Customized tour planning wherever you would like to go in Nepal or Tibet. We seek to understand your interests and expectations to suggest options and design the perfect tour together with you for an enjoyable and truly memorable experience. Be it in one of the well-known trekking regions, somewhere off the beaten track, or exploring Nepal’s rich cultural heritage.
“Leave nothing behind but joy” – environmental and social responsibility concerns are our concerns too. We are committed to operating in an ethical way, tirelessly working on reducing the negative impacts of tourism. Part of our profit goes to charity activities. But it does not, and should not, end there as we also critically look at the dependence charity can create. We believe in demonstrating good business practices – like paying liveable and fair salaries to our staff, using local produce wherever possible, avoiding rubbish or (if not possible) carrying it back, and respecting nature for example.
Transparency. You will know what service you are getting in for when you book with us. We tell you what the cost includes exactly, and what it excludes, and we stick to that. No nasty surprises on your trip.
If you would like to know more about what these commitments mean for us, please continue reading.
Plan and travel with our experienced team
We have a very experienced team who are also familiar with the less popular routes in remoter parts of the country. So, if you are looking for a tour off the beaten path, we can provide good advice on tour options and put together realistic itineraries, depending on your specific interests, and ensure you have an experienced guide with you. We are one of the few companies that have experience with the Great Himalayan Trail that not many guides in Nepal have completed in its entirety. Overall, most of the guides that are registered in Nepal know only the main most popular trekking regions in Nepal – Annapurna, Everest, Langtang, and perhaps Manaslu which has been becoming more popular. Most agencies therefore also recommend treks in these regions as they lack experienced staff.
Our service
We are seeking to offer quality service to our clients on their trips, and our experienced team is only one aspect of this. You should know what you will get in your package when you compare the pricing that different agencies offer. Booking with us, you will know what will be included in the price you pay, and what not. It is important for us to offer you quality service so that you can have an enjoyable, relaxed experience not worrying about your accommodation, and whether you will get enough food and drinks on the way.
We are aware that many trekking agencies offer cheaper prices than we do. In most of these cases, clients will find out only once they are already on the way, which in reality is included in the cost they paid. It has become a usual practice that clients are told on the trek that would only be allowed to order one item from the menu per meal and often not even hot drinks like tea or coffee are included – meaning that you could not have a soup and something else for lunch or dinner, or for breakfast you would have either bread or eggs, for example, but not both. The restriction on hot drinks and soups we find particularly concerning, as your body needs lots of fluids to adjust well to the altitude as you get higher up. So, clients often end up paying quite substantial additional amounts directly at lodges on the way. We also know of cases where clients had not expected such additional cost and did not even bring much extra cash, not just making it stressful for them but in fact, it puts people (or their trip) at risk – as they may experience health issues or problems in adjusting to the altitude due to the said reasons.
If your clients wish, we can provide different cost options, e.g. full board or a “restricted” option, but with full transparency – so that you know before you book what to expect.
Environmental responsibility
We are well known not only for providing a high standard of service for the trekking groups but also for social fairness and ecological responsibility are key principles of our company. Since our establishment, nature has been our concern and the preservation of our cultural and natural heritage. We live by our slogan “leave nothing behind except joy” – making sure to leave behind clean camping grounds and that rubbish is either burnt or brought back to dispose of properly. On our treks, we use as much as possible local, fresh food and we never bring canned food items. Using local fresh food not only reduces rubbish and transport but also supports the local farmers.
But also on so-called teahouse treks, where you stay in lodges along the route, the environment is a concern. We do not support buying drinking water in plastic bottles but strongly recommend bringing water purification tablets and your own sturdy reusable water bottles on the trip. In the lodges, you can also get boiled and sometimes filtered water.
Social responsibility
Social fairness and ecological responsibility (as is in our name) are key principles of our company. We would like interested clients to consider also that when comparing different trekking agencies and their price offers.
Part of social fairness is also paying liveable, fair salaries to our staff (guides and porters). All our staff have insurance coverage for the trips. Although this has now been made mandatory by government law, this is often avoided by trekking companies to save on costs. We are convinced that client happiness and staff satisfaction are closely connected – in order to make the client happy and to provide the best service, also staff needs to be content and motivated. We are aware that many low-cost trekking tours are being offered as well – often not abiding by government regulations, though this is not transparent for clients. Often tax is evaded, staff (guides and porters) are paid less than the legally mandated rates and they may not be covered by insurance. With less than liveable wages that many companies pay their staff, and the rising costs of living also in Nepal, staff may then often beforced to look for alternative income on the way, which may also adversely affect the trekking experience and the service provided to clients. The stories of fake helicopter rescue, for example, and high commissions being shared by trekking agencies and rescue service providers have hit also the international news and may still be remembered. And that is just one way for companies to compensate for cheap price offers.
