NEPAL

The country is located between India and Tibet (China), which had been long benefited from its location as a resting place and trade route for traders, travelers and pilgrims. Unfortunately, today, it’s one of the poorest countries in the world (82% of the population –27 mio.- is living on less than 2$/day), which has been still suffering from its political instability. Not fully transformed into democracy, Nepal’s one big problem is the Maoists’ terror, who has been waging the People’s War since 1996 due to government corruption, the failure of democracy and the dissolution of the Communist government. Although the leader of the Maoists declared in 2002 that their attacks would not target the foreigners, the tourism sector naturally has been badly influenced for the last few years. And in the light of what I’ve seen in the last week, I can easily say that this country has a huge potential.

Geographically, we can divide Nepal into two main parts. Consider it as a horizontal rectangle: the below 1/3 of the country, named Terai, consists of plain fields which are very appropriate for agriculture with the help of monsoon rains. The above part is the Himalayas, in which 8 of 10 highest peaks in the world are located.