By Belina Thapa
Lamjung, Mar. 9: Preparations have been made to declare Lamjung’s Ghalegaun at Kwalasonthar Rural Municipality a happy village. Preparations to declare Ghalegaon, a model village among the SAARC nations, as a happy village have reached the final stage.

According to Prem Bahadur Ghale, chairman of the Tourism Management Committee, Rural Tourism Ghalegaun, the village which has been declared a model village and a smart village, is now being declared a happy village.

Homestay tourism has been started from 5 May 2000 by organizing the first Ghalegaun Festival aiming to make people happy through rural tourism. Now homestay is being operated in 42 houses. Homestay is being run by Ghale and Gurung communities. Moreover, two houses of Dalit families are also providing the services. The people of Ghalegaun had organized the Ghalegaun Art Festival for the first time in April 2002 to introduce the village nationally and internationally.

Ghalegaun was declared a model village (SAARC Village) in South Asia in March 2007, when the founding Chief Minister of Gandaki Pradesh, Prithvi Subba Gurung, was the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of the country. Homestay has the same type of comfortable room, the same colour red roof.

Ghalegaun was declared a smart village on December 3, 2019, after having basic facilities like road, electricity, telephone, internet, drinking water, school and health post. The Village Tourism Promotion Forum has awarded it for beng the best homestay in Nepal.

Ghalegaun in Kwalasonthar Rural Municipality-3 is at an altitude of 2,100 metres above sea level. According to Umal Bahadur BK, secretary of the Tourism Management Committee, Rural Tourism Ghalegaun, there are 130 houses in the village.

Apart from the 42 houses where homestays are operated, the residents of other houses have been making a living by producing food grains, vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs and other necessities for the tourists.
Some make handicrafts from sheep's wool, choya, and allo. Homestay operators can save up to Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000 per month per household by deducting their expenses. Some have run commercial shops.

The villagers have their own shed for sheep. Villagers have also earned income from mobile animal husbandry and agriculture. Some are also in foreign employment.
According to Ganga Bahadur Ghale, chairman of the Ghalegaun Board of Directors, the model Tea Garden, organic farming, mountaineering and improved homestay have attracted tourists. Along with Lamjung Himal, Machhapuchche, Annapurna, Dr. Harka Himal, Himalchuli, Manaslu, Ganesh Himal has made Ghalegaun a beautiful paradise.

Tourist arrivals have further increased after President Bidya Devi Bhandari inaugurated the “Traditional Gurung Museum” on February 7, 2017. Tourist arrivals in Ghalegaun have started going up after the COVID-19 infections declined.

Ghalegaun, which is a six-hour walk from Lamjung's headquarters Besisahar, can now be reached in an hour and a half by car.