{"id":20026400,"date":"2019-01-07T12:30:35","date_gmt":"2019-01-07T07:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=26400"},"modified":"2021-01-05T16:00:43","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T10:30:43","slug":"journey-down-karnali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/water\/journey-down-karnali\/","title":{"rendered":"A journey down the Karnali: Living in fear of floods"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the first in a five part series on the Karnali River. Read an overview of the whole trip here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Preparing soup for her grandson under a dim solar powered bulb, 50-year-old Pema Angmo explained how frightening life is on the bank of Karnali River in western Nepal\u2019s Hilsa village, on the border of Tibet. Large embankments protect the huge immigration office and villages in Tibet, but Nepalis on the other bank are left without any protection from floods in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell my relatives in Tibet that the gabion walls (as the embankments are known) protect you, but the gods protect us Nepalis,\u201d she smiled. About two decades ago, she started the first hotel on the flood plains of the Karnali River, which originates about 80 kilometres northwest in Tibet. Now there are dozens of hotels. This small town is the last stop in Nepal for people visiting Mount Kailash in the Ngari province of southwestern Tibet.<\/p>\n

\"Pema
Pema Angmo, a hotel owner in Hilsa. She is one of the first to start a business here two decades ago [image by: Nabin Baral]<\/figcaption><\/figure>The scale of potential flood threats along the Karnali River is clear from the large embankments constructed in Burang city \u2013 30 kilometres northwest of Hilsa in Tibet. The river, called Mapcha Khambab in Tibet, becomes the Karnali once it enters Nepal. The capital city of Burang county is a trade hub serving people from Nepal\u2019s Humla and Darchula districts as well as Dharchula in India.<\/p>\n

\"Construction
Construction in the rapidly growing city of Burang on the bank of the Karanali River. The city is the capital of Burang county and is protected by huge embankments [image by: Nabin Baral]<\/figcaption><\/figure>Different worlds across the border<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born in Tibet, Pema fell in love with a Nepali from Hepka village in Humla and they married about 30 years ago. As years passed, Tibet saw unprecedented development, but Nepal has remained the same. Blacktopped roads built in Tibet over the last decade have made road travel much easier there. Many pilgrims\u2014mostly from India who in the past had to fly to Lhasa in the east and then drive west for hundreds of miles to reach Kailash\u2014started flocking to Hilsa on small planes and helicopters from Nepalgunj in southern Nepal.<\/p>\n

Mount Kailash is holy for Hindus who believe God Shiva once meditated there. According to the immigration office in Nepal, about 15,000 tourists go to Kailash via this route every year \u2014 equivalent to a quarter of the total population in Humla district.<\/p>\n

The sound of helicopters wake us up every morning as they land and take off every few minutes near Pema\u2019s hotel. Only helicopters can land at this busy airport. While business is getting better, people are worried about how to protect their hard earned property from the floods and disasters that may come in future. \u201cIt took two decades to build these two buildings, but it won\u2019t take a minute to destroy them if there is a big flood or a dam bursts upstream,\u201d Pema added.<\/p>\n