Zoo seeking tigress

In an effort to prevent the inbreeding of captive endangered royal bengal tigers at the central zoo officials are planning to bring an orphan tigress from Chitwan National Park within the next two weeks.

"We are planning to send a letter on Friday to the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (DNPWC) asking it to provide a tigress for breeding purposes at the zoo," said Sarita Gyanwali, project officer at the zoo.

According to her, there is a tigress kept in captivity at Kasara, the headquarters of the national park.

DNPWC is positive towards the zoo's request to bring the tigress from Kasara, she said.

At present there are three tigers in the central zoo: the mother tigress, Bhuntee, 13, and two five-year-old tiger cubs named Shiva and Kancha. Junge, 17, father of Shiva and Kancha, died two months ago.

"Both male tigers have already reached breeding age and there is a need for a young tigress to start captive breeding in the zoo," said Gyanwali.

Tigers start breeding at the age of four and have a life expectancy of 20-22 years age.

Mating between the two male tigers with their mother will accelerate the loss of genetic diversity, according to Binab Karmacharya, veterinary officer at the zoo.

"There are more chances that the offsprings from inbreeding can have low immunity strength towards diseases and carry the defective genes from their ancestors," he said.

The central zoo has also been trying captive breeding of the endangered one-horned rhino since last year, but has not succeeded so far.

The two rhinos Kancha 16, Kanchi 17, in the zoo demonstrate their sexual urges every 40-45 days but they do not mate, according to zoo officials.

Gyanwali said that incidents of rhinos mating in captivity are rare but zoo officials are trying a host of measures to encourage them to mate. These measures include providing more proteins and more green grass and other plants that increase potency.

These dietary supplements were given after consulting officials at the London zoo. The two rhinos at the London zoo have mated in captivity to give birth to a baby rhino. The adult rhinos were taken from Nepal as part of animal exchange programme in 1999.

"Recently there has been a change in Kanchi's behaviour. Therefore we expect some good news related with rhino breeding. But we have been unable to test her urine," said Gyanwali. "It is very risky to go near a rhino, because they are very aggressive in nature."

The central zoo has been successful in recent years in breeding some major mammal species including hippopotamus, tiger, siamang (black-furred gibbon) and leopard, inside its own premises. Annually, more than 800,000 visitors come to the zoo, which houses over 1,000 animals, apart from birds.
source:ekantipur.com

Four mountaineers die in Oct

The body of a French mountaineer who died while climbing 6,812-metre high Ama Dablam mountain in the Everest region was brought to the capital on Thursday, Gyanendra Shrestha, an official the mountaineering section at the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation said.

Jean Mary, 65, is the fourth mountaineer to die this autumn mountaineering season that began on 1 September and ends on 30 November.

Also, on Thursday a rescue team went in a helicopter to search for the body of Iranian mountaineer Bahlooreh Saeid, 32 on the 7,134-metre Tilicho Peak in the Annapurna mountain range.

Saeid died on 29 October when he slipped and fell down 800 metres while returning from the summit, officials said.

Two other mountaineers, both of them French nationals, died due to acute mountain sickness in October.

Daniel Pierre Goulevitch, 49, died on the 8,163-metre high Manaslu on 5 October and Alain M.D.F. Benay on the 6,346-metre on Saribung in Mustang district.

There were a high number of expeditions climbing the Nepal Himalayan mountains this current season.

"So far this autumn we have given permission to 149 expeditions and two applications are under consideration," said Shrestha.

Last year the number was less than 80. Officials say the reason behind this is because of the 50 percent waiver of mountaineering royalty in autumn season and the tightening of permission to climb mountains from Tibet.

Meanwhile, police in Biratnagar said on Thursday that a Swiss national, Guillermin Sugenie, died of acute mountain sickness in Gokyo region of Solukhumbu district on Tuesday.
source:the kathmandu post
tags:Biratnagar,Solukhumbu district,

Narayanhiti Museum to open in 6 months

The government hopes to open the Narayanhiti Palace Museum to the public within six months if there are no more changes in the bureaucracy and the cabinet makes this a priority project, officials at the Department of Archaeology (DoA) said on Thursday.

The opening of the museum has been delayed as the government is yet to finalize a proposal on its operation and management due to frequent changes of secretary at the Ministry of Culture and State Restructuring.

Bishnu Raj Karki, Deputy Director General of DoA, said they have finalized a detailed revised proposal on the museum's management and it will be forwarded to the ministry soon for cabinet approval.

"We will be able to make necessary arrangements to open the museum to the public in four months after the cabinet endorses the proposal," he said.

The museum will showcase relics of the Shah dynasty kings in four separate buildings that lie within the premises of the former royal palace. As per the preliminary estimate, it will cost some Rs 40 million a year to run the museum.

The proposal drafted by DoA has a provision to employ in the museum 180 out of the total of 721 former Narayanhiti Royal Palace employees. They will be given necessary training before assigning them to the museum.

The revised proposal includes a detailed plan for internal and external security at the museum, ticket counters, rest houses and arrangements to provide visitors information.

"We are mulling over installing CCTVs to ensure that the items showcased in the museum are not stolen or vandalised," said Deputy Director General Karki. "All items will be labelled in detail."

Karki said that the department would launch massive publicity before formally opening the museum.

Former King Gyanendra vacated the palace on June 11 after the Constituent Assembly on May 18 declared Nepal a republic. The government had later decided to develop the palace as a museum as per public sentiment.

tags:Narayanhiti Palace,Former King Gyanendra,the kathmandu post,nepal news ,nepal travel news
source:the kathmandu post

Nepal to host world travel agent conference

The 43rd World Conference of the United Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTAA) is to be held in the Nepali capital Kathmandu in 2009, the Nepali national news agency RSS reported on Sunday.

The conference is scheduled to be held in Kathmandu from Nov. 20 to Nov. 24 in 2009, said the Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA) at a press conference on Sunday.

NATTA Vice-Chairman Pabitra Kumar Karki was elected as the Board of Director of the UFTAA at its 42nd conference held last month in Manila, the capital of Philippines, said Ram Kaji Kone, NATTA Chairman.

Kone said tourism entrepreneurs from around 70 counties participated in the 42nd UFTAA conference and the participants enthusiastically watched a program on Nepal. The forthcoming conference would be an opportunity for Nepal to promote tourism at the international level, he said.

Travel and trekking entrepreneurs from 79 countries are affiliated to the UFTAA.

Karki said about 300 travel entrepreneurs from 65 countries have promised to take part in the 2009 UFTAA conference.

tags:United Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTAA),world travel agent conference,Kathmandu

News Ilam eyeing tea tourism

Even as travel trade entrepreneurs are exploring new avenues to cater to tourists, locals in Ilam have started to promote tea tourism to attract more visitors to the district.
Locals aggressively engaged in implementing the concept are hopeful that it (tea tourism) would enable visitors to enjoy the serenity and vibrancy of tea estates and also help planters and producers promote their products and establish business networks.
Interestingly, one of the biggest supporters in this project is Thomas Holes, a German national who has been working to foster organic tea production in Nepal and help the produce gain access to the international market.
“It offers a huge potential,” said Holes, who is in Ilam for the second time this year. And this time he has even brought 12 of his friends here who he says have expressed immense satisfaction. Traveling around the tea estates, interacting with workers and spending nights in farmers’ cottages are exciting experiences for us, he said.
Tea tourism is not a new concept in the region though. Darjeeling, the town on the other side of the border, has gained popularity from the tea tourism the government of India promoted in the past.
In Nepal the concept was imported and is being pushed by Gorkha Tea Estate. “Increased interest of overseas buyers, visitors and researchers and inflow of a substantial number of study teams to Ilam has also raised the importance of tea tourism,” said Uday Chapagain, a tea producer.
He told the Post that tourists who visited the place in the past had invariably expressed their highest delight and pleasure after living with planters, interacting with locals and going around the place.
Their responses had triggered in his mind the idea of tea tourism and its potential. Chapagain has built a dozen cottages and developed other necessary infrastructure and facilities to cater to visitors’ needs and lure them to extend their stay in Ilam.
“If this concept gains popularity, each farmer will be directly able to enjoy a sound financial return from tourism,” said he.
A substantial number of visitors from the US, Japan, Sri Lanka, China and Switzerland, among others, have been frequenting Ilam and other tea producing districts in recent years to study tea and understand its production.
“Under tea tourism, we have made arrangements whereby visitors can stay at farmers’ homes as paying guests,” said Dorje Lama of Fikkal.
He elaborated that dozens of farmers of Sundarpani who are associated to Gorkha Tea Estate are already enjoying the benefits and many more are preparing to join in.
Source: The Kathmandu Post Daily