March 6: Qatar's princess Asma Al-Thani has arrived in Myagdi in course of her expedition to the Annapurna I. The 8,091 metres tall peak is the world's tenth highest mountain and it lies in the Annapurna Rural Municipality-1 in the district.    
Her expedition is managed by the Elite Trekking Company.    
Al-Thani's team landed at Dana of Annapurna-3 via a helicopter of Simrik Air and the expedition is led by Nirmal Purja (Nims) who holds a world record for successfully climbing 14 peaks above 8,000 meters in the world.    
"Two members in our team will be arriving from Pokhara via the land route. The Qatari princess and I will be staying in Dana, which is my birthplace, for two days," Purja said and added that the expedition logistics have been already transported to the Annapurna base camp and the team aides are preparing for the expedition.    
The squad hopes to complete the mission by this month (March). Al-Thani is an experienced climber and she has already successfully scaled Mt Everest, the highest peak in the world, Dhaulagiri, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, Manaslu, and Mt K2 in Pakistan. Upon her arrival here, the team was accorded a warm welcome by the people's representatives in Dana and the Dana folks.    
A civic felicitation was organised for them, according to Annapurna-3 ward chair Ramesh Purja. The local representative said they were happy to welcome the princess from Qatar and Nirmal Purja who has really a significant contribution to introduce Dana and Myagdi to the world and promote Nepal's identity internationally. "Nirmal is one of the world's courageous personalities."    
Dana-based tourism entrepreneur Indra Singh Sherchan said the visit by the Qatari princess would obviously help promote the local tourism and in the promotion of the Annapurna base camp.    
French national Maurice Herzog, was the first person to climb Annapurna I along with Louis Lachenal on June 3, 1950. -- RSS