Ghunsa () is a village of

Taplejung Taplejung District ( ) is one of List of districts of Nepal, seventy-seven districts of Nepal and one of the Districts of Province No. 1, 14 districts of Koshi Province. It is located deep in the Himalayas in Eastern Nepal with Tibet, བོད ...

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

at elevation of 3,475 m and is a major check point for Mt.

Kangchenjunga Kangchenjunga is the third-highest mountain in the world. Its summit lies at in a section of the Himalayas, the ''Kangchenjunga Himal'', which is bounded in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by the Lhonak River and Jongsang La, and ...

. This village came into attention after the helicopter accident that killed 24 passengers including most prominent figures in conservation work.

Inhabitants

The local called themselves Gunsa(wa)pa. They can be classified under larger Walung-ngas tribe. The local language spoken by Gunsawa is Ghunsake, a variation of Walungge family, Walungge . Ethnologue. Retrieved 2017-02-14. "Walungge" of Central Tibetan language. Most inhabitants involves themselves in

subsistence farming Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occ ...

and

yak The yak (''Bos grunniens''), also known as the Tartary ox, grunting ox, hairy cattle, or domestic yak, is a species of long-haired domesticated cattle found throughout the Himalayan region, the Tibetan Plateau, Tajikistan, the Pamir Mountains ...

grazing. The main crops grown are

maize Maize (; ''Zea mays''), also known as corn in North American English, is a tall stout grass that produces cereal grain. It was domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago from wild teosinte. Native American ...

and

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es. Until recently, many households were semi-nomadic in their quest for capital, with the exception of a few trading families. But thanks to the opening of the Kangchendzonga circuit, more young people are now employed in the tourism sector.

Access

Ghunsa can be accessed from Taplejung in three days walk along the bank of

Tamur River The Tamur River is a major river in eastern Nepal, which begins around Kanchenjunga. The Tamor and the Arun join the Sun Koshi at Tribenighat to form the giant Saptakoshi Saptakoshi may refer to: * Koshi River The Kosi or Koshi is a transbo ...

. The trail passes by numerous waterfalls and rivulets making it popular among the trekkers all around the world.

Facilities

*Hotels: There are few hotels that serves for the tourist and local travelers. *Health post: There is one health post in this village *Education: The Ghunsa community is currently served by a six-government-staffed school that was built with the support of a group of climbers from San Francisco. *Microhydro:
35 kw microhydro
has been constructed and is under operation. Water from Ghunsa river is used to run the turbines of this plant. The energy has served to reduce local deforestation and also helped to flourish tourism in neighboring village. Ghunsa landscape - panoramio.jpg, View from Gunsa village

References

{{Reflist Populated places in Nepal