Pascal Blenc and Sujanne Blenc, a French couple, are currently in Pokhara for a sightseeing tour.

The couple was inspired to visit Pokhara after reading ‘Annapurna’, a book by French climber Maurice Herzog, the leader of the 1950 French Annapurna expedition.

The first ascent of the 8,091-metre Mt Annapurna I in June 1950 by Herzog put Pokhara on the global map and established it as the gateway to the Annapurna region, a haven for trekkers.

In the 1970s and late 1980s, Pokhara remained a favourite destination for Western hippies.

On Tuesday, the Post caught up with the couple taking in the serene Fewa Lake.

“Skies are hazy. I don’t think we will be able to view Mt Annapurna from here,” the 71-year-old Pascal said.

They plan to trek the Ghodepani-Poonhill route, an all-year short trek suitable for everyone with a beautiful view of the Annapurna.

“Next week, our dream is going to be fulfilled. We hope there will be no pollution in the mountains,” said Sujanne, 74.

Pokhara provides a spectacular view of three eight-thousanders—Annapurna I, Dhaulagiri and Manaslu. Similarly, Mt Machhapuchchhre enthrals both domestic and foreign visitors.

People posing for pictures with a Machhapuchchhre background is a common sight in Pokhara.

But that could change if the pollution issues are not tackled, experts say.

Nowadays, even during the spring, Pokhara is shrouded in thick haze. Locals said that since March, the sky of Pokhara has been filled with dust and haze. The air is not healthy. The mountains, too, are not visible.

Dal Bahadur Shrestha and his six-member family from Sankhamool, Kathmandu reached Pumdi Bhumdi, a small village located in the hills of Pokhara, on Tuesday.

But they were not able to see the mountain ranges. Even the Fewa Lake and Pokhara bazaar were covered in haze.

“This time we could not enjoy ourselves, unlike in the previous vacation,” said Shrestha, who is in Pokhara for the fifth time. “It’s sad when you cannot see mountains from Pokhara. The skies are hazy here.”

Until a few years ago, Pokhara, which has recently been declared Nepal’s tourist capital, was an exceptional city without air pollution.

Now, during the spring, one of the country's peak tourist seasons, the bowl-sized city is blanketed in smog and haze. Flights are cancelled or delayed due to the poor visibility caused by the haze.

Even with the current level of eye-searing smog, travel trade entrepreneurs are bracing for worse days ahead in the popular tourist destination.

Pokhara in west-central Nepal is the second most popular tourist destination in the country after the capital Kathmandu.

“Foreign tourists are reluctant to go on sightseeing tours when the skies are covered with thick smog,” said Ananda Gurung, president of Pokhara City Tour Guide Association. “Pollution could soon emerge as a big problem.”

“Tourists have started to shorten their stays,” according to Gurung.

Pomnarayan Shrestha, president of the Pokhara Tourism Council, said if the government does not act on time, pollution could have serious consequences for Pokhara’s burgeoning tourism industry.

There are spillover effects of smog pollution in other villages of Kaski.

Sikles village, situated at the northeast of Pokhara, was once a favourite hill station for tourists to view Annapurna mountains. But the area is also covered by pollution.

Paras Gurung, president of Sikles Hotel Management Committee, said growing wildfire has been making the situation worse.

Recently, a wildfire has spread in the nearby forest of Taprang, he said.

Tourists inquire whether mountains are visible from Sikles, he said. “We cannot lie to our guests. But if the situation does not improve, we will lose everything. Many bookings have been cancelled.”

Tourists in Sikles have started to cut short their stay because of the pollution, Gurung said.

“There were wildfire cases in the past but for a short period. In the last 2-3 years, the smog billows from the forest and remains in the skies for longer, until the rain arrives,” said Gurung.

Smog has spread from Pokhara to the Annapurna areas. Mountains are not visible from Ghandruk as well, a popular tourist spot, said Hira Malla, a trekking guide.

Malla said that she was hired by two foreigners for Mardi, Ghandruk, and Ghorepani-Poonhill-Khopra treks for 14 days, but they requested to shorten the itinerary due to the haze-covered skies.

“We then returned to Pokhara on the 11th day.”

According to IQAir, an international company that monitors air pollution, the air quality in Pokhara reached an “unhealthy” level on Monday, with an AQI reading of 164.

On Tuesday, it was 152.

Due to poor visibility caused by pollution, flights were halted at the Pokhara International Airport for hours.

Hum Bahadur Gurung, a sustainable development activist, said that apart from wildfire, pollution that travels miles from India often causes haze in Pokhara.

“It has impacted the mountain villages. The impact can be dire for the rural economy which depends on tourism,” Gurung said.

The income of hotels and homestays will decline if the tourist number drops because of air pollution, he said.

According to the Forest Division Office, Pokhara, wildfires have spread in 5,000 hectares of forests since February. In addition, farmers in most of the southern Tarai plains light farm fires before planting maize.

Experts said that Nepali farmers too started to use fire to burn vegetation due to the shortage of manpower to collect the straw. In past years, the majority of farmers did not burn vegetation and preferred to handle straw in other ways to feed their livestock.

Komal Raj Kaphle, chief of the Forest Division Office, Kaski, said that to minimise the forest fires, the community has the main role to play. “There is a need to create awareness among the people not to ignite a flame in the forest. The forest ministry needs to make a detailed plan to raise awareness,” he said.f