneurs of the country are finding it difficult to safeguard their business interests and investment through dependence on tourism.

“Due to Dashain-Tihar vacation, there is an enormous inflow of Nepali tourists. As a matter of fact, Manang is currently crowded and we are facing problems in accommodating the arrivals. On an average, we are receiving 400-500 domestic tourists per day,” says Binod Gurung, Proprietor of Hotel Yeti and President of Tourism Traders Association (TTA), Manang.

Pokhara, Manang, Mustang, Lumbini, Chitwan, , Tilicho Lake, , Rara Lake and Ghandruk are among the major tourist destinations during the peak season.

It’s Time to Identify New Destinations

Lack of a strong chain network of tourist destinations is being considered as one of the major reasons hindering the growth of domestic tourism in Nepal.

While most of the key domestic tourist spots in Nepal fall under rural parts of the country, tourism industry stakeholders pitch on the need for development of more new destinations.

Stressing on the need for promotion of domestic tourism, Bijaya Amatya, President of Kora Tours, says,” The involvement of youths in adventure tourism is very positive for the industry. However, we need to work on new destinations for adventure tourism. It is not feasible to rely on the old form of adventure sport.”

Amatya calls for a significant involvement of local communities in the initial phases of promoting rural areas as tourism spots under domestic tourism.

The post Nepal Tourism Season: Domestic Tourism Draws Special Focus appeared first on Nepali Sansar.