Nepal adventure trekking holiday

country:	Nepal
departures:	2010: 28 Mar, 4 Apr, 18 Apr, 9 May, 19 Sep, 10 Oct, 24 Oct, 7 Nov, 28 Nov, 19 Dec
price:	From £765 - £825 (15 days) excluding flights. From £845 - £975 for private group departures. Price includes accommodation, transport, including transfers and some meals
vouchers:	Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday

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introduction to Nepal adventure trekking holiday

This tour provides a taste of all that Nepal has to offer, with time spent exploring the ancient city of Kathmandu, a short trek in the foothills of the majestic Annapurna mountain range, some easy white-water rafting on the Seti river, and a range of wildlife safaris in Chitwan National Park. Taken together, you enjoy a comprehensive introduction to the history & culture, natural beauty, and adventure that Nepal has to offer.

The tour starts in Kathmandu with a city tour before we head west through the heart of Nepal to the beautiful lakeside town of Pokhara, at the foot of the Annapurna mountain range. A short drive into the hills takes us to our trekking start point.

Passing through small rural villages, forests, and terraced farmland, you climb up to Ghorepani for great mountain views from Poon Hill. We then descend through varied countryside into the Kali Gandaki river valley - the deepest gorge in the world - where you walk downstream along the river, passing long donkey caravans, before returning to Pokhara.

Next we enjoy two days rafting on the River Seti, one of Nepal's warmest, and gentler rivers, passing through a beautiful jungle filled valley, with plenty of easy but exciting Class II-III rapids, suitable for anyone over 12 years of age.

You spend the next few days in Chitwan National Park, with time for relaxing and plenty of jungle activities. A canoe ride down the Rapti River is an idyllic way to see some of the rare breeds of birds that use the waterway. A Jungle walk through the park follows, hopefully seeing Sloth Bear, tiger or rhino. The next day includes an elephant ride and jeep safari, visiting the crocodile breeding project en route. You finish with a visit to a local Tharu village followed by an evening cultural program.

Then it’s another interesting and scenic drive back to Kathmandu and a little extra sightseeing or exploring before your tour ends and you say farewell to Nepal. Options are also available to tour Patan & Bhaktapur on the outskirts of Kathmandu, do a mountain flight to view Everest, or extend the tour to do some more technical & demanding rafting on the Bhote Khosi river, or visit the Royal Bardia National Park. We also offer a version of this tour without the rafting section.

day-by-day itinerary

Day 1:	Arrive in Kathmandu. Transfer from airport to hotel.
Day 2:	Kathmandu - city tour (B).
Day 3:	Travel by road to Pokhara (B).
Day 4:	Start trek to Ghandruk (B,L,D).
Day 5:	Trek to Tadapani (B,L,D).
Day 6:	Trek to Ghorepani (B,L,D).
Day 7:	Sunrise on Poon Hill. Trek to Tatopani (hot springs) (B,L,D).
Day 8:	Trek to Beni. Drive to Pokhara (B,L).
Day 9:	Rafting on the Seti (B,L,D).
Day 10:	Rafting on the Seti. Drive to Chitwan National Park (B,L,D).
Day 11:	Chitwan National Park - safari activities (B,L,D).
Day 12:	Chitwan National Park - safari activities (B,L,D).
Day 13:	Drive from Chitwan to Kathmandu (B).
Day 14:	Kathmandu - free day. Various options available (B).
Day 15:	Kathmandu. Free time. Transfer to airport for flight (B)

how this holiday makes a difference

This tour is designed to take our travellers right into the heart of the Nepalese countryside, introducing them to its people, culture and wildlife, and not cocooning them from it. This is helped by the multi-activity nature of the itinerary, by keeping our group sizes small (max 12, normally 6-8) and also running the tour privately for families, couples or groups of friends.

We take responsible travel very seriously, and have given some details below of how this is implemented on this tour.

Local people:

Our local operations in Nepal are run by a former employee whom we have supported over the years as we have worked and grown together, and who now has his own professional family run agency.
We use fully-trained local Nepalis as our trekking & safari guides, reps and tour leaders, rather than flying in Western leaders whose knowledge and love of the country will never be as full or passionate. We’re proud that the friendly family-run nature of our Nepalese tours really comes across to our travellers.
We use locally family owned and operated hotels and lodges wherever possible, and one of the highlights of the tour is finding and enjoying a wide range of small local restaurants and traditional Nepalese food.
We support and follow the guidelines set up by the IPPG (International Porter Protection Group) for all our trekking porters.
We give information and advice to our travellers on how to respect local customs and religious practices, giving them a greater understanding of the local people and culture.

Environment:

The main journeys between Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan are done using public transport (tourist buses), so reducing extra vehicle miles and resulting pollution and energy use.
While rafting, we explain the importance of keeping the river environment clean to all our travellers and ensure any waste produced while we are on the river is either buried (if suitable) or taken away with us.
Explanations are given while trekking of how to conserve scarce fuel resources, as well as reducing litter & waste production (for example by not ordering numerous different items from trekking lodge menus, and by treating water rather than buying mineral water bottles).
We have a recycling policy in our UK and local offices and re-use or recycle the information booklets we provide to every client on arrival wherever possible.
We do not produce a glossy brochure, concentrating on a comprehensive website, and providing as much information to our travellers as possible electronically, reducing the use of paper and inks.

Local projects & charity support:

We donate £2 for every person travelling on this tour towards local projects – one supporting a small school in rural Nepal, as well as supporting the International Porter Protection Group, the Kathmandu Environmental Protection Project, and the Himalayan Rescue Association.
Our travellers are welcome to visit these projects and support them personally if they wish.
The company also supports further projects and charities internationally.

Responsible tourism: We send all our travellers a copy of our responsible tourism policy before their holiday, and encourage them to read it and join us in following the ideas and suggestions contained within it.

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.

check out similar holiday ideas...

Nepal holidays here| Small group adventure holidays here