Planet Happiness

Home
Nepal
Khumjung
Planet Happiness

Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Planet Happiness, Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Khumjung.

Planet Happiness' mission is to focus the attention of all tourism stakeholders on the well-being agenda; and use tourism as a vehicle for development that demonstrably strengthens destination sustainability and the quality of life of host communities.

18/11/2022

WOAH !!! HERE IT IS AT LAST !!! 😁 Very pleased to share that our report on tourism and wellbeing to the (Mt Everest) National Park is now available for download from the Planet Happiness homepage (link below). Huge thanks to and the - team for many weeks of work with the layout - fantastic !!

A BIG SURPRISE 😮 for me in this piece of work was learning more about the critical role of indigenous people in biodiversity and ecosystems conservation globally. According to the World Bank....

“While Indigenous Peoples own, occupy, or use a quarter of the world’s surface area, they safeguard 80 percent of the world’s remaining biodiversity. They hold vital ancestral knowledge and expertise on how to adapt, mitigate, and reduce climate and disaster risks.”

Looking ahead, I sincerely hope our report and its recommendations, highlighting the many extraordinary achievements of the Sherpa's and their tourism system, can make a difference to our collective responsibility to mitigate the impending climate & species crisis.

Here's the link for the download...
https://www.ourheritageourhappiness.org/

To the best of our knowledge, this report is a first in that it contrasts settlement and household data sets collected over a 30yr period.

We also like to think its key conclusions, summarised in Box 10 and copied below, should be seriously considered to ensure the and of the remarkable model and system moving forward.

If you happen to be a partner, finance agency or outbound travel company with interests in and the SNP - and would be interested to help implement the report's 5 recommendations, please get in touch. The 5 recommendations follow the conclusions in Box 10, but exceed this post's character limit, so cannot be posted here....

https://www.ourheritageourhappiness.org/

19/06/2022

It is known that GDP is not a good indicator to measure happiness, but it does tell a story. This is why it is always interesting to know what is happening in the world. For example, the IMF predicts that global GDP growth will slow down from 6.1% in 2021 to 3.6% in 2022 and 2023.

Also, IMF made one of the first predictions on how the war will affect GDP in Russia and Ukraine (-8.5% and -35%, respectively). At the same time, the fastest growing economies are India (incredible 8.2%) and Saudi Arabia (7.6%).

Source Visual Capitalist: https://advisor.visualcapitalist.com/economic-predictions-for-2022-and-2023/

23/04/2022

#9: Wow – it’s BUSY, BUSY, BUSY……perhaps at capacity already ?

It’s just a few weeks since COVID-19 travel restrictions began easing and confidence started returning for travellers to be on the move again.

These last few days in the World’s highest UNESCO World Heritage site and National Park have been extraordinarily surprising.

The weather has been fantastic, the views incredible......and Lukla has been receiving 30-40 flights a day.

Visitor numbers are almost at capacity in the key overnight stops on the way to the Sagarmatha (Mt Everest) basecamp and Kala Patar as the key viewing point to the World’s highest peak.

A couple of days ago my Nepali colleagues had to wait several hours outside a lodge/hotel in Dingboche to hear if the owner could provide a room for them stay. As I was paying a “tourist price”, they managed to shuffle people around to make room for me, but it was unclear if they could spare a room for my colleagues.

In the words of my translator and research assistant, who is from the Khumbu, this situation in his home villages was heart-breaking. His mood plummeted.

Such was his concern, he didn’t want to risk going any higher into the Park – toward the last two overnight stops before the basecamp – for fear of not finding anywhere to stay.

To get around this situation, a couple of days later we decided to do a ten-hour round trip/trek past Lobuche and on to Gorak Shep and back to Periche in one-day. Thus, it gave us the opportunity to see how accommodation at these two overnight stops had grown in the last 25yrs, without running the risk of being turned away and left struggling to find somewhere to stay in freezing temperatures.

As it was, as we ate our dahl baht in a Lobuche restaurant and lodge (on our way to Gorak Shep), we watched many trekkers being turned away – being told the lodge was fully booked.

Wow – what’s it going to be like in October in the busiest season ?

With 500+ Happiness Index surveys completed by local residents so far, we're looking forward to producing our destination wellbeing & impact report with Royal Mountain Travel- Nepal

22/04/2022

POST 8: Phortse – what a pleasant surprise ! :-)

Positioned on the “wrong side” of converging rivers with trails heading to Gokyo and the Everest Basecamps on opposite sides of the valley, for decades Phortse was somewhat excluded from tourism and wider development opportunities.

Twenty-odd years ago, Phortse had 3 down-beat lodges, no electricity, no monastery of its own and poor water supply. From a conceptual point of view, its lack of access to the tourism economy was putting it was at risk of retreating into itself and being shunned by other villages.

Hence, it was fantastic to just spend a couple of days in Phortse enjoying the warm local hospitality. The village was quiet, beautifully clean and scenically spectacular. While many locals were away with climbing & trekking responsibilities others were going about their business planting potatoes in the immaculately laid out fields separated by stone walls.

It was a cultural treat and fantastic to see so many positive changes: the new monastery perched on the hillside at the top of the villages; a 60kw hydro-plant delivering all the electricity the village needs; 4G telephone reception; 8-10 lodges to choose from, most looking in great condition; improved water supply with a major new project set to deliver running water to each household with a few months; and an impressive high-quality climbing wall.

It was hugely satisfying to see that as visitor numbers to the Khumbu have increased, Phortse has not been marginalised from the tourism economy, but has rather found its place and identity as a destination and attraction in its own right.

It was also kind of cool that we came across our first musk-deer sighting in the woods immediately next to the village – and that we met people keen to support the deployment of the Happiness Index.

21/04/2022

#7: Lodge Growth & Innovation

I first visited Gokyo in 1990, staying 2-3 nights in a converted Yak-herders hut with the cooking hearth (chulo) at one end and a wooded raised floor serving as a dormitory sleeping area at the other. There were 3-4 such huts to choose from scattered in walled grazing areas for the yak and nak.

Whatever the condition of the accommodation, the views of the World’s highest mountains and Gokyo glacier were spectacular and awe-inspiring.

With every year I’ve returned to the region, lodge growth and innovation has been a marked feature of every trip. On the one hand locals are aware visitors head for the newest most comfortable looking lodges, and on other buildings and furnishings deteriorate rapidly in this harsh environment.

Gokyo was a bit of a shock after a 28yr break though ! While the number of lodges had grown from 8 to 14, it was the size of many that blew me away. Some have 50 rooms and a percentage of these had en-suite facilities. Just amazing !

On the positive side this is great in terms of comfort, privacy and good service for visitors, and higher incomes and more jobs for local people. But, putting the distortion of the cultural landscape to one side, I wonder what will happen in future years as access to region opens further and greater visitor numbers arrive?

Will bigger and bigger hotels become the norm in each-and-every settlement?

At present there are no design controls, investors can build more-or-less what they like. I wonder if, collectively, the Sherpas and managers of this UNESCO World Heritage site believe this is the right approach?

20/04/2022

#6: Yak Yak Yak – a BIG TICKET issue.

The Sagarmatha ( ) National Park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1979 owing to its outstanding natural and cultural properties.

Since arriving in the Khumbu some 600 years ago, animal husbandry in the form of breeding and working with Yaks and Naks has been an integral part of Sherpa life and culture. In short, these amazing ‘beasts of burden’ have their place in the Park’s World Heritage listing.

For centuries Yaks have been used to transport and trade goods, initially from Tibet and more recently playing a central role in the trekking and mountaineering economies.

But things are changing and their numbers are declining.

28yrs ago when I was previously here, the settlement of Khunde had 5-10 families with sizeable Yak herds. Today there’s just one, and some locals fear they may be gone from the Khumbu altogether in as little as 15yrs.

Why? Because with each year that passes, helicopters are increasingly used as alternatives to move loads further into the Park towards the trekking peaks and passes and mountaineering basecamps.

While it’s hard to imagine the Khumbu without Yaks & Naks, this possibility is of real local concern. The knock-on effects in terms of less income for tea-shop owners and dung to fertilize barley and potato crops worries many. Should this happen, there’ll also be a significant iconic loss in terms of visitor attraction, appeal and photo-opportunities.

While this doesn’t appear to be a future that anyone wants, at this critical moment it seems no one knows how these economic forces might be addressed.

Ultimately, it’s a governance issue that should involve the full Sherpa community in inclusive decision-making. After all, as UNESCO put it, “The intricate linkages of the Sherpa culture with the ecosystem are a major highlight of the park and they form the basis for the sustainable protection and management of the park for the benefit of the local communities.”

Hence the key question seems to be, should the future management of this truly iconic UNESCO World Heritage site be for the benefit of the Sherpa people and their culture, or the convenience and benefit of a small number of mountaineering and helicopter companies?

From a perspective, our inclusive community wellbeing framework is designed to engage residents in decision-making around exactly these types of issues. Moving forward it will be fascinating to see if, how and where we’re able to engage stakeholders and support any decision-making around this big-ticket issue.

Our impact partner for this assignment Royal Mountain Travel - Nepal believe the goal of tourism is to maximise benefits to local communities and to strengthen the wellbeing of communities that are directly and indirectly engaged in its development.

19/04/2022

POST 5: Cultural conflict and revitalisation – what do you think is the right path to follow?

As we passed through Phakding a few days ago, the first overnight stop for most trekkers flying in from Lukla, I was amazed at the growing sprawl of tightly packed lodges that had transformed this once peaceful setting. Sure, the surrounding fields, forests and thundering Dhud Khosi river are as impressive ever. But the concentration lodges was quite a shock and caused me to lose my bearings for a moment. This feeling that was compounded with a twinge of sadness when we passed the Irish Pub and Reggae Bar. No Place Branding here amongst the business competition to attract visitor spending.

A second Irish Pub was encountered in Namche that, following their dinner, attracted most of the large ascending trekking group staying at my chosen lodge: thus, illustrating the push-pull forces of what of what seems to me to be misguided development. Mind you, I really appreciated the coffee shops the following morning.

Against this backdrop of steady transformation, it’s super heartening to see the solid and widespread investment in the cultural landscape.

There are new and refurbished monasteries in many, many locations. Each with expanding numbers of monks (albeit attracting young men from villages south of the Khumbu, rather than from local villages as was previously the norm).

The brand-new stupa in Thame Teng today was especially impressive, as were the dozens of prayer wheels welcoming us to Khunde this afternoon.

I was also delighted to hear stories of how, over the two-year COVID-19 lull, the Namche Youth Group had invested considerable time in painting the many Mani-stones that surround this unforgettable hub and meeting point.

To localise the Happiness Index for the Khumbu, we have included a question asking locals to state what they feel is the greatest threat to their community wellbeing. I’m really looking forward to seeing their response!

11/04/2022

2 days to go! This week our founder Paul Rogers will be a panelist at World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2022 discussing issues pertinent to Well-Being and Social Connectivity.

Other panelists are: Susan Oman, Gianluca Misuraca, Sonya Denton, BA, MBA, and Greyling Talita. Moderating event is Suay M. O.

Join this event live online on Apr 13, 2022 12:00pm (GMT+2) via the following link:

https://itu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sKOasCviQtSRSkddnCMjqw

04/04/2022

Post 4:

We're now measuring Tourism's contribution to individual and community wellbeing.

The criteria and the / Tourism Working Group's definitively state that tourism should be developed to strengthen peoples' and communities' wellbeing. But what does this term "wellbeing" mean?

At (our tourism and big data project of the ) we use the three terms " ", " " & " " interchangeably, they each have the same meaning.

As highlighted in Post 2 of this trip, Nepal's iconic region and World Heritage Site offers the world an exemplary model of a government and indigenous community's management response to tourism. While no tourism system have had the privilege to advise on over the last 25+yrs is perfect (life is isn't perfect!), this iconic site has achieved extraordinary outcomes that much of the world can learn from.

This is why I am delighted to be working with local youth and community representatives with the support of the Khumbu Pasang Rural Municipality and as our impact partner in Nepal, to deploy the Happiness Index, which we all believe will further strengthen this remarkable tourism system and provide lessons and examples for other tourism destinations around the world to learn from.

With very special thanks to (pictured) Mingma Sona Sherpa, Ngima Yangi Sherpa, Sambhu Rai, Lhakpa Sherpa and Bikal Magar from the Lukla Youth and Women's Groups for helping us with this task in Wards 2&3 of the Municipality.

31/03/2022

Post 3 of series.

Road building in trekking areas is a controversial issue and is certainly bringing change to the Solo-Khumbu.

25yrs ago the nearest road-head to the Khumbu was Jiri. The walk from Jiri to Lukla, the main airstrip for most trekkers accessing the Everest trek, typically took 7 days. The route was enjoyed by thousands of trekkers and ploughed by countless porters ferrying supplies to Lukla and Namche, the Sherpa capital inside the Sagarmatha National Park.

By the mid-1990s Mi17 Helicopters had significantly disrupted access & supply routes putting hundreds of porters out of work.

Today, a hard-top road has reached Sallerie, the Solu-Khumbu District capital. A dirt road, via another route, has also reached Thamadada - 1 days walk from Lukla - and hundreds of mules are employed to ferry loads between.

While other dirt roads have been a daily feature of our trek from Sallerie through Junbesi, Tragshindo, Nuntalla, Jubving, Kharikhola and Bupsa, pleasantly less than 10% of our trek has been on these dusty tracks. 90% has been on wonderful old trekking routes - but with hardly a porter in sight !

Conversations with locals reveal a range of pro's and con's..
Positives include:
+ better access to healthcare, especially in emergencies
+ cheaper building materials & household goods
+ ease of access to Kathmandu
Negatives
- less trekkers
- pollution (dirt) in the air & rivers
- landslides
- unemployment, lower incomes & a return to subsistence farming for many

Overall - most households & locals we've spoken with, have been in favour of road building.

Address

Khumjung

Website

https://www.ourheritageourhappiness.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Planet Happiness posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Planet Happiness:

Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization in Khumjung?