On the Tamang heritage trail

While snowflakes mingle with steam from the hot spring bath, babies, men and grandmothers alike are enjoying their daily dip. As the only bidesi’s we’re an attraction ourselves. The Ganesh Himal area is one of those rare places where Nepali tourists outnumber foreigners, although both are still very rare. A new trade and religion are the more powerful forces revolutionizing this ancient society of mostly Tamang people.

A few years ago, efforts were made to promote tourism in this rural backwater. Under a ‘Tourism for Rural Poverty Alleviation Program’ (funded by UNDP), several organisations joined hands to work out a route, inform locals and attract tour operators. The latter came at the official opening, noticed no views on 8000m mountains or glaciers, no heroic stories from climbers or explorers and left Ganesh Himal largely where it was. However, in the last few years some volunteers, long time Nepal travellers and foreigners who live in Nepal are attracted to the region by the calm pre-touristic atmosphere, the beautiful views, the friendly people and the large hot spring bath at Tatopani. The latter attracts lodge owners from nearby Langtang (where a history of tourism already transformed society) for two-week winter holidays, government officials from nearby Syabrubesi and some rich Kathmanduïtis who can reach here after a day’s bus ride and halve a day of walking. Despite increasing visits, tourism has not yet transformed society in this region as it did in neighbouring Langtang.

Other foreigners have come with other intentions. Protestant evangelists from the United States are trying to teach the bible in Nepal. There are small villages like Tipling with several churches. There’s a hospital that only allows Christian people in. Local conflicts have arisen as a result, for example because Christians bury the dead. The branch of Christianity promoted here is also a very exclusive one. While Nepali’s are famous for their tolerance towards other religions, the few baptized locals don’t go to other festivals anymore. A Belgian film crew came all the way to Ganesh Himal to make a documentary called ‘Little Jesus’. Benjamin Heuschen, co-founder of the non-profit organisation ganesh-himal.be, explains the methods of the priests. “They hand out comic books featuring Jesus and bring electricity to villagers who are converted.” It reminds me of the teenagers from a private bible university in Germany which I met in Mugu, wondering around to search for opportunities to ‘help’ people. If anything they need it’s certainly not a foreign religion brought upon them.

The strong historical ties with Tibet shape recent evolutions in the area in another way as well. Since a few years a new local economy has literally mushroomed. According to several locals, the illegal trade in yartshagumba has risen sharply in the last years. The main market is China. Local claims over the use of the untraceable yartshagumba by Chinese athletes in preparation of the Olympics are supported by the Manual of Important Non-Timber Forest Products in Nepal. It states that “Once reserved only for emperors, this versatile mushroom is now the tonic of China’s elite athletes”. Of the whole range in Nepal where yartshagumba grows, from the North-West frontier till here, Rasuwa district is nearest to the Chinese market where it is mainly sold. It can be no surprise then that especially here this trade has boomed. According to Tsering, a local lodge owner, “until some years we only used to get some yartshagumba for personal use, but nowadays I know of at least three grass slopes where intensive harvesting and smuggling takes place.”


Small-scale tourism, evangelist missionaries and a lucrative, booming but illegal trade are changing the traditional lifestyles of the Tamang in Rasuwa District at an historically neck breaking speed. Another wave of change originating from outside their area are the Maoist militia, who still control some of the villages here. When they claim an inning of 180 million Rs in taxes on the yartshagumba trade in 2004 alone, one can wonder what the true motivation to occupy these villages is. The government policy to ban any trade in the product, not based on any scientific research, is an open invitation to smugglers and those who prey on them.