December 5: With the dipping temperature and completion of the general elections, people living in the mountainous region of Manang district have left their villages and moved downhill to escape the freezing cold.    
Seasonal migration to the downhill from the district is a normal practice for the people of Manang.    
Chief District Officer of Manang, Rabindra Prasad Acharya, said that the locals from Manang have gone to Kathmandu, Pokhara and other places with the onset of the chilling cold. “People of Manang travel to other districts to escape the chilly winter. This time, they migrated downhill a bit late due to the elections,” CDO Acharya informed.    
Generally, people from this district start migrating from early November but this year, they migrated after the elections.

“It is time for snowfall. The water freezes. It is their compulsion to migrate to other districts,” Acharya added.    
The local residents make their journey downhill for almost four months to avoid cold.

“They are forced to migrate as they have difficulties to transport foodstuffs and also the water gets frozen.”    
CDO Acharya, however, said that arrival of tourists continues although the number of visitors is very few. Some tourism entrepreneurs remain here as long as the tourists continue visiting Manang.    
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