Five go Trekking – the perfect antidote to Hockey camp, GCSEs, and Life

I felt compelled to write this to encourage anyone with youngish families not to overlook trekking in Nepal as quite the most fantastic trip/holiday.

I had wanted to take my family trekking in Nepal for some time but was held back by the “Maoist troubles” and by a concern that our youngest daughter Lucy (aged 10) wouldn’t cope with the rigour of a day’s trekking. John Burlison had told me that he routinely went trekking with Kerr and Downey in Nepal, managed by Duncan and Rachel Baker and that they were highly recommended so I began a correspondence with them both culminating in meeting Duncan in London last year. I was totally sold on the idea and in December 2008, family Mackaness assembled at Heathrow airport to fly with Gulf Air via Bahrain to Kathmandu.

We decided to go with another family and our friends who we travelled with had carbon copy children in terms of age and sex (two older boys and a younger girl). I think this was terribly helpful as the children could gang up as a group or as pairs throughout the holiday. As such we had dealt a killing blow to the sometimes inevitable haranguing that can accompany such trips such as “When are we there?”, “When are leaving”, “I’m bored”, and “Alexander just hit me”. The two other adults (it turned out) had both travelled to Nepal as 20somethings and knew exactly what life on the hill was like so that for me took away altogether any compulsion of me acting as holiday chaperon .

	Machhapuchhre

Our trip was a little over 2 weeks in duration and we were in the hands of Duncan’s company from the moment we arrived in Kathmandu. The next day we were in Pokhara Lakeside and were introduced to our guide. Duncan had selected Premprasad Gurung ex CSM from 1/2GR (ret’d 1988) who was our guide and mentor and made our fantastic adventure the holiday of a life time. Although he and I had never met, it seemed we were life long friends such is the strength of the 2nd Gurkha DNA. He marshalled the children when they needed rifting, he mothered them when they needed mothering, was friend, confidant and inspiration to us all. He had us in raptures listening to his story of recruitment, his first journey on a train to Dehra Dun to Calcutta and thence to Malaya on steam ship, for me it was like hearing a history lesson and for the children an account of a rites of passage: we were spellbound by his story telling and frank honesty!

It had been 14 years since I last visited Nepal and immediately apparent was the deterioration in air quality as we approached Kathmandu from India. It seemed as if a huge pollution belt was sitting wedged against the Himalayas. We saw the same at close range when we flew the next day to Pokhara - a noticeable brown layer of smog sitting below the high peaks. Other changes were far more subtle. Noticeable in Kathmandu were peak caps adorned with “New Republic of Nepal”. It reminded me of the “New Labour” slogan – I suspect little will change despite rhetoric and promise. The police also looked slightly menacing in their new paramilitary uniforms tramping around Tamil and Lakeside looking for trouble but I’m glad to say not finding any. But beyond these rather superficial changes it was hard for me to conclude that life for the average Nepalese had changed much. Once up in the hills there seemed little for a tourist to see of the impact of the Maoist campaign on the lives of the locals and with a smattering of broken Nepali to aid us, everywhere we went we were met with the most wonderful hospitality that all readers would expect. Christopher Lavender will be particularly pleased to know that the copy of Meerendonk’s dictionary that he kindly gave to me when I joined the 2nd Battalion in 1991 was an excellent companion throughout the trip!

Our trek was along the Madi Khola which eventually finds its way up to Annupurna Base Camp(ABC). For many readers this will be familiar territory but the main villages of note are Birethanti and Ghandruk which I had never visited before. The trek lies close to the popular routes to ABC and the trek up to Jomosom but at Christmas time it seemed the paths were particularly quiet. The Lodges we stayed in were simply wonderful. The staff at each camp looked after us like royalty and took the children under their wing immediately on arrival. Our children were taught the game of Tigers and Goats which they became fanatics of and quite proficient. The days followed a routine, familiar to most readers but Happy Hour at 1800 followed by supper and a roaring log fire left us feeling very ready for a sound nights sleep. And yes, the PJ’s wrapped around a hot water bottle was something totally new to me but most welcome!

I wouldn’t presume to bore readers with a blow by blow account of our amazing trip suffice to say full details of Duncan and Rachel’s company can be found at http://www.trekking-nepal.com I would go so far to say that this adventure was simply a holiday of a life time. The children were totally engaged and when we came back they shared with us their hi-lights as follows:

Lucy (10): seeing all the schools and children, the rapids on the rafting trip and walking down hill!

Harry (12): Hot Chocolate at breakfast (!), Rafting, and seeing Langur monkeys near Tadapani

Alexander (14): Lunchtime noodle soup on arrival at every lodge, the flight to Pokhara and walking with the porters

The Children had also raised a large sum of money by walking along the Trailwalker route one wet October weekend and one of the high points was handing over the monies to the village Mother Group in Dharampani on the Seti River where one of Duncan’s lodges is located. There had been a significant amount of planning and effort in this project and I am indebted to Rachel for making this happen. But if I may I will hand over to my children who wrote this account of their adventures for their various sponsors.

Dear all,

Thank you so much for your generosity towards our fund for Kanyadevi school. In total, the two families have managed to raise £3500. This is a huge amount and before we went out to Nepal, we did not realize how much difference it could make.

Our holiday to Nepal was a trip of a lifetime, and we feel extremely privileged to have been able to visit this amazing country. We enjoyed every single second of the trip, and have so many highlights from every day.

It was very special to be able to trek in Nepal, and see the amazing views of the Annapurna mountain range, this view rarely disappeared throughout the whole trip because of the great weather. Our favourite view was probably of the famous Fish Tail Mountain (Machhapuchhre), which is 6997 meters high and is unclimbed by anyone. Walking through all the Nepalese villages and seeing all the people working, farming, and collecting water really made us realize how hard these people’s lives are. However, whenever we walked past anyone, they would always greet us with a smile and a “Namaste”, they were always so kind to us, and they loved to stop and chat to practice their English and us our Nepalese.

After the trekking we rafted along the Seti River to our camp which was 500m below Dharampani school village in the Tanuhan district, mid hills of Nepal. The next day the sun was shining and we were getting ready for what was probably the highlight of our trip. First we handed over the £1900 to the manager of the Seti river camp; he would be responsible for keeping the money safe and also giving the money to the school when needed. We climbed 500m up the side of the valley and soon entered the village of Dharampani, and in front of us stood the whole village! We walked under an archway of two banana trees and were kindly given a garland of flowers. It was amazing and we all felt like royalty! We were led through the village and out again, and walked for another half a mile and soon we got to the school. In front of us were all the children lined up, clapping. We walked through another banana tree archway and were given another garland and a silk scarf with the eight Buddhist symbols on for good luck. We greeted the children and their 2 teachers, and everyone formed a large circle. Dad went into the middle and spoke in Nepalese to them, he told them that we had raised the money and said that half of it (£950) was going to fund one of the kindergarten teachers at the school, but he explained that the camp manager would give this money every month. We think that this is a good use of the money because the money will last a long time (around 5 years) because it is being used slowly. Also it gives the school a teacher who is secure which will mean stability for the children. Finally as the Government do not pay for kindergarten teachers it means that the village do not have to worry about raising the money for this. The main source of income for the village school is farming selling crops at local markets about 3-6 hours away. The school is not on the tourist map and therefore does not benefit from mainstream tourism. The other half of the money, (£950) will be used for maintenance, repairs and for new developments at the school. Again this is kept with the camp manager who will buy the supplies himself when needed and then give them to the school.

	A classroom at the school

After the speech we played with the children and got out a balloon which they loved! Each village have a mother group who coordinate life in the village and the head of the mother group in Dahrampani gave a thank you speech in response to our generosity. After the talk we looked inside the classrooms, they were small, dark and had some benches and a chalk board. We realized how lucky we are going to our schools with nice classrooms and excellent facilities, and also how this money could change these children’s lives.

As we raised more money than we ever expected we are really excited that we are able to sponsor another Nepalese school. We have decided to give the remainder of the money to support the village school of our guide during out trek. Prem is an ex 2nd Ghurkha and has retired from the army. Prem taught us so much about his country in his gentle, caring way and by the end of the trip he was like a true friend to us all. It is the first time that anyone has sponsored his village and when we made the offer we felt so pleased to help. We have decided that the money should be put towards funding a teacher and we are in middle of sorting out how to move this forward.

The conditions of these two donations are that we get progress reports every year about how the school has spent the money and how the school is getting on.

Thank you so much again for your generosity, as you can see we had the most amazing trip and we were so lucky to have had this experience. We are going to stay in contact with Prem and the school and will let you know of any further developments.

Happy New Year
Alexander, Harry and Lucy

From Wayne and Theresa Stilling
British Columbia, Canada
November 2007

Namaste!

I wanted to email on behalf of Teresa and myself to express our total satisfaction with our trek last month. We are back home in snowy and cold Canada, but our memories are still fresh of the wonderful time we had in Nepal with Ker & Downey.

Your staff, all of them, are to be congratulated and complimented for the care and attention they lavished on us during our entire stay.

In Kathmandu, Umesh was always accessible and available to transport us, entertain us and inform us. he made our stay there very enjoyable, which was very important as we were in a bit of culture shock on arrival.

All of the staff on the trek was awesome. Without detracting from any of them, a few people deserve special mention for their extraordinary efforts to make our trek a most happy memory. First and foremost was Iman, our guide. He was always there for us and ensured that any difficulties or issues were quickly and painlessly resolved. He was very informative and supportive, often giving us hike options and letting us determine the details of how we wanted the trek to go. He was very patient with our limitations and lack of conditioning and made sure we were fully informed and comfortable at all times. He was very patient with Mimi's constant questioning. I enjoyed his wry sense of humour and we got along quite well. By the end of the trek, I believe we had become friends and many of my best memories involve things he did or said to make our trek the best possible experience for us. He even (in concert with Teresa, I believe), arranged a surprise birthday cake for me on my birthday, which was celebrated at Gurung Lodge. It was made in the kitchen there, so obviously, he had made plans in advance to arrange this. I was very moved, so much that on our return to Kathmandu, I went out and bought a trekking watch just like his for myself! Apart from being very useful, it will be a lasting memory of him.

Our porters were also fabulous. They watched over us and made sure they were nearby to assist as needed at all times. Both Milan and Dinesh (our porters) are young, and were full of energy, fun, playfulness and spirit. Their happy attitude was infectious and made the trek much more fun. Dinesh spoke virtually no English, but we communicated well with hand, body, and facial expressions and he was a joy to be with. He even laughed at all my jokes, even though he didn't understand them. Finally, someone who appreciates my sense of humour!!

The lodge staff were very hospitable and provided good support and service, everything from laundry to campfires to massages. The food was very tasty and plentiful. Is the national dessert of Nepal Kit Kat bars? We sure got a lot of them and they became valued commodities, hoarded by trekkers for the trail. Happy hour each night was a great activity and social convention.

Anyway, I can't remember all the names of your lodge staff, but you are lucky to have such pleasant and hard working people at the lodges. We were also very pleased with the lodges themselves. All of them were very clean, well set up, and very comfortable. The hot water bottles at night were a particular hit among our group.

Bilbal, our river rafting guide, was very calming and competent and turned what could have been a very nervous raft ride into a happy and non-threatening adventure.

In short, I am having trouble thinking of anything to criticise about this trek. It was well organized right from booking. You Rachel were very organized and informative and made us feel right away and throughout that we could have confidence booking this trip and venturing into a totally foreign environment.

I have shown our pictures around among our friends and have had much positive feedback. I fully expect you will hear from some of them as we have highly recommended you to them. I am going to try and arrange another trek to bring my adult daughters to see Nepal before they become encumbered by careers, marriages and children.

Thank you Rachel!! Thank you Iman!! Thank you Dinesh, Milan, MB, Bilbal, Umesh and all the other support staff who contribute to our experiences. We will never forget you or this trek.

Wayne and Teresa Stilling.

From Linda Denniff: Bristol. England

Dear Rachel and Duncan

I just wanted to thank you on behalf of myself and my family for a fantastic holiday - we were looked after exceptionally well throughout the trek and the rafting and we have come away with many happy memories. The rum punch and the Christmas cake were especially appreciated. Mani was a brilliant guide, we learnt so much from him and Kani and Kamal were a pleasure to have around. It worked very well as a family holiday and I would recommend it to anyone (let me know if you ever want me to do this I can email from my private email address if required). Thanks once again.

Linda

From Peter and Daryl Jacobs

Nov 20, 2006

My wife and I have just finished a 7 day trek with Raju Kunwar as our M.B. 1 as our porter. This was our first experience of trekking and both of us - but particularly my wife - were anxious, unsteady on our feet and very, very slow. From the start Raju gave my wife a helping hand whenever necessary and support and encouragement all the time.

As the trek progressed he identified accurately when help was needed and when it was not. At the same time M.B. 1 was providing me with the same kind of support. This meant that we built confidence very quickly and were able to have some of the best days of our lives even in what was a difficult environment for us.

In addition, Raju explained the wildlife and village customs clearly and in a most interesting way. He does not have as much confidence in his English as he should - his pronunciation was as clear as any of the guides and better than some.

Somehow Raju and M.B. 1 were on hand to help even without being asked. They made us feel very safe and special.

I should add that the same can be said for the staff at all the lodges we stayed at.

I have thanked Raju but would appreciate it if you could pass on our comments to him. We feel that he and M.B. 1 are friends.

Peter Jacob

From Coral Allen, London, England

Dear Duncan and Rachel,

I wanted to thank you both for organising the holiday of a lifetime for us - it was such an adventure from start to finish, still can't quite believe it!!! Have been explaining to everyone I meet exactly what we did .... and it all sounds such fun, and everyone always looks green with envy.... riding on elephants, rafting, trekking in the mountains, all in one holiday!!

You both (especially Rachel, I'm sure as she is admin queen!) organised the whole trip so immaculately .... we felt so well looked after, from having wonderful porters with us on the treks, to seamless hotel, taxi, meal arrangements!! I never lifted a finger, I was transported to the next destination, told what to pack, where to be etc.

Duncan, we were both in awe at what you have built.... it is truly an amazing feat, each lodge is so well located, and decorated in perfect keeping with the environment it is in, and what is available - luxury for most Nepalese! The foresight you had to make it all happen is really no mean achievement. Not that you could run it so efficiently if it wasn't for Rachel!! and the fabulous team of Nepalese. I was really bowled over by how nice all the Nepalese people are, never heard an angry word, or encountered one person who did not smile back at me (maybe apart from the tailor who was fed up of doing my alterations on my leather goods!!).

Enough said - it was a fantastic couple of weeks, of which we will guard the memories forever. Have been perusing all the photos, and reminiscing ever since!

A million thanks again to you both.

Coral & Hugo

From Charlotte Plouvier, Salamanica, Spain

Hello Rachel,
I promised that I would drop you a line when we got back, so here we go...

We had a wonderful holiday - and I'm pleased to say that it was just that: a real holiday. We were so well looked after by your staff that we were able to combine quite vigorous walking with complete relaxation, which is exactly what we were looking for. Mani was a very pleasant guide/companion: he chatted to us fluently and easily (and often made us laugh), yet knew when to shut up when we just wanted quiet thinking time. He (and the other staff) also did everything possible to make sure that we were able to go rafting. We really appreciate this, as it would have been very easy just to say that it wasn't possible, and be done with it.

We thought that the best food was in Dhampus...until we went to the Seti camp, where the cook surpassed himself in providing a complete buffet meal for just the two of us. It was absolutely delicious.

What else...oh, if there's one thing I could suggest, it would be give future trekkers a little information about the Ghurkas (maybe with the trek notes). I felt quite embarassed by my lack of knowledge (that they had also fought in WW1, for example). O.K, not all trekkers will have a guide whose father was a Ghurka, but as it plays such an important part in the local economy that I'm sure everyone would be interested to know more.

We met Fran and John at Sanctuary Lodge and have decided that next time we can get away we would like to do the Annapurna Sanctuary trek. I'll be in touch in a few years!

Finally, thank you to you, Rachel, for helping me to plan this trip. Sorry that we never met! Oh well, next time...

Kindest Regards
Charlotte

From Brian O'Bree, England

Dear Duncan & Rachel,
I am very sorry we didn't get to speak before we left Pokhara.

On behalf of all of the extended O'Bree group, I want to pass on a huge thank you. We had a super trek. The route you selected was perfect. The walk up to Ghandruk was really worth it with the feeling of being so much closer to the himal. The weather was pretty kind to us too. Even when we did get a bit wet, on the walk up to Majgaun on the 22nd, the warm tea waiting for us at the Gurung Lodge followed by wonderfully hot showers made us forget it in a flash. You are to be congratulated on the Lodges you have. They are in excellent locations, very comfortable with delicious, plentiful food and friendly staff. The porters we had, MB Pun, Deokaji, Reban, Nuri and Gopal were first class; always there with the water and ready to lend a hand if need be on the more tricky slopes. Above all, Madhav was outstanding. What a special fellow he is. He became a good friend to us all (even though he started to win at liar dice as soon as he learnt to play!!) Please tell them all that we were very happy with our short time with them and again, a big thank you.

With best wishes from us all,
Brian

From Matulac, NYC, USA

Dear Ms. Baker

I don't know whether you remember me or not (this thank you is rather belated), but I wanted to write to you to thank you for all the help you provided while I was planning a trip to Nepal, which I would like to add was one of the greatest things I ever experienced. I took a trip with Karna and Madhav Lama that took me up near the Annapurna range two summers ago now, 2004.

I just wanted to write and express how much I enjoyed every aspect of the trip from planning to the arrival to the hiking itself. Madhav was a great travel companion. He was informative and genial and always willing to offer help, and always seemed to know when to offer help. I learned so much, and I think that it was predominantly because from the first stages of preparation you and everyone at Ker and Downey were so helpful and thoughtful that all loose ends were addressed, so that I only had to concentrate on having a great experience, which I did.

Literally, it was a dream come true. I saw the Himalayas. I saw a foreign culture and experienced it through the lens of two guides who helped me feel less like a stranger in a strange land. I saw mountains that tower over anything I could see at home, and never felt any threat from any source that blithe conversations warn about. So, I just wanted to thank you again, especially because your emails were so quick and responsive in helping me figure out what I was going to do.

Also, I was hoping to get in contact with Madhav and Karna, and perhaps send them some kind of holiday card. I am trying to get better at that, and I know that Madhav was contributing to some local causes. So, if you could send me email and mail information for them, I would be very appreciative. Thank you very much.

Michael Matulac

Dear Rachel,

We cannot thank you enough for all you did to make our trip to Nepal the most wonderful travel adventure we have ever had. Your willingness to customize and re-customize our itinerary, and to answer every imaginable question was exemplary to say the least. You are an extraordinarily patient and kind person. For that matter, you seem to have instilled these qualities in all your staff. Thapa, Buddha, all the porters, and all the lodge staff were always friendly, courteous, helpful, and constantly thinking of our comfort and safety.

We have created a website that documents our trek to Annapurna Sanctuary, www.4dgraphics.net/abc. We hope people that see our website will be inspired to book their own Nepal adventure with Ker & Downey.

It is very disturbing to see the negative impact on Nepal tourism caused by political events around the world. Many Nepali people are very dependent on tourism, and they do not deserve the damage to their livelihood caused by these events. I want to commend Ker & Downey for your efforts to keep so many Nepali people employed in the face of this tourism disaster.

For the record, we had no trouble whatsoever with the Maoists.

We wish you and all your staff the greatest success. You certainly deserve it!

Sincerely,
Steve Ford & Ellen Nelson

Words can not express all of the pleasures we had with our trip to Nepal. The time, effort and information that your company provided to us, made the trip possible, in such a desperate time. Without Rachael Baker answering so many of our questions,customizing our trip, and giving us all of the assurances that we needed, the magnatude of a trip like ours could never have been accomplished.

The lodges were perfect, and we would never choose or recommend another company. On a trip, like this, one would expect some discomforts, some mishaps, and some unfilled expectations...but we never experienced any...

Judi and John Nassif

Rachel,

I can't say enough good things about Buddha and the porters too were wonderful, and everything about your company seems of the best standards of service to clients and responsibility to Nepal and the Nepalese. And you are welcome to forward this email or parts of it to any potential guests.

Carole

Hi Rachel

I hope you had a great time in Australia. My trip to Nepal was fantastic. I loved every minute of it. Didn't even get a stomach bug!

I want to thank you for everything you did which made my trip so good. Please thank whoever was responsible for allocating HS and BJ as my guide and porter. They were superb. I don't think I have ever been so well looked after in my life.

I met their families, too, which was very interesting. HS was a great fund of information and I had lots of laughs with him. I have sent him some stuff but am not clear if it all arrived. i'm hoping he will clarify what arrived in his next email. It had been my plan to send him quite a bit of stuff to help, but it is extortionate to post it plus I gather that it may get stolen even if I pay extra for signed delivery. Advice about all this would be good, if you have the time.

I hope the situation looks up in Nepal soon. It was very worrying to learn the effect of the drop off in tourism and that so many people have lost their jobs or had pay cuts. With the international situation as it is, I don't suppose it will improve for a while.

At the moment, I am trying to work out how and when I can get back to Nepal to go to Thyangboche monastery. Any information on this subject will be very welcome!

Wishing you well,
Ann Chawner

TOP