As three of the country’s seven provinces waded into a damp and wet, second-phase of the local level elections, I had the opportunity to closely follow the campaigns and electioneering in the cities of Province One, where I am based.

2016 marks the 20-year anniversary for aerial sports in Nepal. Since Sunrise Balloon and the Avia Club began offering hot air balloon rides and ultra-light aircraft flights in 1996, the sector has veritably boomed, with Pokhara establishing itself as the regional hub and paragliding emerging as a favourite adventure sport. According to Nepal Tourism Statistics (2015), an annual document published by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, there are currently 70 licensed paragliding companies in the country; out of which, 56 operate out of Pokhara. In 2015, a total of 8,999 paragliders took to the skies (including 5,692 foreign tourists), a huge jump from just 2,135 flyers in 2012. But with the sport reaching a saturation point in the Lake City, congesting airspace, there has been a concerted bid to encourage the sport to spread out over other equally conducive regions around the country.