Laxmi Gautam

Phidim, January 20

Kalipani, once a popular tourist spot situated on the lap of Kanchanjunga and Kumbakarna, has turned desolate due to the decline in tourists visiting the place.

Kalipani is fifteen minutes walk away from Gopetar, a trade centre on the Phidim-Taplegunj highway. It lies on the northern part of Panchthar district in Nagi-2. Mountaineers, willing to conquer Kanchanjunga and Kumbakarna, setup temporary base camps in this area.

Kalipani is also the centre for internal tourists coming to pay homage to the famous Pathivara Mai. This region is one of the most popular tourist spots in the eastern development region of the country.

Foreign tourists use the air route from Kathmandu to Biratnagar and hire a bus or a private taxi to reach Kalapani. They love to trek from Phidim to Gopetar.

The magnificent scenes of the snow-capped Kanchanjunga and Kumbakarna lures tourists. Popular trekking areas in this regions are Sinam, Panchami, Warungdang, Yamphuding and with final destination being Suketar.

"Tourists generally stay here for five to six days and then trek to mountains," said Durga Yonghada, ex-mayor of Nagi VDC.

Kalipani is surrounded by dozens of small hills, lakes and forest lands. The Gopetar-Nagi Tharpu, Phagune, Oyam, Chhayangthapu and Phalauta road, which is under construction, is likely to help the tourists arrive in the area.

"The internal crisis in the country has briought down the number of tourists

visiting the place, drastically," said ex-mayor Yonghada. 100-150 tourists used to visit the place, but the now the number is almost nill. The drop in the number of tourists is not a good sign for the development of the region.