Experiencing a Village Homestay within the Himalayas That Boosts Indigenous Female Residents
When evening falls across this Nepali landscape, the feel becomes soft while village celebrations begin naturally form. Men sway in a ring, singing folk melodies. Female members cluster near an older woman smoking homemade tobacco. At the same time, I end up chatting with several young women—a local girl together with two relatives, Miching and Blinka. Adorned in vibrant fabrics and ornate ornaments belonging to the Aath Pahariya Rai community, these young women are just as keen to talk about love, adventure, or life dreams as any modern individuals. “I’m too independent to get married until I’m much older,” declares 21-year-old the host’s daughter. “When I graduate, I want to go to Paris—and then come back to Sipting. It’s peaceful here and the air fresh.”
The Local Project Helping Female Entrepreneurs
This remote Dhankuta area in Nepal has become currently welcoming travelers via an initiative that partners with local groups to assist women—including Prem Maya—to open family houses for guests. Starting the beginning in 2012 featuring only a single homestay, this network has grown to include over three hundred and sixty families across forty communities throughout Nepal. It marks the pioneering project for Nepal’s eastern region.
Rising heat, erratic monsoons, as well as seasonal floods have forced numerous local farmers to leave for neighboring countries. In response, the area is embracing tourism for new source for revenue. Enabling women to earn a living without leaving home villages remains central to the vision. Moreover, eco-friendly rainwater-harvesting systems are being set up to bolster local needs.
Away From the Main Travel Hubs
While tourism added more than $2.2 billion into Nepal’s GDP during 2024, it is highly focused in regions such as the capital, trekking trails including Everest or another range, Pokhara, plus Chitwan. The results in overcrowded facilities, vehicle jams, along with economic gains which are enjoyed among only a handful of individuals. Programs like this one aim to distribute visitor income more evenly widely and providing guests a memorable and authentic encounter far from typical tourist spots.
Journey Into Dhankuta
Following an 40-minute flight from Kathmandu and another lengthy bus trip along winding mountain roads, visitors reach in its settlement named Dhankuta. Previously the regional center until the 1960s, the town eventually fell into a obscurity. Today, when visitors wander through its orange-painted buildings, local residents often stop with astonishment—a tailor stops the machine, another shopper drops their items to stare, and one local freezes in her doorway, unaware to some lentil soup falling off a ladle.
“Over the last several decades, this neighborhood was so empty that jackals wandered freely,” notes a guide, a knowledgeable resident. “Locals painted the buildings in honor of the legacy of citrus farmers prior to shifting weather—and the hope that it might attract visitors. Apparently they’re somewhat surprised that it actually working.”
Forest Trek to Khambela
Involving as many residents into the process is central to this tourism ethos. It is why guide programs for youth are also offered. After one stay in a cozy hotel within town, guests are introduced to one among the project’s first trained guides, a young local of the Aath Pahariya Rai group. During this special morning, Nabin guides the 12-kilometer forest hike toward the community of Khambela for the first time.
“Whenever I come to the forest, it feels as though I am in home,” says the guide, walking ahead along a path studded by shiny silica flecks that sparkle similar to a nearby waterway down in the valley. “One can feel divine presence here.”
As the group approach Khambela through trees woven by fragrant flowers, Nabin shows water storage units which were set up to support the unreliable government supply system situated two hours away.
Local Living and Cultural Encounters
The trek ends with a vegetable curry in an open space maintained under the care of an elder of senior age that requests we call her referred to as Didi (older sibling). She observes the curiosity with her home with calm interest. When we prepare to leave, Didi presses a veena into my possession—a unique item that produces sound softly when blown through or played with clumsy attempts.
Following another evening spent in the hotel, guests can stroll through Dhankuta’s haat (bazaar), where members from different cultural groups—Rais, Magars, Limbus, and several Hindu castes—negotiate over goods including buffalo-skin stools and oversized cucumbers. Later, one vehicle journey leads toward another village {to meet|where visitors
