SUDESHNA SARKAR IANS LESS than a year after Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio made an incognito visit to Nepal, guess who is here to continue Hollywood’s tryst with the land of the Himalayas? It’s actress Demi Moore.

The 48-year-old star of movies like Ghost, Indecent Proposal and Disclosure, was in Nepal to visit the birthplace of the Buddha as well as familiarise herself with Maiti Nepal, the country’s biggest anti-trafficking NGO that became known worldwide last year after its founder Anuradha Koirala won an online poll to become CNN’s hero of the year.

Moore, who is hitting the headlines more for her romance and marriage with Ashton Kucher, an actor 15 years younger, than her career, came to Nepal on the invitation of Koirala.

During the visit, kept a tightly guarded secret, Moore, the highest paid actress in the 1990s, went to southern Nepal and was introduced to some local celebrities like Nepali singer Rajesh Payal Rai.

Dressed in simple outfits like tight fawn slacks topped with a light blouse and a figure-hugging black dress, Moore blended easily with the other Western tourists, hardly creating a ripple till Thursday, the day of her departure.

Known for her adventurous ways, especially appearing nude on Vanity Fair when she was seven months pregnant, Moore’s assistance is being sought to promote the work of Maiti Nepal, which besides rescuing trafficked victims, runs rehabilitation homes, schools for victims’ children as well as a hospice.

The star visit also comes as a shot in the arm for the government of Nepal, which is seeking to draw 1 million airborne tourists this year to kickstart the flagging economy.

Last year, DiCaprio came to Nepal courtesy World Wildlife Fund to promote its campaign to double the number of surviving tigers in the world, including over 120 in Nepal.

Other celebs to have casually dropped in are Hollywood icon and the Dalai Lama’s friend Richard Gere, Cameron Diaz, Eva Mendes, Cher and Sting.