documents, Nepal

Miscellaneous: Insurance is Very Important in Nepal, You need to have a policy that includes High Altitude Trekking (Obviously if you don’t intend trekking then this does not apply) and make sure that it covers “Casivac” (Casualty Evacuation).
Then Once you arrive in Nepal and before you go trekking you Must register your insurance with whoever will “Manage” your rescue.
You have two main options here and although, So far (Luckily) I haven’t need a rescue I have tried both options
1) Register your Insurance with Your Embassy, I did this on my first trek in Nepal and was Less than satisfied, I am from UK and the welcome I received at The British Embassy was unfriendly, and that was after 3 trips there to eventually find them open !! Then later I realised that if I needed rescuing and the embassy was closed then I would have to wait until the embassy re-opened – Particularly over weekends people there might me difficult to contact so this might not the best of options !!

2) Register your Insurance with a Trusted and Reliable Agent, This is easy if you have a Good Agent and especially if you are hiring Guides from them, You have to make a copy of your insurance certificate, point out the emergency telephone numbers, the policy number etc and leave it with him Some agents will also offer you this service if you are buying Lukla Flights, TIMS / ANCAP in advance so it is always worthwhile asking, even if you have to offer reimbursing any expenses the agent incurs with international phone calls etc – It is better that laying in pain – Or worse for days waiting !!
Agents can usually be contacted out of hours as they nearly all have mobile phones so this is my own preferred choice of where I leave my own insurance details.

Then if you need a rescue you contact whoever you have registered your insurance with and ask them to put one into action, they would then telephone the insurance company, giving the details of both the policy and why the rescue was needed and then as soon as the insurance company authorised the rescue they would telephone one of the Himalayan Rescue Associations and if necessary the helicopter would be dispatched.
A word of caution is that the helicopter won’t be dispatched until the Himalayan Rescue Associations are 100% sure that they will receive payment for the rescue

Personally, I have used “Columbus Direct” (08708940005) for my last 2 trips to Nepal and they cover high altitude trekking on recognised paths as well as the usual lost baggage and cancellation clauses etc
My last annual policy with a 60 day trip limit was £99 so not so expensive either.

Prior to using Columbus I was with Direct Travel Insurance and they badly let me down on my 2006 trip to Nepal when the British Government put a warning to travellers out on Nepal.
I rang Direct Travel Insurance to see how my cover was and they said if I chose to go in spite of the British Government put a warning to travellers then I wasn’t covered, They also said that I wasn’t covered if I cancelled my trip because If I cancelled then I was doing so of my own volition and hence no cover – So basically I wasn’t insured if I went and I wasn’t insured if I didn’t go – talk about the Best of both worlds, For the Insurance company that is

2010 Update
I only found out after retuning from my 2010 trip to Nepal that my insurer, Columbus Direct had altered their Annual Policies and neglected to inform me of the fact !!
Now if you are trekking at Altitude you MUST inform them, They will still cover you for Trekking at altitude on recognised routes but this is now an “Extra” and now attracts a loading.
I would have Hate to think wheat would have happened on this trip if I had needed to use my insurance as in effect I wasn’t covered for most of my trekking as I had just renewed my annual policy and even though I had told the sales-lady that, As usual I was trekking at altitude, and as I wasn’t aware of the change in the policy the extra clause hadn’t been added (Nor the extra charge taken)
I hadn’t checked the small print when the policy was issued – Some might say that this was my own fault but Personally I think that Columbus Direct should have informed me of important changes to their policy that affected the cover !!
Buyer Be Aware !!!!!

Good Luck
Rob