Namche Bazaar
नाम्चे बजार | |
|---|---|
 Namche Bazaar with Kongde Ri peak in the background. | |
| Nickname: The Sherpa capital | |
  Namche Bazaar Location in Province No. 1  Namche Bazaar Namche Bazaar (Nepal) | |
| Coordinates: 27°49′N 86°43′E / 27.817°N 86.717°E | |
| Country | Nepal |
| Province | Province No. 1 |
| 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 ⓘ) is a town (formally Namche Village Development Committee) in Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality in Solukhumbu District of Province No. 1 in northeastern Nepal. It is located within the Khumbu area at 3,440 metres (11,286 ft) 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.[1]
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).
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.
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 and stores catering to the needs of visitors as well as a number of internet cafés. 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.[2] A popular local meal is yak steak.
On Saturday mornings, a weekly market is held in the centre of the village. 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.[3][4][5][6]
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 city 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) | 7.0 (44.6) |
6.3 (43.3) |
8.9 (48.0) |
11.8 (53.2) |
13.7 (56.7) |
15.2 (59.4) |
15.9 (60.6) |
16.2 (61.2) |
14.9 (58.8) |
11.8 (53.2) |
8.8 (47.8) |
7.3 (45.1) |
11.5 (52.7) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) |
0.4 (32.7) |
3.2 (37.8) |
6.1 (43.0) |
8.4 (47.1) |
10.6 (51.1) |
11.8 (53.2) |
11.9 (53.4) |
10.4 (50.7) |
6.6 (43.9) |
3.0 (37.4) |
1.1 (34.0) |
6.2 (43.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −7.2 (19.0) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
−2.5 (27.5) |
0.4 (32.7) |
2.9 (37.2) |
5.9 (42.6) |
7.7 (45.9) |
7.6 (45.7) |
6.0 (42.8) |
1.4 (34.5) |
−2.7 (27.1) |
−5.1 (22.8) |
0.7 (33.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 14 (0.6) |
14 (0.6) |
34 (1.3) |
30 (1.2) |
52 (2.0) |
158 (6.2) |
257 (10.1) |
277 (10.9) |
159 (6.3) |
108 (4.3) |
8 (0.3) |
8 (0.3) |
1,119 (44.1) |
| Source 1: Japan International Cooperation Agency[7] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: WWF Nepal (precipitation)[8] | |||||||||||||
"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.
