Volunteering in Nepal and other Nepal Warning Or Danger Tips

Personally I would be Very Wary of volunteering in Nepal, or anywhere for that matter, unless I either personally knew someone working or has worked for the organisation in question, Or had a personal recommendation from someone that I knew and Trusted.
Two years ago in Nepal I met an Australian Lass who had paid a lot of money to volunteer in Nepal, she was meant to be met on arrival at Kathmandu Tribuvan Airport and Guess What ?? No-One Turned up !! Then she was unable to make contact with this organisation, so she had not only lost her money, but had lost her opportunity to volunteer as well !!
Luckily I was able to put her in touch with a friend of mine, Declan Murphy who runs a small charity called “just-one”That strives to actively promote and facilitate educational opportunities for disadvantaged and marginalized children in Nepal by working at a grass-roots level with the children, their families and their communities to implement a range of carefully developed, culturally sensitive, sustainable initiatives.

Luckily Declan was able to sort something out for her and she was able to salvage her trip

So, Be Careful when you are volunteering because there are a Lot of Sharks out there !!

Good Luck

Rob

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Website: http://www.just-one.org/

The BIG question on everyone's mind now is " Is it Safe to visit Nepal " -- This IS a very difficult question and all the individual prospective traveller to Nepal can do is weigh up All the pro's and Con's after researching the Current situation over there !!
I Myself did Exactly this using these pages here at VT a + Lonely Planet Thorn Tree and I came up with My decision and that was to Go, I am pleased that I came to this decision as I Personally had No major problems on my trip. It is true that I suffered the occasional delay because of Strikes, I had to re-plan the exit of my trek having Listened to and Taken local advice because of a Maoist blockade -- However I Personally never came across a Single Maoist whilst trekking, 17 days in the Annapurna region. If I had I would have paid the " Fine " and I had included that in my trekking budget, however it wasn't necessary !!

Once again, on this my 5th trip to Nepal in 2006 I again had the same decision to make -- To Go on Not to Go !!?? Then to compound the difficulty of the decision a couple of days before I left the British Government went and put a warning to travelers notice out -- Only to go to Nepal for Essential Travel !! -- Then when I checked with my Travel Insurance they told me that If I decided to go that I wouldn't be covered -- And IF you think that was bad enough, They also told me that IF I decided Not to go then there was No cancellation refunds because in effect I was cancelling the trip by my own volition !!?? -- So what to do ?? Well what I did was to ring around and find an insurance company that would insure me,This I did with surprising ease, ok -- I had to pay a bit more but that's what I expected, So armed with my new insurance off I went !! -- I had NO problems other than the usual difficulties of transportation and at No time was I ever in danger, and that included getting to the airport at Kathmandu for my flight home in the middle of a strike -- was I pleased that I went -- Dammed Right I was ;-)))))

I was back in Nepal in both 2007 and 2008 and again had absolutely no problems, I left just before the 2008 elections. Now that the Maoist party has won these elections we will just have to wait and see, But my feeling is that Nepal will remain a Very Safe country to visit !!

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When you go to Nepal you will probably use a rucksack as your luggage, In all probability it will be an Expensive one and you will no doubt be intending to use it when you go Trekking !!
So it is important that you do Everything that you can to try and ensure that it arrives safely, Dry and in One Piece !!
Over the years I have had Loads of Problems with Exactly this !! Going to retrieve my rucksack from the carrousel only to discover that the straps have been ripped off or that the fabric has been torn.
So what did I do ??
I designed the “Rucksack Pro-Tector”, you can take a look at my web-site at Pro-Tector
People then ask me If I use my own products when I travel. – Here you can see Nina safely retrieving my Rucksack (In it’s “Rucksack Pro-Tector”) from the Carrousel at Kathmandu Tribuvan Airport.
Yes it Did arrive, Safe, Dry and in One Piece !!

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Website: www.pro-tector.co.uk

When you gain altitude, you must obey the rules, These rules are Very Simple, Once you reach 10,000 feet (3.000m) you Must stay 2 nights to aid acclimatisation, then after this you Must Only gain 1,000 feet (300m) per day (Sometimes it isn’t possible to stick to this rule because of a lack of accommodation, so if you gain more altitude than you should, then you Need to spend another extra night to acclimatise before proceeding up) , Otherwise your risk of being subject to AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) is Substantially enhanced.
However Even if you obey this rule you can still get AMS and the Only cure is to loose altitude, However sometimes this isn’t easy as you might have to gain altitude before you can loose it, Here Diamox comes in handy as it treats the symptoms, Headaches, sickness, double vision to name a few, thus enabling you to loose this Necessary altitude to aid your recovery.

Some doctors now think that regularly taking Diamox helps the acclimatisation process, However one problem is that if you don’t get the AMS symptoms, then you aren’t aware that you are starting with AMS and therefore have a lot less time to act when you do realise that you are starting with it !!
Organised treks often put there clients on a regular dose of Diamox, I personally disagree with this practice and once got into a massive argument with an Australian based outfit on their way up to Gokyo who were feeding Diamox to their clients like Smarties !!

So – All I can say is you have to make your own mind up, weigh up the Pro’s and Con’s and come to your own decision.
I have now done 5 high altitude treks in Nepal, I always take Diamox in my first aid pack, but Thankfully to this day haven’t had the occasion to have to take one – Fingers Crossed that that continues !!

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This is an often asked question so I will try and shed some light on it ;-)

The risk of catching Malaria in Nepal varies depending on where in Nepal you go and when you go there. I have travelled to Nepal a total of seven times in November, December, January, February, March and April and never taken any Malaria preventatives , I Know that this involves a Risk, But to me (And Here I Add To ME) these risks of catching Malaria are outweighed by the side effects that I have suffered in the past from taking the preventatives.
If I travelled to Nepal mid monsoon then I might well take the preventatives, especially If I was spending time in the Teri

I think that it is up to the individual visitor to Nepal to weigh up the Pro’s and Con’s of catching Malaria against their side effects of taking the Malaria preventatives
All travel involves risk, the risk of disease, the risk of road accidents AMS whilst Trekking, falling and breaking a leg etc etc. So weigh up the Pro’s and Con’s yourself and come to your own decision

Good Luck and Happy Travels
Rob

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We had a Strange experience on the local bus from Muglin to Sauraha -- just as the bus was leaving ( it had been held up because of a " strike " and was going to head down the Trisuli Highway in convoy ) these guys jumped on with guns !!! -- they were in civilian clothes and wearing bandannas over their lower faces and sunglasses !! I wasn't sure what the H... was going on -- so I just kept quiet !!
Later after reaching Sauraha I found out that they were Army in plain clothes !!!! It would have been nice if someone had told me -- But there again by the army doing this they were in fact putting Everyone on the bus at risk !!!

2006 -- I would like to think that this sort of thing has now stopped with the King now giving certain concessions, But unfortunately I can't guarantee that it has !!??

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Personally, I would hire your porter out from a reputable agency in Kathmandu Before you start you trek, The reasons are

1) The price that you agree is the price you pay, there have been instances of trekkers hiring porters independently for an agreed fee and then after a few days having to re-negotiate the fee because the porter has threatened to abandon them !!
2) There have also been instances of porters disappearing in the night with their clients belongings. If you have hired your porter from a reputable agency then you have some comeback.
3) Prices from reputable agents include the porters food, accommodation and insurance
4) Reputable agents ensure that their porters clothes / equipment is good enough for the trek
5) Also reputable agents really do look after there staff and try to make sure that they are as fully employed as possible, often a porter will return from one trek and within a couple of days be off on another, So rather than them walking the streets looking got their next job, they can spend a day or two relaxing with their families. So not only is it good business for the agent, it is also good business for the porter.
6) Prices for a good strong porter from a reputable agency are US$.10.00 to 12.00 per day (2008)

The only downside to doing it this way is that you will be responsible for paying your porter / guides transpiration costs to and from the trail head, for example Kathmandu to Lukla and return, but Nepali Nationals get a huge airfare discount and I think that a return ticket for them is currently around $100

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Do Not Cross Cho La Alone – Trekkers are still missing presumed dead who have attempted this !!

However, a lot of people don’t wish to employ a guide for their entire trek so another option is to hire your guide out in Namche Bazaar, give him a small deposit and arrange for him to meet you in Gokyo the evening before you plan to cross.
The guide will probably walk up from Namche in one day as he will be pre-acclimatised, Where you should take at least 3 days to trek up there.
Namche Bazaar is at an altitude of 3800m and Gokyo is at 4750m and the rules to minimise your chances of going down with AMS for trekking are not to gain more than 300m in a day.
You are Strongly advised to stick to these rules as The Gokyo Valley is known locally as “The Valley Off Death” – You will se yourself the amount of memorials to those that died of AMS when you do the trek – So Please Don’t add to these

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