The best tour and trekking company you could ever find, even in a crisis or two or three
This will be a long review because you need to know how incredible Scenic Nepal Treks truly is.I contacted Dipendra, the head of the company, months in advance to arrange a 12-day trip for a group of friends to celebrate my husband's and my 60th birthdays. All of us going was older than the average young trekkers and we wanted certain hotels and amenities that Dipendra arranged perfectly.Every single guide and porter were fantastic. They were attentive, kind, considerate, strong and smart. Our lead Sherpa was Shankar, who is highly experienced and knows the trails in detail. He also makes a pretty amazing apple pie. His son, Unish, was one of our porters and played a huge role in our trek. Our other guide was Manju, a young graduate student fluent in English who knows all of the history and facts about the country and its sites. She led us on a number of cultural tours in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, and Pokhara and she is wonderful.But here is why you should book with Scenic Nepal. Beyond what many other tour operators usually provide - good guides and porters, Nepali generosity, etc - this company went above and beyond when our friends went through various health crises.Three of the nine folks in our group ended up getting COVID in the first couple of days of our trip. Dipendra arranged for all of their needs to be met. He rebooked hotels, arranged for travel, etc. Dipendra was available 24/7 and kept everyone calm during this stressful time.The six of us left and then started the trek - we were doing Poon Hill - when another member of our group fell very ill. It wasn’t COVID or altitude, but it was very serious. Shankar immediately arranged to get our friend down the mountain and to the hospital in Pokhara and had his son stay with our friend. Dipendra then arranged a helicopter to MediVac him to Kathmandu and met him at the airport to take him straight to the hospital. Dipendra visited him at least once a day in the five days he was in the hospital.And while dealing with all of our crises, Dipendra, Shankar, Manju, Unish, and the other staff had positive attitudes and smiles on their faces. They are our heroes!I also want to note how important it is to book with a Nepali-owned company. Many westerners (often Americans) book with REI or big travel companies because they think they are safer or more reliable. They spend easily 3-4 times the amount of money, most of which never makes it to Nepal. But I want to tell you that we could not have asked for a better trekking company. They always made sure we were safe and comfortable. We literally have not a single complaint about them.I strongly urge you to use Scenic Nepal. At the age of 60, I thought this would be my last trek. But I am already planning another one in a few years and will definitely use Scenic Nepal. They were extraordinary despite the many challenges we faced.Most of all, we have become friends with all of them and we look forward to staying in touch over the years. We played card games at night with them and shared stories and laughs.Thank you, Dipendra, Shankar, Manju, Unish, Ganesh, and everyone at Scenic Nepal. We miss you already.