Everest Base Camp Selected in 20 Journeys of Lifetime

The UK's leading magazine The Observer, sister publication of UK's Guardian in its Sunday edition published on January 11, 2004 has selected Everest Base Camp of Nepal in 20 Journeys of a Lifetime. Selected by journalist Jill Hartley as great adventures that one never forgets, Everest Base Camp has been placed in the seventh position beating the destination like Galapagos Islands which was placed first by UK's internet based travel company iexplore.com in 2003. Galapagos Islands has been placed in sixteenth position in this list of The Observer. The famous traditional trade route known as Silk Route from Kashgar (China) then Tashkent - Samarkand - Khiva (Uzbekistan) is in eight position.

The Everest Base Camp is the only South Asian destination that has been included in the list. Most of the journeys included in the list are shared by two countries. The journey from Ruta Maya Antigua - Quetzaltenango (Guatemala) to Lake Atitlan - Antigua (Guatemala) via San Cristobal - Palenque - Merida (Mexico), Belize City - Caye Caulker (Belize), Tikal has been selected as number one among 20 journeys.

Free Visas to Nepal for Everest Climbers

Foreign mountaineers who have climbed Mt. Everest and Mt. Dhaulagiri will get a free Nepali visa for two years. The visa fee will be free for year 2010 and 2011 as a part of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 celebration.To mark the 50th anniversary of the first ascent of Mt. Dhaulagiri, the visa fee for Dhaulagiri summiteers has also been waived off.

Each foreign climber has to pay USD 5000 to the government of Nepal as royalty for climbing Dhaulagiri, however after the announcement of the rebate on the fee they now have to pay just USD 2500.