Travel Advice for Nepal
As a British registered company we follow the advice of the UK Foreign Office who lifted their travel restrictions on Thursday 10th March 2016 and our Nepal tours are operating as scheduled.
On Saturday 25th April 2015 there was a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal and its epicentre was 81km west of Kathmandu. This was followed by a second 7.3 magnitude earthquake on 12 May, 18km southeast of Kodari, then minutes later, another 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal with its epicentre in Ramechhap east of Kathmandu. These earthquakes have been the deadliest disaster to ever hit Nepal, killing over 8000 and demolishing over half a million homes, most of them in rural areas cut off from emergency medical care.
In the wake of this tragedy the country's Ministry of Tourism has formed a Tourism Recovery Committee to bring the tourism industry back on track as soon as possible. Major highways in the country are open including Prithivi Highway from Kathmandu to Pokhara and Kathmandu to Lumbini via Chitwan. The popular tourist destinations of Chitwan, Lumbini and Pokhara and the Annapurna Region are fully operational and life in Kathmandu is slowly getting back to normal, although some areas of the Kathmandu Valley are still highly affected and evacuation, relief and rescue is still on-going. The Nepalese government has also committed to rebuilding cultural heritage sites destroyed by the earthquake.
For further information from your local advisory body we recommend you check Safe Travel New Zealand when planning your trip and for insurance cover purposes.
