Gandaki. The mountain goats were descending to Pokhara via Lumle of Kaski district on Tuesday. Long queues of mountain goats were seen on the Pokhara-Baglung highway. The traders were moving the mountain goats with a sigh. The herd of goats gave a hint of Dashain. The mountain goats have been diverted from Mustang to Pokhara for the festival.

Before the start of Navratri, the mountain goats started entering here. Thousands of mountain goats are bought and sold in Pokhara every year. Traders start selling mountain goats brought from Mustang in the Simpani area of Pokhara. Especially, the purchase of mountain goats has been high since the Dashain festival.

During Dashain, mountain goats, sheep and chews are brought from Pokhara, Baglung and other urban areas of the region. Most of the traders go to the trans-Himalayan district of Mustang to buy mountain goats during Dashain. They spend weeks and the same amount of time to bring the mountain goats. Entrepreneurs Mahendra KC and Gyan Bahadur Karki together brought down 59 mountain goats in Baglung this year.

KC said that the mountain goats were brought from Jomsom of Mustang. According to him, he paid Rs 38,500 for the mountain goats in Mustang and sold them to Baglung for Rs 45,000. “The mountain goats are being sold at Rs 45,000 while the chelu is being sold at Rs 40,000,” KC said, adding, “The mountain goats are sold at Rs 2200 per kg and the chelu is priced at Rs 1800 per kg.” KC has also been selling mountain goat meat from ‘Nawadurga Meat Shop’ at Baglung Municipality-2 during the Dashain festival.

He said that he started selling mountain goats after there was a high demand for mountain goat meat during the Dashain festival. It has been a decade since KC started trading mountain goats. According to him, the number of mountain goats in Baglung is less than before. “There used to be around two thousand mountain goats in a single Dashain festival, but now the price of mountain goats has gone up,” KC said.

Traders say that the price of mountain goats has almost doubled after the Covid-19 pandemic. According to them, low mountain goat farming and increasing tax are also the reasons behind the rise in prices. Traders have complained that they are facing more trouble due to the payment of fees and taxes at various places including the local level.

Entrepreneurs have been transporting mountain goats from Jomsom, Kagbeni and Chamar among other places of Mustang. It takes a week to reach Pokhara from there via Myagdi, Baglung and Parbat. Mustang mountain goats reach Kathmandu via Pokhara. Niraj Thakali, a youth entrepreneur from Mustang, said that they are bringing mountain goats to Kathmandu in ten trucks and two trucks to Pokhara from Baisari of Myagdi on Tuesday.

A truck can accommodate 80 to 90 mountain goats. Thakali said that out of the two hundred mountain goats he had brought, one hundred were being sent to Pokhara and one hundred to Kathmandu. “Around 10,000 mountain goats will reach Pokhara and five thousand mountain goats in Kathmandu this year”, he said, adding that some traders have returned with mountain goats while some are on their way. ’

Although mountain goats are transported from Mustang to Kathmandu via Baglung and Pokhara, some traders have been transporting mountain goats to Pokhara. Although other meat-based dishes are available throughout the year, consumers have to buy goats during Dashain. Mountain goat meat is the choice of consumers during Dashain. Mountain goats are considered tasty and healthy because they have grown on herbs in the Himalayan climate.