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Nepal 2019
Himalaya trekking with kids in Langtang?
An initial doubt about trekking with kids in Langtang on our own as we do every year in Alps in Austria and lack of information on such experiences was my motivation to write this article.
We are czech family living in Germany which likes to hike since 2016 (kids age back then: 7 and 10) Usually we trek from hut to hut in Austria near areas where we ski in winter, so we can get to know the region well. If you have any questions about trekking with kids in general feel free to contact us. We are "trekking in snail motion" and enjoy the offline nature.
A year ago, we didn't know that everybody can enjoy the beauty of Himalaya nature. "Trekking in Himalaya" - that sounds so adventurous and we always had pictures of Radek Jaroš in our mind. But no! Lower Himalaya mountains are for everybody who just likes to trek, get to experience different cultures and love nature. The age doesn't matter.
You can watch our adventure here
In the Alps, as soon you reach 2000 meter above sea level, there are just rocks and no more vegetation. Although, in this altitude in Nepal, there are banana palm trees and lovely monkeys. To reach the "moon landscape" you need to climb way over 4000 meters through fascinating tropical forests. There is so much to see and discover!
Our main question was if it's okay to hike through Langtang with kids of age 10 and 12.
Based on my research, the answer was "yes". Many organized tours ca be found, with all services including porters and so on. But I wasn't able to find nearly any information about treks with kids carrying their own backpack. "Maybe nobody does it?" I thought... I know it is very individual but I felt lost at this point of our trek preparation phase. In the Alps, we usually don't meet any kids on the trek, so we decided to pack and proceed in the same way as we do in the Alps, plus the sleeping bags. As we found, the sleeping bags might not have even been necessary, there are always warm clean blankets in the lodges on the way from Syabru Bensi to Kyanjing Gompa. We could have saved 12 kg total weight to carry.
We have never been to Nepal and there were too many open questions for me as I am just mom without any adventurous mind.
Even though we like to travel on our own we decided to lower potential risks on the trek and hired a local guide ("porterguide"= he takes care about the process of the trek and can support you with carying some small things).
We found out there is a big organized business around mountain guides (agencies of all kind), which we didn't want to support though. That's why we searched on our own - and found Nima Finjo Lama.
Nima lives with his wife in Thulo Syabru. They have two kids Nima (13 - it's a girl! :-) and Susan (8, boy) who live and attend a school in Kathmandu since the 2015 earthquake. At the time of our trek, they were having one month school holidays, so we could take a jeap to Langtang all together from Kathmandu. Susan decided to even join our "family expedition", which we call EXPEDITION RED PANDA, so we really had a great time together.
Our guide Nima was always very careful and patient. He was always interested in our desires and needs. We could (and sometimes had to) change our plans according to new impulses, ideas and circumstances. I really liked his warmhearted relationship to our kids on the trek and his endurance to answer their (sometimes not very intelligent :-) questions. On the track, we learned a lot about the fauna and flora of Langtang and the Tibetan culture. This applies even more for the kids who grow up in comfy Europe, as they could spend time in the kitchen watching how the meal is cooked on the fire stove. I loved to watch the kids learning a jumping game called "Tiger".
We dint't have to worry if there are enough beds in the next lodge because Nima was always getting in touch with lodges on the way by cell or satelit telephone. It wasn't always easy to find ad-hoc 4 free beds in one lodge. Of course, he knows many local people and can organize anything you need and all this ALWAYS with smile on his face.
Before starting our trek, we were a little worried about having one more person with us for two weeks but you don't really feel his presence. Somehow he always was there just when you needed it and he wasn't close to you when you seek to be rather alone. Until now, I don't understand how he does it. We really miss his "buddhist" harmonized soul back home and if we decide to go to Nepal again, we take him definitely with us again. We see him as the best family guide for us and also your family will feel safe with him! (you can contact him per mail: nyimalama441@gmail.com)
Have you ever thought about going with kids to Langtang or elsewhere in Nepal? Don't worry too much as I did and simply do it, it is a lifetime experience!
(ah)
| Fotogalerie |
Getting ready for trek, with little worries about bad weather.
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On the trek.
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Tic-tac-toe = no language barrier :-)
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On the way to the "new" Langtang village which goes through the "old" diminished Langtang village.
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Yes, we need a break. As often... It is not always easy but we keep going in our "snail motion". The speed doesn't really matter as we have Nima with.
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Sometimes, you ask why you get out of paper.
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Kyanjing Ri
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Summit picture. Susan is here also for the first time.
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Time to relax. Let´s play Tiger.
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Learning of doing the laundry in the "mountain style"
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"How many bridges do we cross today?" This was Eli's question every day. The higher you are the less bridges you cross...
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When you leave the trail, sometimes it would be nice to have a little bridge in jungle :-)
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Langtang is not only trekking. We also learned to weave and spin Tibetan style.
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Searching for red panda in the deep jungle, aside of tourist paths. As Nima was member of the commitee for saving red pandas in Langang, he knows where to search for them.
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