– Krishna Neupane

In a bid to further promote the tourism of Bandipur, the construction of a trekking trail along with a wall resembling the Great Wall of China has been initiated at Bandipur Rural Municipality in Tanahu district.

The construction of the 3000 metres long trekking trail and the 1,300 metres long wall named ‘Mukundeshwori Wall’ had begun since last fiscal year, informed Bandipur Rural Municipality Chairperson, Purna Singh Thapa. The wall will be constructed on a section of the trail.

The Wall starts from Thanimai Temple at Bandipur Rural Municipality-2 in the district and ends at Mukundeshwori Danda (hill), the place once ruled by the then King Mukunda Sen, informed Thapa.

Bandipur, with its tribal villages, lush green forests and many shrines and natural heritages such as caves and verdant hills among others, has been an attractive tourist destination that has been drawing around 100,000 tourists annually, according to the local authority’s record.

"The construction of this new physical infrastructure is expected to further lure more tourists, both domestic and external to Bandipur," said Thapa.

He shared that the trekking trail would stretch up to three kilometres while the 1300-metres wall with 3-metres width would be built along the trail in various phases. The project is estimated to cost around Rs 20 million.

All the construction materials are being ferried manually since there are no other means of transportation in the locality which could hike the construction cost, the local authority said.

The local authority is also mulling construction of a museum atop the Mukundeshwori Danda , according to Thapa, while preparation was afoot for the construction of a glass view tower atop the hill.