A Group 7 Dutch  Trek to Kanchanjunga Base Camp
“Dherai ramro trek! A very well organized Trek!”

In the month of Oct – Nov’07 Explore Himalaya organized a trek to Kanchenjunga Base camp in Eastern Nepal for a group of 7 Dutch trekkers. After the completion of their trek, the Dutch group came for a last visit to the Explore office on 29th Nov. The group of seven, who are also very good friends, expressed their appreciation to the Explore team for a well organized trek. When asked how the trek went, their refrain was, “A very well organized trek. We enjoyed it thoroughly. Whenever we wanted something, Bagbir (the sirdar) answered ‘No problem,’ and really we never faced any problem.”

Hallo! Goddag, ven!!
Hengel who has done the Everest trek said, “I expected the trail to be uphill all the way, like in the Everest trek. You know, steep climbs, going up and up. But the trail on this trek had a lot of variety. It was different. We started from the foothills where there was a lot of greenery. As we got higher, the landscape changed. Also at the higher reaches there were some landslides, but we could make our way through it.” Ingrid Maria added, “There were some difficult parts but there also parts which were truly very beautiful and lovely.”

Back row (from right ) John Paul, Hengel Hermanus
Front row (from right) Martinus, Ingrid Wilhelma, Ingrid Maria, Jaqueline, Bart
“In the lower reaches there was mist and a slight drizzle and at the higher elevation there was snow,” Martinus chipped in.

This trek was referred to by Bart’s elder brother. Their trek lasted for 28 days. Two members started on the 31st Oct while the five others started on the 1st Nov. During the trek the friends hiked through quaint Rai, Limbu, Tamang and Sherpa villages. About the local people they met on the way the friends had this to say, “The people whom we met during the trek were very open and friendly. Most of them were anxious to know where we were from. They were very amiable.”

It was Jacqueline’s first visit to Nepal (the others have already been to Nepal before) and was she charmed! She asserted, “I will surely visit Nepal again,” to which the others too joined in a chorus, “We too!”

As we wrapped our tête-à-tête they had a final request. They wanted us to mention their gratitude and appreciation, for a wonderful trek, to all the people involved in the trek:  Bagbir (the sirdar), the kitchen staff and the porters as well.

Name of the trekkers
1.John Paul Van der Woerd

2.Ingrid Wilhelmina Ronner

3.Hengel Hermanus Van Den

4.Jacqueline Elisabeth Piederiet

5.Martinus Albertus Willem De Roo

6.Ingrid Hendrica Maria Peeters

7.Ie Bart Han-Liong

Kanchenjunga, derived from the Tibetan word ‘Kanchen’ &' Dzonga’ meaning ‘Five Treasures of the Great Snow’, has five peaks, including the third highest peak in the world at 8586m. Because of its remote location the trails that lead to the foothills of these mighty mountains has remained largely unexplored. The trekking trails skirt the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area which covers an area of 2035 sq. km. in Taplejung district, in the northeast corner of Nepal. The conservation area has a unique mountain ecosystem. Tucked within these hidden valleys, one can encounter rich forests that support more than 250 species of birds and endangered wildlife, including snow leopards and red pandas. A few days of walking will lead you to high elevation pastures where yaks graze languidly and colorful alpine flowers bloom. Trekking in this remote area, you encounter a mixture of ethnicities that continue to practice traditional subsistence lifestyles, their cultural and religious practices adding to the area's ricjh cultural heritage. Because of its remote location in Nepal and difficult access from India, the Kangchenjunga region is not much explored by trekkers. It has, therefore, retained much of its pristine beauty.

Kanchenjunga

Read BBC travel writer Nick Eason's account of his trek to this remote region: "Give me a home where the snow leopards roam"

Trek to Kanchenjunga Base camp with Explore Himalaya

A three day tourism fair was organized recently in Biratnagar to promote places of tourist interest and home stay in eastern Nepal. Promoted as Eastern Regional Tourism Fair 2012 , the fair was inaugurated by Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Lokendra Bista Magar on 22nd March, 2012. Eastern Nepal is made up of high  mountains : Kanchenjunga and Everest, tea growing belt and the low lying  Terai area. Though the high mountain villages in Everest Region have largely benefitted  from tourism, the same cannot be said about the other areas. The fair sought to promote those hidden places having potential to become popular tourism destinations.

CNN's 12 Best Unheard of Places – Namje in Eastern Nepal

Commercial trekking on the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT) has begun. Two private companies- Nepalese and Australian- are jointly marketing this product. Nepal government had introduced GHT as a new product to during the inauguration of Nepal Tourism Year 2011 on Jan. 14. GHT is 4,500 km long and passes through Pakistan, the Tibet Autonomous Region of China, India, Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar. The Nepali section of the GHT extends  from Darchula and Humla in the west to Kanchenjunga in the east, and takes some 157 days to trek.The trek in Nepal is divided into seven sections of 18-34 days each. As most people won’t have sufficient time to complete this adventure at one go, the company has devised seven treks that can be linked to make up the full traverse. The trip will be offered each year so that adventurers may choose to undertake the entire GHT over a number of years.

Nepal Tourism Year 2011’s Main Organizing Committee introduced four different tourism products on 14th January, during the inaugural ceremony of NTY 2011. The four products are The Great Himalayan Trail (GHT), Mighty East, Wild West Triangle and Terai Tourism.

As the name suggests, The Great Himalayan Trail is the world’s longest and highest trekking trail. It stretches from Humla in the west to Kanchenjunga in the east. To complete the Great Himalayan Trail one needs to take an ardous 150 days trek. Mighty East offers packages related to adventure tourism – trekking, mountaineering and travel along the ridges of the mighty Himalayan peaks located in Eastern Nepal.

Wild West Triangle has been launched to promote tourism in the mid and far-western regions of Nepal. It incorporates tours to three protected areas – Bardiya National Park in Bardiya district, Rara National Park in Mugu and Shuklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in Kanchanpur. Terai Tourism promotes religious, historical and archaeological sites in the southern Terai plains.