Into Nepal: Walks & Wildlife

What's Included

• All breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners

• All accommodation

• Tibetan village with momo cooking experience

• Mountain Museum entrance (Pokhara)

• Dugout canoe ride and jeep safari (Chitwan)

• All transport and listed activities

• One internal flight

• Free arrival and departure transfers for everyone

• Trekking permit and national park fees

What's Not Included

• Travel Insurance

• Single accommodation (available on request)

• Visas or vaccinations

• Sleeping bag (possible hire in advance through Exodus)

• Down jacket (possible hire in advance through Exodus)

Food

All breakfasts, two lunches and two dinners are included in this trip.



The breakfasts on trek are fixed set menus, usually porridge or muesli with either toast, chapatti or pancake, plus an egg or omelette and a cup of tea/coffee. You may also be able to supplement your included breakfast with additional items on the teahouse menu should you wish. Items not included in the set breakfast should be ordered and paid for separately.



We do not include lunch and dinner on trek allowing you to choose what you want to eat. Lunch will be taken at a teahouse en route. Dinner will be in the same teahouse that you sleep at (this is custom in Nepal as teahouses base their room rate on it).



The menus in the lodges are almost identical to one another but offer a varied choice, ranging from traditional Nepalese dhal bhat to pizza and apple pie. Dhal bhat is the staple diet in Nepal and comes in many different forms but generally comprises curried lentils and meat or vegetables, rice, and a pickle/chutney. Another popular snack is momos, a type of Nepalese dumpling, fried or steamed and filled with meat or vegetables.



Although meat is available in the teahouses, we advise against eating it on trek. The meat has often been carried in the heat from lower altitudes for several days before reaching the lodges and can cause stomach upsets or illness. Germs can also be spread by handling dirty money – we recommend using hand sanitiser.



If you have a gluten-free diet, we strongly recommend you bring extra food and snacks with you to supplement the food on trek as there will be little variety available to you, particularly for breakfast. Even many of the soups are from powder/packets and contain gluten.



If you buy imported food and drink on trek, you will spend more than the suggested amount.



Drinking water



Staying hydrated is important when undertaking any physical activity, on this trip it is generally recommended to carry a 33floz (one litre) water bottle and drink at least 67floz (two litres) per person per day.



However, we strongly encourage you not to buy bottled water on trek as this contributes to the growing problem of plastic pollution in the trekking areas of Nepal.



You can top up water bottles at tea breaks and lunch stops along the way with some villages offering safe drinking water stations selling UV-treated water for about 50 rupees (US$0.40) per litre.



The teahouses also sell boiled water for approximately 150-300 rupees (US$1.15-US$2.30) per litre (the price increases the higher you trek) which should not require treating. This is also perfect for a bedtime refill as it can double up as a hot-water bottle.



Alternatively, all teahouses provide free cold water. Although this should not be drunk untreated, we recommend you bring a reusable bottle/water bladder/Camelpak (ideally two) and use an effective form of water treatment. There are a wide range of products available including Steripens or purification tablets, which are the quickest and easiest options to use on trek – we recommend talking to an outdoor retailer for the latest advice as technologies are improving all the time. Make sure to check the product’s performance in cold/freezing conditions and consider battery life (lithium batteries are best in cold conditions).



Exodus has partnered with Water-to-Go, a filtration system that eliminates more than 99.99 percent of all microbiological contaminants from any non-saltwater source – visit Water-to-Go for more information. Exodus customers can claim 15 percent off their first order and, better still, 15 percent of the purchase value will be donated to the Exodus Travels Foundation. These bottles filter the water as you drink through the spout may not be the most efficient while on the go on a trek. Please note, if the water freezes it will clog up the filter. In this event, defrost before use by sitting the filter in lukewarm water for 10-15 minutes.

Accommodation

This tour spends three nights in a hotel in Kathmandu, five nights on trek in lodges (teahouses), two nights in a hotel in Pokhara and two nights in a jungle lodge in Chitwan.



The hotels used may vary by departure date. In Kathmandu, we stay at the Hotel Ambassador within walking distance of the Thamel district. In Pokhara, we use Hotel Dahlia or Hotel Kausi and in Chitwan we use a jungle lodge on the edge of the Community Forest Reserve.



The teahouses are basic but adequate; please be realistic about what to expect in the mountains. The hub of the teahouse is the dining room, usually decorated with colourful traditional rugs, with a stove or heater (some lodges charge a fee to put the heater on).



Most teahouses sell snacks and other essentials such as tissues, soap and toilet paper. Almost all have electricity, but it is not wholly reliable, and lighting may not be bright enough to read by – a torch (flashlight) is essential. Electrical charging facilities are generally available only in the dining room (charged at approximately 150-350 Nepalese rupees per hour per device). Many of the lodges use solar power, so sometimes there is not enough electricity for charging. Many lodges have wifi – in some areas it works well but in others it is slow and temperamental.



The bedrooms are almost all twin share. Beds with foam mattresses, bedsheets and a pillow are provided. Bedrooms are generally unheated and can get cold at night, so you will need to bring or hire a sleeping bag.



Most lodges have only one or two basic toilets and sometimes these are outside the main lodge building, most of these are now western seated but some may still have Asian squat style. Toilet paper is not provided so you should bring your own or buy it locally (please dispose of it the bin provided – do not put it in the bowl). If there is not a flush handle, there should be a container of water to pour down – if it is empty please either refill it or ask the lodge to.



Lodges now have hot ‘showers’ (charged at approximately 250-500 rupees per shower).



Standards of cleanliness vary, especially in the peak trekking season. Please report any problems to your leader or the lodge and be vigilant in your personal hygiene regime – use soap or hand-sanitiser gel before and after toilet breaks, snacks and mealtimes.



Extra accommodation

If you require any additional accommodation in Kathmandu or Pokhara either before or after the tour, we can book this for you (subject to availability), please enquire with your sales representative.



Single accommodation

If you prefer your own room, we offer a single supplement for the hotel nights in Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan only (subject to availability). In the teahouses, single rooms cannot be guaranteed so these have not been included in the single supplement price paid in advance. However, if a single room is available on arrival to a teahouse, you can pay locally on a day-by-day basis.



*Nepal teahouse images are provided as examples and may not always be the same properties used on every trek.