Solukhumbu District


Solukhumbu District is one of 14 districts of Province No. 1 of eastern Nepal. As the name suggests, it consists of the subregions Solu and Khumbu.
The district, with Salleri as its headquarters, covers an area of and had a population 107,686 in 2001 and 105,886 in 2011.
Mount Everest is in the northern part of this district, within Sagarmatha National Park.
Indigenous ethnic Kulung, Kirat Rai and hill caste Chhetri are the main groups living in the mid-hills, while Sherpas occupy the high mountains.
There is a notable hiking trail known as the Solukhumbu Trail.

History

Historically, Solukhumbu was part of Kirata Kingdoms in early and midival era. It was a part of Majhkirat.
Before unification of Nepal by king of Gorkha, the area of the Solukhumbu district were part of Chaudandi of Majhkirat. In 1773 AD King of Gorkha attacked and absorbed it in Nepal.
The Solukhumbu district established in 1962 carving out the old East No. 3 district. Before 1962 present Solukhumbu, Okhaldhunga and some parts of Khotang previously were one district "East No. 3". Solu and Rawa thums carved out from East No. 3 to create Solukhumbu District.

Geography and climate

Solukhumbu is a Himalayan district of Province No. 1 of Nepal, situated on the north-west corner of province. It is one out of 3 Himalayan districts of Province No. 1. Total area of district is. It is situated between Lat. 27°20'39" to 28°6'24" North and Long. 86°0'21" to 87°0'1" East. The highest elevation of district is and the lowest elevation is above sea level. The district is surrounded by Sankhuwasabha in east, Bhojpur in south-east, Khotang and Okhaldhunga in south, Bagmati Pradesh in west and Tibet in north.
Extremely diverse geography of Solukhumbu district can be categorized in three levels:

Khumbu Himal (Highland mountains)

and other Himalayan mountain ranges are located in this section. This section is located on the northern border with Tibet. Mount Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Gyachung Kang etc. are some of the world's highest mountains in this range.

Khumbu region (Highland valley)

is the highland region which is worldwide famous for treking and hiking. Kulung and Sherpa are the main inhabitants in this region. Khumbu Pasanglhamu is the administrative division in this region. It includes the town of Namche Bazaar as well as the villages of Thame, Khumjung, Pangboche, Pheriche and Kunde. The famous Buddhist monastery at Tengboche is also located in the Khumbu.

Solu region (Mid-hills)

Lower Solukhumbu is the part of Mid-hills region. It is less famous for treking. Sherpa also are main inhabitants with other cast in this region. Salleri, Chaulakharka, Salyan, Kangel, Sotang etc. are the town in lower Solukhumbu.
Climate ZoneElevation Range% of Area
Upper Tropical300 to 1,000 meters
1,000 to 3,300 ft.		 0.7%
Subtropical1,000 to 2,000 meters
3,300 to 6,600 ft.		 9.3%
Temperate2,000 to 3,000 meters
6,400 to 9,800 ft.		20.6%
Subalpine3,000 to 4,000 meters
9,800 to 13,100 ft.		16.6%
Alpine4,000 to 5,000 meters
13,100 to 16,400 ft.		28.3%
Nivalabove 5,000 meters24.4%

Administrative divisions

Solukhumbu is dived into 8 local level units, 1 unit is urban and 7 are rural. They are further divided into wards. Solukhumbu is single seat constituency for parliamentary constituency and double seat for provincial constituency. Solukhumbu district coordination committee coordinates between local and provincial governments. Solukhumbu district administration office co-operates with Solukhumbu DCC to maintain peace, order and security in the district. The officer of District Administration office called CDO.

Former divisions (1990–2016)

Formerly, Solukhumbu district was divided into many Village development committees. In 2014 Dudhkunda municipality was established merging some Village development committees. In 2016 all other Village development committee nullified and introduced rural municipality thus all former Village development committees grouped into 7 units and announced 7 rural municipality.
There were 35 Village Development Committees in Solukhumbu District:

Tourism

Solukhumbu District is a familiar name in mountain tourism. The main attraction is Mount Everest. UNESCO has listed the Sagarmatha National Park as a World Heritage site. Sherpa culture and Tengboche Monastery are unique to this district. The Khumjung village is famous for Sherpa culture. Gokyo valley and Khumbu valley are the major Himalayan valleys famous among the adventure and nature seekers. Gokyo Lake trek, Island peak climbing, , Mera Peak climbing, Mount Everest Exepedition, Amadablam expedition, and Lobuche peak climbing are the popular adventure trips in Solukhumbu district. This district is well known for adventure holidays.

Interesting places

Some Interesting places for tourism, treking and hiking.

Transportation

Roadways

, the headquarter of Solukhumbu is connected by road. One can travel to Solukhumbu by road from national capital Kathmandu. Salleri is situated at distance of from Kathmandu. B.P. Koirala Highway connects Kathmandu to Bhimeshwar at distance of. At Bhimeshwar B.P. Koirala Highway joins Mid-Hills Highway and Mid-hills highway runs through the hills to the junction of Ghurmi,. At Ghurmi the road moves north and runs to reach Salleri. At many places roads are not pitched and conditions are not good. There are bus services available from Kathmandu to Salleri. Jeep and cars also can be find.

Airways

There are four regional airports available in Solukhumbu district. There are many flights and air-services are available.
Location servedICAOIATAAirport nameCoordinates
KangeldandaVNKLKangeldanda Airport
LuklaVNLKLUATenzing-Hillary Airport
Solu DudhkundaVNPLPPLPhaplu Airport
SyangbocheVNSBSYHSyangboche Airport

Demographics

Total population of Solukhumbu district according to the is 105,886 individuals living in 23,758 households, in which 54686 are female.
36.8% of the population speak Nepali, 16.8% Sherpa, 20.3% Tamang, 9.2% Kulung, 8.7% Thulung, 8.5% Khaling, 3.8% Nachhiring, 2.4% Bahing, 1.5% Magar, 0.7% Maithili and 0.6% Newari as their first language.
56.0% of the population in the district speak Nepali and 1.8% Sherpa as their second language.
Sherpas are largest ethnic group of the district. They are 25% of whole population. Rai comes second with 20% Continually Chhetri-15%, Tamang-10%, Kulung-9% and 30% others.

Notable people