Our long-cherished Nepal dream came true!
Trek: Gokyo Valley – Lodge Trekking (individually adapted)
21 tour days (Phaplu – Gokyo – Lukla) & 3 city days (Kathmandu, Bhaktapur)
Altitude profile from 2,600m – 1,500m – 5,400 m
Travel time: mid-October 2024 to mid-November 2024
Travellers: 2 couples: Laima and Michael, Pamela and Karsten
Short summary / Who we are
We are 2 couples of friends (aged 45-52) who have had the dream of travelling to Nepal for a long time. Actually we are all office people (averagely fit / sporty), but have experience in alpine hut hiking including high-altitude tours. We have been hiking as a small 4-person group for some time and are a well-rehearsed team. For all of us it was the first hiking trip outside of Europe. We share an interest in nature and culture and see ourselves more as hikers who enjoy the journey with a bit of sporting ambition. Safety is also very important to us.
With geoDiscovery Tours we planned and experienced a wonderful individual tour in the Gokyo Valley, with great encounters in this beautiful country and its loving people. In the trekking group together with our guides and porters we were also a great team in which we always felt safely looked after. Above all, our two guides (Fatta and Santos) always responded to our wishes and also some concerns.
There’s no other way to put it, we had an unforgettable time in Nepal and have only one short conclusion: VERY HAPPY TO DO IT AGAIN ANY TIME with geoDiscovery Tours!
Long version:
Anyone who would like to know more about the tour and preparation is welcome to read on.
Preparation / Tour operator
In the run-up to the trip, after lengthy research, we decided on geoDiscovery Tours because we felt we were in very good hands with Mrs Kolay from the start. In addition to lively email correspondence, we were able to discuss our wishes and questions well in two very detailed and friendly video calls and adapt the tour to our individual wishes and requirements without major problems.
For example, we were able to bring an extension of the trip by one week and special wishes regarding tour planning into the trip planning. These were checked by Mrs Kolay and her on-site staff and we were offered a wonderful tour in accordance with our suggestions.
Since the four of us are not people who like to be on tour in large groups and with many other tourists, we were very glad to have found this very experienced tour operator who made it possible for us to supplement the standard tour with individual elements.
The very detailed travel recommendations regarding equipment, information about the country and people, local customs also helped us as Nepal newcomers a great deal in trip preparation (above all the tip regarding bringing tea, toilet paper or tissues of German standard 😊).
Arrival
On our arrival in Kathmandu we were very warmly welcomed by the local contact person Arun and brought to our hotel. A nice surprise was an unplanned meeting with Mrs Kolay and a very nice dinner together in Kathmandu with typical local food and dance performances. A pleasant personal exchange about the planned itinerary, the country and its people rounded off the evening.
Even though we already have a lot of experience with hut tours, we were very grateful that Mrs Kolay and her colleague checked our equipment the day before our tour and gave us optimisation tips for the upcoming hike.
Our trekking group
Our group of 4 was supported by a guide, an assistant guide and 2 porters, so we always felt safe and well accompanied. They were attentive, very friendly and open-minded, but also left us our freedom. They nevertheless always kept an eye on our needs, which is why we feel enthusiasm and gratitude. It was exactly the right mixture of professionalism and humanity, closeness and distance.
Especially our guide Fatta supplied us throughout the tour with interesting information about the places, mountains, animals, plants or simple anecdotes about life there, and enabled us in several situations to catch a glimpse of the “normal” life of the residents and also the porters.
Both guides always responded to our individual wishes and possibilities, such as getting started more slowly in the morning, tips for a nice spot for a 10-minute meditation break on the way, generally adjusting the walking pace, or understanding for the many photo stops along the way.
Also the professional handling of one group member’s fear of heights always ensured a certain sense of security. Beyond that, we learned to appreciate the good crisis management, e.g. spontaneous tour changes and medical care in case of illness or the (customary) flight cancellations in Lukla. During the tour we had absolute trust in the ability of the tour operator and the guides on the ground, so that we were able to discuss the difficulties and solve them together for the best.
For the sake of completeness, the true heroes of the region must also be mentioned – the porters. They keep the whole infrastructure running, and without our porters our tour would not have been such a relaxed experience. Across the diminishing language barrier we had fun together in many situations and were able to see ourselves as a team for the short time. MANY THANKS TO THE GREAT TEAM!
Tour itinerary
Our trekking tour took place in the well-developed Khumbu region. In the end we had chosen a beautiful and varied tour itinerary that ran partly on lonely paths and on the other hand on the busy part of the Everest Base Camp route.
The alternative start from Phaplu (direct flight from Kathmandu) allowed us to approach the high white mountains on lonely paths through an idyllic green landscape and have more intensive encounters with the country and locals. After Lukla it became more touristy and decadent again (sit-down toilets, in part showers in the room). After Namche Bazaar it became a bit quieter again towards Gokyo, while the landscape became ever more imposing; the unexpected snowfall in Gokyo was also a special experience.
The return flight from Lukla was delayed by one day, but for that we had planned enough buffer. A special experience was the drive back from Ramechhap towards Kathmandu, as a heavy storm a month earlier had destroyed bridges and many sections of the only connecting road. The damage was, however, largely already temporarily fixed and the alternative driving routes in the riverbed were “bumpy”, but the landscape was varied.
Kathmandu / Bhaktapur
After our trekking tour, Mrs Kolay also fulfilled our wish for more cultural experience in Nepal. Her recommendation to take an intermediate overnight stay in Bhaktapur before arriving in Kathmandu we can only confirm. It’s worth it!
As a finale to our trip, the two royal cities of Bhaktapur and Kathmandu were brought to us culturally by a very friendly local tour guide with very good German language skills. With his comprehensive knowledge of the religions (Hindu, Buddhism) and his ability to convey interesting information about the sights we visited and general information about the country’s customs, religions and the life of the people, we ended up with two more great city days.
CONCLUSION
We had an unforgettable time in Nepal and were already very quickly in agreement during the tour:
This was not our last time there. There is so much more to experience in this great country. Hopefully see you again soon!