Africa Map

African Press Agency

African Press Agency Logo
   

 Home
 Country Profile
 Useful Links
 Contact us

Home

China/EverestBack
[Published: Friday February 15 2019]

China closes Everest base camp to tourists
BEIJING 15 Feb (ANA) - BChina has closed the base camp on its side of Mount Everest to visitors who don't have climbing permits.
Authorities have resorted to the unusual move to deal with the mounting waste problem at the site.
The ban means tourists can only go as far as a monastery slightly below the 5,200m (17,060ft) base camp level.
More people visit the mountain from the southern side in Nepal, but over the past years numbers have been rising steadily on the Chinese side as well.
The Chinese base camp, located in Tibet, is popular as it is accessible by car - whereas the Nepalese camp can only be reached by a hike of almost two weeks.
The world's highest peak has been struggling with escalating levels of rubbish for years, as the number of visitors rises.
The Chinese Mountaineering Association says 40,000 visited its base camp in 2015, the most recent year with figures. A record 45,000 visited Nepal's base camp in 2016-7 according to Nepal's Ministry of Forests and Soil Conservation.
Ordinary tourists will only be banned from areas above Rongbuk monastery, which is around 5,000m above sea level, according to China's state news agency Xinhua.
Mountaineers who have a permit to climb the 8,848m peak will still be allowed to use the higher camp.
In January, authorities announced that they would limit the number of climbing permits each year to 300.
On Chinese social media, claims have spread in recent days that its base camp will be permanently closed to tourists - but Xinhua cited officials denying that.(ANA)
FA/ANA/15 February 2019------
 


North South News website

Advertise banner

News icon UN/Israel/Genocide
News icon UK/Politics
News icon UK/NHS
News icon UK/Israel
News icon Lesotho/Human Rights
News icon Ethiopia/Water
News icon Israel/Gaza Massacre
News icon US/EU/Israel
News icon India/Repression
News icon UK/US/China

AFRICAN PRESS AGENCY Copyright © 2005 - 2007