Namche Bazaar
Namche Bazaar
नाम्चे बजार | |
|---|---|
| Namche Bazaar with Kongde Ri peak in the background. Namche Bazaar with Kongde Ri peak in the background. | |
| Nickname: The Sherpa capital | |
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| Country | Nepal |
| Province | Koshi Province |
| District | Solukhumbu District |
| Rural Municipality | Khumbu Pasanglhamu |
| Elevation | 3,440 m (11,290 ft) |
| Population (2001) | |
• Total | 1,647 |
| Time zone | UTC+5:45 (NST) |
| Postal code | 56002 |
| Area code | 038 |
Namche Bazaar (also Namche Bazar, Nemche Bazaar or Namche Baza; Nepali: नाम्चे बजार Audio file "Namche.ogg" not found) is a town (formally Namche Village Development Committee) in ward no 5 Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality in Solukhumbu District of Koshi Province in northeastern Nepal. It is located within the Khumbu area at 3,440 metres (11,286 ft)[1] at its low point, populating the sides of a hill. Most Sherpa in the tourism business hail from the Namche area. Namche is the main trading center and hub for the Khumbu region.
At the 2001 census, it had a population of 1,647 people living in 397 individual households.[2]
Geography
[edit | edit source]Immediately west of Namche is Kongde Ri at 6,187 metres (20,299 ft) and to the east is Thamserku at 6,623 metres (21,729 ft).
Transport
[edit | edit source]On a hill overlooking Namche Bazaar is the Syangboche Airport (3,750 m / 12,303 ft). It is no longer used for passenger flights, though Russian helicopters make occasional cargo flights. The nearest open airport is Tenzing–Hillary Airport, located 13 km south of the town.
Tourism
[edit | edit source]Namche Bazaar is popular with trekkers in the Khumbu region, especially for altitude acclimatization, and is the gateway to the high Himalaya. The town has a number of lodgings, stores and internet cafés catering to the needs of visitors. There are German bakeries, little cafes and many restaurants. There is also an Irish pub, said to be the highest and most remote Irish pub in the world.[3] A popular local meal is yak steak.
On Saturday mornings, a weekly market is held in the centre of the town. There may also be a daily Tibet market where clothing and cheap Chinese consumer goods tend to be the main articles for sale.
Namche has electricity from the nearby Thame-Namche hydropower plant (600 kW), opened in October 1995 near Thame.[4][5][6][7]
Climate
[edit | edit source]Namche has either a relatively cold dry-winter subtropical highland climate (Köppen climate classification Cwb) or an unusually mild dry-winter warm-summer humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dwb), depending on if you use the 0 °C (32 °F) isotherm or the −3 °C (26.6 °F) isotherm. The town features pleasant, wet summers and chilly, dry winters mainly affected by its altitude and the summer monsoon season. The average precipitation is 1,110 millimetres or 44 inches, and the average temperature is 6.1 °C or 43.0 °F.
| Climate data for Namche Bazaar, elevation 3,450 m (11,320 ft) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 6.9 (44.4) |
6.4 (43.5) |
9.6 (49.3) |
12.8 (55.0) |
14.3 (57.7) |
15.6 (60.1) |
15.8 (60.4) |
16.2 (61.2) |
14.6 (58.3) |
12.5 (54.5) |
9.1 (48.4) |
7.6 (45.7) |
11.8 (53.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −0.9 (30.4) |
0.0 (32.0) |
3.2 (37.8) |
6.8 (44.2) |
9.0 (48.2) |
10.6 (51.1) |
11.8 (53.2) |
11.8 (53.2) |
10.3 (50.5) |
6.9 (44.4) |
2.7 (36.9) |
0.3 (32.5) |
6.0 (42.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −8.5 (16.7) |
−6.5 (20.3) |
−3.0 (26.6) |
0.8 (33.4) |
3.7 (38.7) |
5.9 (42.6) |
7.8 (46.0) |
7.5 (45.5) |
5.9 (42.6) |
1.2 (34.2) |
−3.8 (25.2) |
−7.1 (19.2) |
0.3 (32.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 43 (1.7) |
20 (0.8) |
31 (1.2) |
26 (1.0) |
39 (1.5) |
129 (5.1) |
226 (8.9) |
206 (8.1) |
140 (5.5) |
57 (2.2) |
11 (0.4) |
24 (0.9) |
952 (37.3) |
| Source: FAO[8] | |||||||||||||
Pop culture references
[edit | edit source]"Namche Bazaar" is the name of a song by Nathan Rogers on his album The Gauntlet. The song was inspired by the mixing of culture along the silk road.
References
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- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Small Hydropower Plant Nanche Bazar Archived 2016-11-27 at the Wayback Machine, Posch & Partner GmbH "Project period: 1985 - 1993"
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Small Hydropower Plant Thame-Namche Bazar, Nepal Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine / Energy from the top of the world. Austrian Development Co-operation, ed. Dieter Rachbauer, Eco Himal, 2001
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]
- File:Wikivoyage-Logo-v3-icon.svg Namche Bazaar travel guide from Wikivoyage
- Shrine at Namche Bazar
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