New trekking route to Mardi Himal

A new trekking route has been developed targeting domestic and foreign tourists visiting Mardi Himal. Pokhara Metropolitan City-25 has been developed as a trekking route to reach Mardi Himal from Melbot to Astam.

The infrastructure has been constructed as per the plan to develop the trekking route starting from Melbot and connecting Mardi Himal via Astam, Dhital, Dhampus, Pritam Deurali, Dhital Lwang, and Ghalel Kalimati. In the last fiscal year, a budget of Rs. 1 million has been seperated for the development of the new route.

The tourism infrastructure has been constructed targeting domestic and foreign tourists visiting Mardi Himal, which has been the choice for tourists recently, said a world tourism official. According to him, a new route to Mardi Himal has been explored as the trekking route is disappearing due to unorganized road infrastructure and construction and the trekking period is getting shorter. A two meter wide footpath has been constructed.

It is believed that tourists will enjoy trekking through the beautiful forest as the trekking route developed from Melbot will not be touched by the road till Astam. To reach Mardi Himal, one can reach Dhampus, Machhapuchchre, Siding and the Australian camp of Annapurna by car. Under the initiative of the committee, a new footpath has been constructed.

"Starting from Melbot, we are looking for a brand new hiking trail and building infrastructure," said the official.

The newly developed trekking route is said to prolong the stay as well as attract tourists to the rural culture, lifestyle and meditation. The seven-kilometer trekking route from Melbot to Astam is smooth. The committee has stated that there is a plan to make the footpath suitable for cycling as well.

Chairman Adhikari said that the federal government and the state government have been requested for the budget.

Secretary of the committee Krishna Bahadur Kunwar says that the government should prepare a detailed project report and study the feasibility of a footpath up to Mardi Himal even if the committee plans to walk only up to Dhital for now. He said that it is believed that it will attract more tourists if a pedestrian walkway is built up to Mardi Himal.