1 independent reviews for Nepal small group tour

Dear Allison, Thank you for getting back to us with your feedback via Responsible Travel and also via email. This is very much appreciated and allows us to better understand what we are doing well and where we still have room for improvement. I’m really pleased to see that you were able to rate this tour 4-star, felt that it did benefit the local community, and that as mentioned in your email, you felt the organisation of the vacation was first class and that you enjoyed the tour. Unfortunately as you have noted, like much of South Asia, Nepal, and Kathmandu in particular, does have an ongoing struggle with pollution and litter. The main road into the Kathmandu Valley does become congested by the large trucks traveling to and from India which have no alternative route to Kathmandu. We use as little of this road as possible, but without making the drive to Chitwan hugely longer, some use of it is unavoidable. To avoid the long drives we do offer the option of taking internal flight upgrades on some routes, like the one you added between Pokhara and Kathmandu. However, this doesn’t actually reduce pollution or emissions at all, and in fact increases your impact. This is because our car/minivan/minibus would still need to drive the full loop anyway (Kathmandu/Chitwan/Pokhara/Kathmandu) as some legs are not possible by flight, and the only suitable vehicles to use are based in Kathmandu. It’s not possible to fly from Chitwan to Pokhara without going back via Kathmandu, and the cost of the tour would also significantly increase were flights used throughout as standard. As this is one of our cultural adventure tours we have intentionally planned an itinerary which is fairly busy in parts with some more relaxed sections such as those in Chitwan and in Pokhara where a free day has also been incorporated into the itinerary. I was pleased to read in your email that you felt this type of tour matched with your requirements of discovering the country and seeing the way in which the local population lives. Overall it does sound as though you had a good time on the tour and got to experience the real Nepal, though I’m sorry if some aspects of the tour didn’t meet with your expectations, and if the pollution and litter issues especially in Kathmandu, spoiled things in any way. I do hope that you’ll decide to join us for another adventure in the future.