Hiking in rural Nepal is a little different to trekking because you are not heading for one particular point along a trail but just pointing in one direction & seeing where you end up. And for this reason & many others explained below we always advise that you have a guide for this no matter if its one we provide or one from the homestay. With a number of reasons why you need a guide lets look at several of the main reasons.
First your guide is there to help you with any language problems because even though the majority of people in Nepal speak a certain amount of English there will always places where you will meet some that don’t. Acting as a translator your guide will make sure the correct price is paid for any taxi you have to hire, how you get to & from the homestay, any food you buy along the way, if you want to go shopping for anything & of course they are with you to make sure that every time you step out of the homestay you have a great hike & don’t get lost. For the price you pay their services are invaluable & in fact just one small shopping trip you could save more money that what the guide earns. For example years ago my wife took a German friend of ours shopping for sun glasses in Kathmandu, she liked a pair so much she was willing to pay 1200 NP in the one shop. But my wife stopped her & they went next door where just 200 NP was the price which meant a saving of 1000 NP Approx £7) at the time.
This can be explained with the double pricing in Nepal of foreign/ Nepali price where certain things are always marked up for foreigners or the fact that a shop keeper sees somebody who isn’t Nepali & wants to make more profit by charging more & I explain this more in the next post. (please see the blog post on Nepali/foreign prices)
So if you fancy coming Hiking in Nepal please press the link below and start your journey
