Reviews

Fantastic Trek to ABC!
"There are so many trekking companies that it seemed like a bit of a lottery choosing one before we left from New Zealand. But we struck gold with Trekking Planner and are so glad we chose them.

Right from our initial email, Dipak was helpful and always quick to reply to our many questions and requests. Our time was limited, we we're 2 families travelling with a 10 and 2 x13 year olds. We wanted to avoid walking along roads as much as possible and were also concerned about the weather at the end of December and it being too cold (there were lots of mixed reviews on this. Depending on which site we read - some said we'd be fine and others said we'd be completely mad to do in December!) . We settled on a 10 day trek to ABC via Poon Hill. Dipak assured us as long as we were well prepared (and had plenty of warm clothes) we'd be fine and we were. It was warm during the day and cold at night. We didn’t see any rain and the skies were pretty much clear the whole time, allowing us the luxury of walking in t shirts and shorts - the scenery and views were amazing.

We we're met at the airport and looked after from that moment on. On the trek itself our guide Nirmal was fantastic – knowledgeable, friendly, fun, flexible (when we chose to push on and get back to Pohkara in 2 days rather than 3!) and great with the kids. Rajkumar, Ganesh and Thaman our porters strong and equally great.

The tea houses were basic but fine. The food menu was the same everywhere. We went vegetarian for the trek and pleased to report no one went hungry or got sick.

If you are not a fan of steps then this trek is not for you, but if you have a can-do attitude and a good level of base fitness then we would definitely recommend the Annapurna Base Camp trek, and do it with Trekking Planner and Nirmal, you just can’t go wrong!"

Trekking Ghorepani with Tour guide Nirmal and porter Milan was an amazing experience. These two were great to do the trek with, we had a great time talking and laughing. Kathmandu tour was interesting. Dipak and his team took excellent care of me from the arrival to departure.

We had an amazing few weeks in Nepal. Dipak met us at the airport and took care of everything. We had a full day and two nights in Kathmandu before we flew to Pokhara. We explored Thamel on our own and bought a few very cheaply priced jackets, gloves etc ready for the Himalayas. You can get almost everything you need ... the only things we couldn’t have found easily were Base layers ie Merino and polypropy tees, long sleeved tops and long johns.

Dipak arranged a half tour of Pushpati, Kathmandu square and the monkey temple for us. It was action packed and our guide was great with excellent English.

We had been concerned about trekking in winter but the weather was great. Crisp blue sky days with lots of sunshine. The nights were cold but we were well prepared. We took sleeping bag liners and hired sleeping bags through Dipak before leaving Kathmandu. None of us were cold (even at NBC and ABC where it got down to minus 16 overnight. At higher altitudes you can pay to fill a hot water bottle (lent to us by Dipak). These were great!

We were surprised that the tea house dining areas weren’t heated. Expected the rooms to be cold but thought that there would be fires on the common areas. There was one in only one tea house that we stayed in. Most nights we would sit in our puffer jackets and beanies as we played cards and chatted.

We loved the trekking. The scenery is stunning and incredibly varied. We had trekked the Annapurna circuit pre kids back in 2002 and always wanted to take our boys back. We decided on ABC as wanted to do something a little different to last time. We’d heard that Parts of the circuit now have road access so thought ABC might feel a bit more intrepid. We weren’t disappointed. It was amazing and there was quite a sense of achievement in getting to ABC which is 4130.

We incorporated Poon Hill at sunrise which was a highlight.

We trekked with another family so our group comprised four adults and three boys ages 10, 13 and 14. We packed diamox in case of altitude sickness and one of the boys got a few symptoms but came right quickly with diamox and neurophen.

Our guide Nirmal was outstanding. He had great English, taught us some Nepalese and lots about the culture but most importantly he was great fun and had a wonderful sense of humour. We had three porters (Ras, Goddis and Torman) who were also great company. We had a lot of fun with them and it was great just carrying our day packs as we trekked.

It was a wonderful family adventure. We’d thoroughly recommend Trekking Planner and especially Nirmal and Dipak and the crew.

Dear Travellers,

I had a 10-day meditation trekking organised by Trekking Planner Nepal in Dec 2017 for a and would like to share with you the excellent experience that I had with Dipak and his team:
The good impression started right after I got out of the Kathmandu airport gate and saw my name held by a young man followed by the welcome message. It provided the comfortability to people like me who came to Nepal first time.

Dipak handled the customers with an extreme care. He was at the hotel before my arrival, met and walked me through the program in details.As it was the first time I did the trekking in Nepal therefore my preparations for it was not optimal, Dipak went through the check-list and lent me the items that I (must) for the weather conditions in Dec.

My program was good in the sense that it was a combination of trekking and yoga therefore it had helped me to recreate new energy physically and mentally after a full stressful year in the corporate environment.
You should not have concerns about foods and accommodations in Himalayas, Dipak and his team will ensure that the good qualities are provided. I had good meals and warm bed every night after a tired trek.

I had a great time in Nepal and with Trekking Planner. I will come back with my sons for the “father and son” bonding in near future and will definitely ask for Dipak and his team for their help again.

Happy new year 2018!

Kind regards
Tai Ngo

I was doing my Himalayan trek alone as a female. Dipak was super considerate and sent me one experienced male trekking guide and another female assistant guide so that I could be taken good care of. Besides of that, Dipak has been super responsive on my questions and I received emails from him at midnight during Nepal time. I would definitely recommend Trekking Planner to anybody who would like to trek in Himalayas.

"Our group of four had a great time on our Everest Base Camp Trek through Trekking Planner. Despite some unexpected bad weather at the start of our trip, Dipak's team was constantly adapting to find new solutions for us to make sure we still made it to base camp before our flights home. Once we did make it to the beginning of the trek in Lukla, we really appreciated the flexiblity that our guide Nirmal had in how to tailor the trek to our shorter timeframe. I wouldn't say doing a 12-day trek in 9 days was easy, but the team from Trekking Planner did everything in their power to make it as smooth and enjoyable as possible. Great accomodations and food along the entire way and a stellar guide and team of porters, I'd highly recommend this trekking company."

My friends and I have no regret engaging Dipak and his company for our recent Nepal EBC trip in April / May 2017 as his services are good from the start of the first email till the end of our trip as well as his price for the trip, very competitive price but still with excellent professional services provided. Very patient with us and fast with his email replies even though we are asking lots of questions during the emails exchange. Also give us suggestions in order to optimise the number of days for the whole trip.

During the trip, we are well taken care of, ensuring that we are staying well in the accommodation with ample food. He also made the efforts to ensure that my friends are well taken care in the hospital and hotels after they are evacuated back to Kathmandu via helicopter due to sickness. For those still hesitating which travel company to engage for your Nepal trip due to so many other companies are offering competitive prices and services, rest assured that you will be taken good care by Dipak throughout your trip.

These guys are the best and most thoughtful guides in Nepal. They can organise all sorts of trips and can look after international travel as well. Their careful, personally tailored trips are capably organised and very well provisioned. Our group loved every minute of our trek in this incomparable region. Next trip will be to Everest base camp and we will be going with Deepak and Narayan.