Where can we walk in autonomy in the Nepalese Himalaya?
Click the photo twice, once from the article, once the photo itself, to have a satisfactory enlargement. The numbers following the names of areas, refer to the lines of the Regulation’s appendix 12. The restricted areas are here only studied (hatched). Zones from A to G will be analyzed in another article » Autonomous Nepal: Authorized Areas «
Walking in the mountain contains in itself quite a lot of risks: errors in the assessment of the difficulties to be surmounted, an unfavorable or brutally aggressive weather, rockslides destroying the path on several kilometers, a degradation of the health (Acute Mountains Sickness, food poisoning, catching a cold), a fall, some equipment which breaks down, the attack of a yeti 😉 etc.
Do we have to add to this blacklist, the risk of an unannounced control, at the entry of a village, to be turned back for lacking of the compulsory permit and accompaniment? The Adventure could suddenly be transformed into collapse…
If the question is simple and frequently asked in the forums, the answers can confuse.
The experience can certainly speak: some crossed the control barriers without any permit. Others obtained a permit, thanks to an accommodating agency and left, alone, without any guide. Control points are not everywhere the same, the humor of the police changes as the weather. Passing in a place at a certain moment does not mean being able to pass always and everywhere. Baksheesh and Chance can enter the dance. Each can assess the acceptable level of risk for his project.
We didn’t find a map to eliminate the risk of circulating in a restricted areas as autonomous trekkers.
The objective of this work is, thus, to position as exactly as possible all the today Restricted Areas on a map of Nepalese Himalaya.
But what does the law says?
The » restricted areas » are defined by the Nepalese regulations: Immigration regulation clause 39, 1994 Appendix -12. They are zones where only groups ( at least two trekkers) can legally enter, accompanied with a guide and sometimes with some liaison officer. A permit, obtained in the Department of the Immigration by an approved agency, is necessary before beginning the journey.
I hope that this work can be amended with the remarks and the precisions you will bring and for which I thank you in advance.
Jean-François Deleval 