Small choices that keep mountain communities thriving

Responsible travel in Nepal is usually discussed in terms of plastic bottles. Bottles matter, but they are not the biggest lever. Where the money goes is.

The default split, and ours

On a typical international trekking package, somewhere between 20% and 40% of what you pay stays in Nepal. The rest goes to overseas marketing, foreign office costs and margin. On our Tamang Heritage Trail, 62% stays in Rasuwa district, and we publish the breakdown at the trip briefing.

Four decisions that matter more than the rest

First: sleep in locally owned lodges. In Khumbu and Annapurna a growing share of lodges are owned by Kathmandu investors, and the difference between a village keeping its income and exporting it is entirely down to which door you walk through.

Second: ask about porter weight limits and insurance. The legal limit is 25 kg. Enforcement is inconsistent. An operator who cannot answer immediately is telling you something.

Third: refill rather than buy. Above Namche, every plastic bottle was carried up by a person and will be carried down by a person, or it will not come down at all. Treatment tablets weigh nothing.

Fourth: go in the shoulder season if you can. October is when everyone comes, and it is when lodges are full and trails are queued. March, April and December put the same money into the same villages at a time when they need it more.

Twenty-three households in this valley have a roof because of trekking income. That is not an abstraction to us.

Dawa Tamang, community trails guide

What we are still bad at

Our flights. A Kathmandu–Lukla round trip is a meaningful share of the carbon footprint of an Everest trek, and there is no honest way to describe that as sustainable. The road alternative through Salleri adds three days and we offer it, but very few people take it. We would rather say that plainly than sell an offset.