What to do and see in Central Region, Central Region: The Best Scenic Walking Areas

Reviewed By 813tessaf - Brisbane, Australia

Wow! What an experience it was to do the Everest Base Camp walk from Shivalaya, with the inclusion of Gokyo via the Chola Pass in December 2019 - January 2020 with Dolma Treks and Adventure! My boyfriend and I had been planning to do the Three Passes walk from Shivalaya with Everest Base Camp but we were unsure how we were going to go about it. We were in a very stressful period with finishing uni and starting new jobs and trying to organise it all ourselves was too much in a short period of time. So a mate of mine put me on to Tsering who owns Dolma Treks, and what a pleasure it was! Tsering not only listened to the things that we wanted to do and wrote an incredible itinerary that was solely catered for us with limited time but he was super flexible and understanding when we had to change dates a fair few times due to work and university issues. He communicated with us through Facebook in a friendly and polite way that wasn’t pushy or manipulating for his self gain in any way. The whole booking process was extremely easy, and we were a little concerned to give over the reins so easily to someone we hardly knew. When we arrived however I could instantly see that we had nothing to worry about. The genuine and ever smiling Tsering went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and get everything comfortable and sent for an early start the following morning. We stayed at his house in Kathmandu and met his beautiful family who also went above and beyond to make us feel welcome. We knew this was an authentic and fair, family run business. Even in the morning when we met with our driver for the day and with our wonderful, funny and very experienced guide Mingmar, you could tell that Tsering looked after not only his customers but his employees as well. They were all happy, laughing and smiling with each other, and seemed genuinely happy to be working, which says a lot about the business! Tsering paired us up with Mingmar as our very competent, English speaking guide and his son Dawa as our porter who also spoke English. Throughout the whole trip they were always extremely patient with our struggling knees and constant stopping to take photos, and always catered to our needs. Mingmar had done the walk countless times and knew almost every single person that we passed on the journey, as he had built up friendly relationships with them over the last 30years. He made sure we stayed at the best places and had the best rooms in each of those places. Because he knew everyone so well, the guesthouse owners that we stopped in at along the way were also willing to go above and beyond for us, something which other groups along the way struggled with. As said previously, Mingmar was very experienced and was able to guide us though any type of weather event, even when 50cm of fresh snow covered any trace of a path and we were the only ones walking or when thick clouds came in while we were crossing the Ngozumpa Glacier and it was a total white out. He also knew where and when all the best spots and times for photos and views of Everest and the other major sites were. When bad weather set in near the end of our walk and we had to change our plans, Mingmar - in conjunction with Tsering - was quick to adapt our schedule and route to get us a flight out of Lukla back to Kathmandu. And because we missed some nights walking due to bad weather, he and Tsering organised a beautiful hotel room in the heart of Kathmandu at the International Guesthouse where he then took us around and showed us the sites of his neighbourhood, where to buy the best quality goods from and where the best cafes and restaurants were. I would definitely go with him again! All in all this was an extremely well run, and thorough trekking company run by local Nepalese people to support the Nepalese community and give back. It was stress free, hassle free and relaxing - something which I thought would not go hand in hand with walking to Base Camp. Everything was thought of, and everything was included. Tsering and Mingmar were both passionate about showing people a more traditional side of Nepal and making sure smaller local communities benefit from your tourism. I would without a doubt go with Dolma Treks again! Five stars from us!