Kodari is a small village located at the border with

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. The village is located at the end–point of the

Arniko Highway The Araniko Highway () connects Kathmandu with Kodari, northeast of the Kathmandu Valley, on the Nepal- China border. It is among the most dangerous of highways in Nepal due to extremely steep slopes on each side of the road from Barabise o ...

, which connects Kodari with the capital city of

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

. Kathmandu is away from Kodari. Kodari is a major

border crossing Border control refers to measures taken by governments to monitor and regulate the movement of people, animals, and goods across land, air, and maritime borders. While border control is typically associated with international borders, it a ...

from Nepal into the

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions ...

. Kodari is a part of Bhotekoshi rural municipality in

Sindhupalchok District Sindhupalchowk District ( ne, सिन्धुपाल्चोक जिल्ला ) is a part of Bagmati Province and one of the seventy-seven districts of Nepal, with an area of . The district's headquarters is in Chautara. In 2006, 336, ...

Bagmati Province Bagmati Province ( ne, बाग्मती प्रदेश, ''Bagmati Pradesh'') is one of the seven provinces of Nepal established by the constitution of Nepal. The province is Nepal's second-most populous province and fifth largest provin ...

(previously Tatopani VDC of

Bagmati Zone Bagmati Zone ( ne, बागमती अञ्चल ''Bāgmatī Añcal'') was one of the fourteen zones of Nepal until the restoration of zones to Provinces. Its headquarters are Kathmandu. It was named after the Bagmati River. It was in the ...

of Central Development Region; from 1990–2017). The other side is the town of

Zhangmu Zhangmu (also from Tibetan as Dram or Zham, from Nepali as Khasa) is a customs town and port of entry located in Nyalam County on the Nepal-China border, just uphill and across the Bhote Koshi River from the Nepalese town of Kodari. At above se ...

(also known as Dram or Khasa in Nepali) located in

Nyalam County Nyalam County (; Tibetan: gnya' lam rdzong) is a county in Tibet's Shigatse Prefecture. It borders on Nepal. The land area of the county is . The population as of 2003 was 10,000. The postal code for the county is 858300. The county seat is in ...

Shigatse Prefecture Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê (; Nepali Language, Nepali: ''सिगात्से''), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , correspon ...

of the

History

In ancient times, it was the starting point of a trans-Himalayan caravan route. Newar traders headed north from Kodari and after crossing Kuti pass turned east to continue their journey across the Tibetan Plateau to

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Region in Southwest China. The inner urban area of Lhasa ...

. The construction of the Kathmandu-Kodari Road during the 1963-67 period. It was named

Araniko Highway The Araniko Highway () connects Kathmandu with Kodari, northeast of the Kathmandu Valley, on the Nepal-China border. It is among the most dangerous of highways in Nepal due to extremely steep slopes on each side of the road from Barabise onwa ...

in Nepal and

China National Highway 318 China National Highway 318 (G318) runs from Shanghai to Zhangmu on the China-Nepal border. It is the longest China National Highway at in length and runs west from Shanghai towards Zhejiang, Anhui, Hubei, Chongqing, Sichuan, and ends in Tibet Au ...

beyond. As of 2011, Nepal is planning to expand it to six metalled lanes. China started building a railway in 2008 connecting Lhasa with

on the Nepal-China border. It is an extension of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. In 2012, China signed agreement with Nepal to make this one of six ports of entries between Nepal and China. The

April April is the fourth month of the year in the Gregorian and Julian calendars. It is the first of four months to have a length of 30 days, and the second of five months to have a length of less than 31 days. April is commonly associated with ...

and May 2015 earthquakes essentially closed the route due to numerous landslides and boulders coming down, damaging roads in Nepal and Tibet (China). There was an evacuation and people have been slow to come back, and there is large reduction in trading. Chinese and Nepali officials met in December 2016 to discuss potential reopening of the port in 2017, which was blocked by progress of road construction. The checkpoint finally reopened on 29 May 2019. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the border closed until second week of June 2020, then closed again until further notice (likely thru 2021) due to a landslide since July 9, while also warning of lakeburst of Tso Lake.

Geography

Kodari is located at an altitude of . Kodari is from Kathmandu. The height gain is from to . On a clear day, the Himalayan chain is visible on both sides of the road. From

to Nyalam, a distance of the height gain is from to .

Transport

Kodari is just south of and above the Friendship Bridge

where

becomes

and immediately passes

village in

en route to

Shigatse Shigatse, officially known as Xigazê (; Nepali: ''सिगात्से''), is a prefecture-level city of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Its area of jurisdiction, with an area of , corresponds to the histo ...

. Before the earthquake, tourists traveling between Nepal and the

make substantial use of this crossing, and there was also substantial trans-border trade. Chinese trucks traveling on the Tibet-Nepal Friendship Highway offload goods at Zhangmu and transfer them to Nepalese trucks. Even though the drive between Kodari and Kathmandu is only half an hour, the sourcing logistics and bureaucracy of cross-border trade takes around 2 weeks, as such in 2013 it takes each Nepalese truck almost half a month for a round trip.

Gallery

File:NEPAL Route 2.JPG, The

in Kodari just before the

Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge The Sino-Nepal Friendship Bridge (; ne, मितेरी पुल, ast=''Miterī Pula'') is a bridge spanning the Sun Kosi river, linking Kodari in Sindhulpalchok District, Nepal and Zhangmu, China. Description Opened in 1964, the bridg ...

. File:The Friendship Bridge connecting China with Nepal.jpg, The

with Nepal on the left, and China on the right side of the

Sun Kosi The Sunkoshi, also spelt Sunkosi, is a river of Nepal that is part of the Koshi or Saptkoshi River system in Nepal. Sunkoshi has two source streams, one that arises within Nepal in Choukati, and the other more significant stream that flows in ...

River. File:TIB-grenze-koffertraeger.jpg, Women hard at work at the

border crossing. File:Nepal China Broder Tatopani.jpg, Kodari customs buildings with view of Zhangmu on mountain slope in the background.

External links

* *

References

{{Kosi basin Populated places in Sindhupalchowk District