Safety Tips in Nepal

My Old Adage goes like this

Hotels are for Sleeping
Restaurants are for Eating
Trekking / Travel Agents are for arranging Trekking and Travel

These days Hotels try to be a “One Stop Shop” trying to provide Everything that their guests might require – My own advice would be to stick to “My Old Adage”

My reasons

Hotel Travel desks simply haven’t anything like the experience of a Genuine Trekking / Travel Agent so they either offer a poor service or sub-contract for a hefty commission and you end up paying more

Hotel Restaurants don’t turn over the food quickly, This is even more important now with constant load shedding (Planned power cuts) make freezer temperatures shoot up and down – The older the food the more chances there is of making you ill.

Well that’s my advice – Over to you now ;-)

2012 update – The visa office has moved since I wrote this “Tip” in 2010, But it is still in the same area. Visa extensions are still the same price and the system of extending them is still more or les the same – I have updated as follows

1) Negotiate a taxi to The immigration office in Kathmandu in the morning – The office has recently moved, but it is still in the same area as the old one but just around the corner, My taxi was 200NPR each way from Thamel
2) Ignore all the touts that hang out at the immigration office, pick up a form from the desk in front of you as you enter the building and fill it in
3) Take you filled in form to the desk and hand it over with your passport photo
4) The extension fee is then calculated (This is $2 per day, minimum charge $30, so in effect you might as well always extend your visa for 15 days as less days will still be $30) in Nepali Rupees which you pay further along the counter and get a receipt
5) Return at the appointed time (Usually after 3pm) with our receipt to pick up you passport – But always check that the visa extension is correct before you leave the office – Also check that you have been given your own passport back – I was given the passport of a Dutch female my mistake, but when I pointed this out I was soon given my own ;-)

Since the new visa rules were introduced last year (2009) there has been a lot of confusion in what best to do with getting your visa and then extending it.
In this tip I will TRY and shed some light on this, As no doubt if you have read the new rules then these will have left you as confused as I was !!

OK – If you are coming to Nepal for more than 30 days but less than 60, If this is the case then it will pay you to Only get a 30 day $40 visa on arrival and then extend it. (Visa extensions cost $2 per day, Minimum charge of $30 (15 days) and then thereafter $2 per day. So if you are going for more than 60 days it pays you to buy the 90 days $100 Visa.

Visa Extension Office, This is now located in the outskirts of Kathmandu so it is best to get a taxi – From Thamel this cost me 75NPR on the meter, so Never pay more than around 150NPR.

What Should Happen
Head for the office at Baneshwor, Kathmandu around 13.30, This will give you time to fill in your visa extension form and pay for it as the cash desk closes at 14.00.
Once at the office you will have to fill in the visa extension form, This is straightforward enough, you will also need one passport sized photo. Then you present this form along with your passport to the guy on the right-hand side of the main desk (The one in front of you when you go through the door) He checks the form, then you go to the lady on the left hand side of the desk and pay your fee, This can Only be paid in NPR, The lady will tell you exactly how much it is based on the days exchange rates from US $'s. She will then give you Two prices of pink paper, One is a receipt for the fee and the other a receipt for your passport. You are now free to leave the office and go to the little café down the road – But make Sure that you keep your two prices of pink paper Very Safe.
Then after 16.00 you can head back to the office with the receipt for your passport.and pick up your passport along with your new visa extension – All Done, But Make Sure you check the dates on the visa extension BEFORE you leave the office !!

The Reality of what does happen
When you arrive at the office you might well be greeted by two “Officials”, these “Officials” will hand you your visa application form and you fill it out, then they ask you for the visa fee, But this isn't the equivalent of $30 (Assuming it is a 15 day extension that you are getting), It is more like the equivalent of $60 – If you are foolish enough to pay this then these “Officials” will give you your Two prices of pink paper and the rest is as above – Only it has now cost you Double – The “Officials” aren't really “Officials” but people who have an “Arrangement with the Officers who issue the visas, They give a proportion of the Baksheesh to the real Official Staff behind the counter and this saves you queuing up – But for the 10 minutes you might stand in the queue the $30 extra that you pay isn't good value for money.
Another “Trick” is that sometimes they will close the cash desk early, This happened to me when I had to extend my visa a second time because my flight was cancelled and then rescheduled due to the Iceland Volcano- Luckily I had my Nepali friend Nirmal with me and he argued the toss – Eventually the cash desk miraculously reopened – But if I hadn't been lucky enough to have Nirmal with me then I would have had no choice but to go back the next day.

Personally I think that the Nepal Government should clean this up as it will undoubtedly put people off returning to Nepal – Just another Sad case of Official Corruption in this Troubled but Beautiful country.

Good Luck to everyone who has to put themselves through this system, If you are in Pokhara then you might well be better off extending your visa there, Last time I did this was about 10 years ago and then The Visa Extension Office in Pokhara was a Delight in comparison with the one at Kathmandu !!

I have never done this myself, but saw the possibility of getting your TIMS at the Sagarmatha Park Gate posted on a travel forum a few months ago, so I emailed my preferred gent in Kathmandu to see if he could confirm that this was true.

He replied saying that it is possible, but this isn’t normal practice and wouldn’t advise anyone taking this option. His reasons were that the application / issue wasn’t guaranteed to be done properly, with the route details being transferred to the TIMS computer (i.e. sometimes the fee goes straight into the pocket of the person issuing your TIMS and the paperwork goes in the bin) – Therefore if something was to go wrong on your trek and a search had to be organised, there would be a possibility that your entrance to Sagarmatha National park would be unrecorded, so any searches would take place in the wrong area.
Therefore I would strongly advise getting your TIMS permits sorted out in Kathmandu !!

Good Luck and Happy Safe Trekking
Rob

The First thing to mention is to make sure that your chosen agent is listed on the TAAN Members directory

Normally an agent won’t ask for a deposit unless he stands to loose money if for some reason you didn’t show up.

However sometimes when you are booking treks, flight or other services through agents based in Nepal in advance you will be asked to pay a deposit up front to cover potential losses for “No Show” . As long as the deposit requested isn’t overly large and you are confident that the agent is a good and reliable one then paying a small deposit shouldn’t be a problem. But Be Aware that there are also a Lot of Sharks out there !!

There are also a lot of Good, Reliable and Trusted Agents out there and there are legitimate reasons for agents to ask for small deposits of around $50 so that in a case of someone not showing up they are then not out of pocket, I will try and list some of the most common of these below.
1) TIMS and ANCAP in advance, especially when the client is heading off trekking soon after arriving in Nepal.
2) Internal flights, Again especially when said flight is soon after client arrives in Nepal
3) Direct transfers from Kathmandu Tribuvan Airport to places like Pokhara by private car.
4) If the trek also involves a trekking peek where a peek fee has to be paid.

Very occasionally it is reasonable for an agent to ask for a larger deposit, Personally I would never advance in access of $100, Reasons for agents requiring larger deposits would be things like
1) Direct transfer from Airport to Dunche/ Syapru Besi or Syange by Landcruiser with TIMS in advance and “Staff” (Guide and porters) already waiting.
2) Trekking in a restricted / protected area where trekking permits are requited, these can run at up to $500 and involve a lot of paperwork up front so larger deposits are again often required especially when the client is heading off trekking soon after arriving in Nepal.

Reliable and Trusted Agents wouldn’t ask for deposits much larger that I have suggested because of deductions received at there end incurred by electronic money transfers. Even with companies such as muncha.com the rupee / $ or Euro rate is significantly less (Maybe 5%) than you get when you are in Nepal, This rate difference usually comes out of the agents profits, so they won’t ask for a significantly larger deposit than covers what they actually stand to loose if the client doesn’t show up.

Good Luck
Rob

There is a problem of adulterated food and drinks in Nepal. The good news part is that these thihng you find mostly in non-tourist establishments, serving Nepali locals. There has recently been a scare on Tuborg beer being added methylalcohol and of ghee (clarified butter) made from food waste, not milk, the latter was found in Amoul brand sweets.
A special care advice goes for those trekking along the Tibet commercially influenced areas on the northern border: the drinks imported here, especially the hard liquor should be avoided. There have been instances of maotai type drinks being added methylalcohol, leding to several deaths and cases of blindness. Stay away from any home made hard drinks in these area, and if they come in a bottle, be certain to avoid the ones with Chinese labels. They are also a real curse to the local society, as people here are not used to drink 50-60% alcohol, and quickly fall into alcoholism.

This may be sound very plain but it's very important that your luggage is well packed before keeping it on the roof of the bus in your Bus journey in Nepal. If you are carrying laptops or other valuable things with you, keep it with you inside the vehicle, while travelling. Last year I lost my laptop while travelling between Kathmandu to Pokhara :-( . Check your luggage frequently, whenever the bus will stop for meals. Try not to travel with the Local buses or Micro Buses. Tourist buses are more safe. They have an extra compartment for carrying luggage but sometimes it's full and some luggage are shifted to the roof of the Bus.

Yes, monkeys are here too. I was totally unaware that monkeys can be in that high altitude. Please keep all your food stuffs safe or else it can be snatched right away from your hands. Be Alert while roaming around the Temple area.

If you are only going along the main mountain trekking routes and not hanging out in the Terai,staying at farms with animals, living and eating out of poorly sanitated rural homes, I would not be concerned about most exotic diseases and parasites connceted with Nepal.

There are probably more MDs along the national park trails than anywhere else in Nepal. If something really serious happens there are rescue services and what not available in these areas. However, all rescue, evacuation and medical services are built on the premise that you eventually cough up the money it costs. Thus, what you really need is a comprehensive travel insurance that is valid for expedition style activities, and includes helicopter evacuation, not solely a medical insurance. Most common travel insurances are invalid above 4000 meters altitude, and you need to add an expedition clause + cost to it.

Prevention is much, much better than cure. Eat local food. Do get all vaccines needed for the particular trek (again, you can skip some of the farm/animals/lowland related stuff for mountain treks). I found that health personnell tend to consult the WHO handbook prior to setting your vaccine program, and the private clinics earn money for each vaccine, so even qualified medical personnell may not be completely up to it on the local conditions.

Must-have vaccines are: typhoid, Hep-A, diptheria, polio, tetanus, meningitis, BCG (tub), and the cholera drinks (Dukoral etc). The cholera vaccines are not very effective against cholera, but very effective against some other common diarrheas. No malaria or kala azaar or other nasty stuff on the mountain routes, unless you already are a carrier, or dipping toward 6-700 meters.

Regarding parasites, ghiardia is a real nuisance that you can bring antibiotics for, several brand names, most of them contain metronidazole. This is a prescription drug, so take it with great care/correct dozage and only if you have diagnozed ghiradia. Of all stomach upsets, I guess only 10-15% are caused by ghiardia. I can't see the high mountain routes are a particular bad territory for catching intestinal worms, but if in doubt and you've eaten roughly around animals and badly washed veggies and uncooked foods, take a series of mebendazole when back home again. I do that upon completion of high-risk trips, having stayed "local".

What will happen to you on the mountain treks? Possible food poisoning, not always preventable. You can even get it from a fresh hard-boiled egg. The best is to stay put and get it over with, hydrate with tea, noodle soup, hot water, and do not push on higher and harder. Immodium I would only use if I really have no outlet - e.g. travelling by plane/bus. Influenza - a real chance among so many people at lodges and travelling in a group. Very debilitating, and it can escalate to lung diseases if you do not take care. Note that typhoid also has influenza-like symptoms. Dry air, dust and cold-related sore eyes, skin, lips, the Himalayan cough (not the bird!), a constant cough that hits people due to climate, dust and altitude. Soar throat comes from the same conditions, I use paracetamol and lozenges to keep it down, but if it is sign of common cold arriving, it's nothing you can do apart from letting it pass as smootly as possible. Sun: sunglasses, sun protection hats, gloves, neck cover, sunblock. Falls; you may stumble and fall, something to take care of bruises and small cuts. Antiseptic cream to put under bandages. Blisters, chafes, sprains, pains in the feet; just do not let it go too far. Keep clean. Unclean water: boil the water, even at altitude, it is suffcient to kill most critters. Use boiled water to fill water bottles at lodges, add a disinfectant pill like micropur silveriodine. Liquid or chrystal iodine is a mess, but super effective. Unless you are much off the trail, I would leave the water filter at home: heavy stuff, slow at work, and out-competed by availability of boiled water. Hand sanitation is probably the single most important thing: wash often, use soap if possible, and use the odd dose of alcohol based antibacterial gel in connection with food intake.

AMS/HAPE - the real killer: go slow, slow, slow. If in a group and the group is uneven at acclimatizing, do extra days at the same spot and the well acclimatized ones can do day trips out to explore while the others catch up. Read up on AMS and HAPE and team up two and two at the beginning of the trip, so you have a mate to keep an active check on you. Diamox kills only the symptoms, and does not prevent AMS. You cannot tell beforehand who is likely to come down with AMS symptoms. At any sign of it, stop and go down again.

The most dangerous thing for visitors to Nepal is car and bus accidents. Once you are out of the highways and cities and are walking on the rural trails you are a lot safer. By the way, once in Kathmandu, check in with the Himalayan Rescue Association for info. They will give you much better info that I can.

You can read dozages and regimens of medicines on labels and from travel medicine books, one of them quoted somewhere on my VT pages. One book cited also gives a diagnostic info sheet on diarrheas. If you really want it I have a write-up on travel medicine, but this is personal advice to those I travel with and are responsible for in my work related trips in Nepal, and nothing really medically professional, even if I have checked it with qualified medicine men, so I will not publish anything like that on VT. But I can send it to you upon request.
Happy, healthy and safe trek!