Himalayan Ecological Trekking — Local services in Kathmandu Metropolitan City

In November 2022, a group of 3 people, we did the Kanchenjunga trek with Himalayan Ecological Trekking, HET, and Bikesh Rana as guide; Bikesh is also the manager and director of the company. The route I can really recommend, it is one of the most beautiful treks in Nepal that I have done. I can also highly recommend Himalayan Ecological Trekking, I have done several treks with them and I commend them on their professionality, reliability and experience. They are also well familiar with the lesser known routes off the beaten track and remote areas, unlike most of the other trekking companies; the majority of guides are only experienced with the Annapurna, Everest and Langtang treks. Bikesh is a great guide, and very experienced. I am prone to altitude sickness but have found ways to manage it and Bikesh has always been very thoughtful on handling that. He also knows very well what to do - how to recognise the symptoms and when it can be dangerous, or when a rest day is enough to manage the altitude. I have always felt very safe. Also for other tricky situations he is very experienced and can handle difficult unexpected situations. And he is good at finding creative solutions. After having lived in Nepal for some time and having done quite a few treks, another thing I would really like to point out. There are many trekking companies on the market in Nepal und the competition is tough. Unfortunately many of the companies make good money with bad practices and with underpaying their staff, i.e. guides and porters. Many of them also undercut the trekking costs and offer treks at dumping prices, that can never pay back the real cost of working in an honest way, and often that results in cheating to earn money through other ways. The rescue flights have been in the news already. But there are other ways. For example, it happens often that clients book a full package trek and when you book it says that breakfast, lunch and dinner are included. Only when the clients are already on the way they find out that they can only order 1 item per meal, e.g. 1 plate of toast or bread; but if they would also like egg or something else they have to pay themselves, and 1 drink, e.g. 1 cup of tea. That is even risky, as people need to drink plenty of liquid when trekking in higher altitude, to allow the body to adjust and not get sick. And the higher you get, the more expensive water becomes. I have met some groups on the way who had exactly that problem and ended up paying extra for their drinks every day. Something like this never happens with HET, even they encourage you to drink plenty of water or tea, have soup etc. Also, HET registers all their guides and porters with the insurance in case of emergency; also Nepali crew can get sick some time. Although this is a government rule, most companies don’t pay the insurance for their crew. Many companies also don’t pay their guides and porters salaries they can survive on, instead they tell clients to pay high tips. So clients are expected to compensate the low salaries with tips. These are all ways for companies to reduce expenses and increase their earning, and undercut the cost of those companies that want to work in an honest way – following the laws, e.g. on salary regulations, insurance etc. and pay government tax. It is therefore very difficult for honestly working companies to compete with those that use bad practices. HET is one of these honest companies I can without any doubts recommend, after all the years I have known the company and...

Very good trekking agency. We have booked 2 treks via Himalayan Ecological trek: Everest Base Camp and Annapurna circuit in October/november 2024. We had the time of our lives!

First of all, the contact with Bikesh via email was very good. We had a lot of contact and he was always quick to respond and liked to personalise our plans.

Once we arrived in Nepal, we were received very kindly and we received explanations and tips about both treks. Bikesh went through everything with us and gave us good tips about equipment and where we could buy good quality down jackets for a good price. He also arranged sleeping bags for us. We also got delicious momos and tea there!

We did both treks with our guide Gakul. A very nice, kind, experienced and passionate guide. He had a lot of knowledge of the area, but also of the history of Nepal and was also a pleasant guide with whom we had a lot of laughs. We noticed that we slept in the best tea houses available (through the experiences of other travelers we encountered) and he knew exactly what was safe and was not safe to eat somewhere. Neither of us got sick during either trek. He also had a lot of knowledge about altitude sickness and checked us daily to see how we were feeling. This made us feel very safe.

Because my girlfriend got sick between treks (food poisoning in Pokhara), we had to change the date of the second trek. Bikesh and Gakul were very flexible in this and were able to rebook everything (including flight tickets) with their efforts.

Gakul and Bikesh, thank you for everything!

Book with Himalayan Ecological trek and you will have the time of your life without...

HET is a wonderful trekking company. I signed on to do two multi-week treks and Bikesh helped me figure out dates and then gave me a very transparent layout of the costs. Leading up to the trek, I had many questions and Bikesh always answered honestly, thoroughly and efficiently. He takes a lot of pride in running an honest business.

He set me up with my guide, Hari. It was very clear from Hari”s interactions with other guides and porters, that he was very well respected. He was very in tune with my needs and there were days where we adjusted the schedule to do more or less depending on how I was feeling. Unfortunately, 10 days into our trek I became very ill possibly through food poisoning. The trek became impossible for me to finish and Hari handled my evacuation very professionally.

Side note: HET has only had 13 evacuations in 25 years. This statistic is one every trekker should ask about because there is a growing trend among some companies to have trekkers evacuated due the insurance money involved in mountain rescue.

I ended up spending 3 nights in the hospital and Bikesh came to check up on me every day. It was really nice to have a friend in a foreign land. This company is absolutely wonderful in all areas and they know the trails inside and out. Don’t hesitate to...