The Ministry of Population and Environment (MoPE) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on Thursday signed an agreement to implement an environmental awareness and capacity building project for Phewa Lake. The project aims at creating awareness through local organisations and NGOs involved in environmental protection, as it is necessary not to allow the size and depth of the Lake to decrease more.
The three-year long project, which will start in April, 2004, will not only help raise awareness, but also increase capabilities in monitoring and evaluation front, the agency further said. Phewa Lake is the main attraction for the tourists visiting Pokhara.

The news of the murders of two prominent tourism entrepreneurs in Ghandruk by Maoists has sent Pokhara into deep gloom. Ghandruk is an important trekking stop on the trails to Ghorepani and Annapurna Base Camp and used to house the headquarters of the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), which was destroyed by Maoists two years ago.
Maoists took five prominent Ghandruk hoteliers hostage. They locked two lodges and transferred guests from one tea house to another. Then came the news that the Maoists had shot dead two of the hostages. The rebels told villagers not to leave their houses and trekkers are bypassing Ghandruk for now.

Decrease in tourist arrivals may have been felt everywhere around the country, including in Pokhara, one of the most famous destinations. But there are hotels which are making ends meet by attracting Indian and Chinese tourists. According to hotel managers everybody in Pokhara was suffering from the drastic decline in arrivals but from October the number of visitors started to jump. But that figure is much less compared to years before 2000. However, although the number of tourists is gradually going up, the income in the tourism sector is still low. The majority of tourists are people from India, Mainland China and Malaysia who do not spend as much as the Europeans and Americans.

The International Mountain Museum is located at Ratopairo in the southern rampart of Pokhara Valley at the distance of two kilometres from the airport. The ranges of Mt. Dhaulagiri and Mt. Annapurna can be viewed from the museum premises that are spread over an area of approximately 560,000 sq ft. Apart from the main building, a restaurant and smaller buildings are built in rural hilly style in the premises. The Nepal Mountaineering Association (NMA) has taken the total responsibility of the mountain museum.
The museum has included exclusive collections of the items relating to the different aspects of the lifestyles of ethnic communities. The museum has also a rich collection of rocks from the high altitudes of the Himalayan ranges.
More information: International Mountain Museum