By Our Correspondent
Sankhuwasabha, Jan. 5: Locals residing in the Himalayan region of Sankhuwasabha have started migrating towards the Terai region after heavy snowfall started blanketing the villages since the last week.
When minimum temperature started plummeting further in the district, locals of Kimathanka, Chepupa, Hatiya, among other places, have started migrating to the Terai-based districts.
The process of migrating to avoid chilling cold is called ‘Kabela’ in the Himalayan region. During this season, Himalayan locals carry some herbal plants with them and sell them to people living in the lower mountain belts or the Terai regions.

Carrying local Himalayan herbal plants like Dhup, Pakhanbet, Thulo Okhati, Sunpati, and Bhirpate, the locals of Bhotkhola reach Morang, Sunsari, Damak, and Jhapa districts and sell them.
After selling the herbal medicines, they purchase daily essential goods like cooking oil, rice, kitchen appliances and some clothing items before returning to their homes by the end of March, says Angjung Bhote, a local resident of Chamtang.

"Some of them stay with their relatives in the Terai, while others who don’t have relatives are pitching tents at the base of the trees and in the open sky," said Bhote, who was found at Bhotkhola. Kabela movers don’t spend more than a week in one particular place for trading their herbal medicines, he said.

According to the locals, only one or two people stay at homes in the Himalayan region to take care of the houses and livestock as the rest migrate to the warmer regions. Until a few years ago, the whole village used to be migrate, but lately many are staying behind. Chhiring Bhote, a teacher in Chyamtang, said that the students are staying in the village to not miss their schools.
Earlier, it used to take three days to reach Khandbari, the district headquarters, but now there has been road connectivity up to Gola Bazaar.