For the first time since 2002, Country Walkers, based in Waterbury, Vt., is returning to the Himalayan nation of Nepal with special tours in the fall, said to be the ideal time for trekking in the region.
Other outfitters, like Mountain Travel Sobek of Emeryville, Calif., and Wilderness Travel of Berkeley, Calif. — which had halted all trips but those to the Khumba or Everest regions in the northeast — are now offering trips to the Annapurna region in central Nepal. Mountain Travel Sobek is also starting treks to the remote Dolpo and Humla regions in the northwest, which they deemed off limits because of the political unrest…
…There are some added benefits to being among the first tourists to return to Nepal. “For the moment,” said Mr. Steigerwald, “it’s really a treat to be there without crowds.”
Many hotels have slashed their rates to lure back trekkers. And most travel companies that have only just decided to go back to Nepal were not able to advertise the trips in their 2007 brochures. Instead they are offering their excursions online and through newsletters to clients who have traveled with them before.
Despite their quieter introduction, the new Nepal trips are already quickly filling up. Wilderness Travel’s two new departures for its 15-day trip into the Annapurna Sanctuary in October and November are more than half full; prices start at $3,495 a person for a group of six people. Country Walkers said it was planning a second departure this fall because its November trek was booked up with a waiting list
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