Charlotte Notts, Cheshire, UK

Four recently graduated girls joined Raj and Prem for a 16 day trek (Annapurna Sanctuary and Mardi Himal). The guides went above and beyond to ensure that you had the best trip possible. Raj has superhuman eyes and ears that can spot a rare bird from afar and Prem has a vast immense of knowledge on nepalese and tibetan history/ buddhism. We trekked during monsoon season in June but I think it was the perfect time for us as the routes were very quiet/ teahouses always had space and although it rained most afternoons, we usually arrived at our destination before the rain and the views were beautiful all morning!! We loved our guides so much we later travelled to Bardia to join Raj and Santa on a jungle safari. It was very very, very hot in Bardia and the journey from Pokhara took 20 hours on public bus BUT everything was worth the sights we saw. We had the whole park to ourselves and saw lots of animals, including 4 tigers in one day (the closest being about 5 metres from us hidden in the grass). Although we were only armed with bamboo sticks, I felt at ease with our guides as they knew the jungle inside out and were not afraid of the animals. The love they have for the animals and the jungle is beautiful to see and I would not have wanted to experience my first time in Nepal with anyone else! I can’t wait to go back to Nepal and I miss Raj and Prem already! 
31 July 2018 Chester