Guides are one of the significant factors in a successful trek. No matter which treks you choose to attempt, one person will never leave you, and that person is a professional guide. The Nepal Tourism Board has strictly prohibited any tourist from attempting any treks in Nepal without hiring an experienced guide.
Many foreign trekkers think this is an unjust law against their freedom of solo trekking. However, let’s compare the statistics of trekking in Nepal with a trekking guide with one without a guide. We can see that a trek accompanied by a professional guide is safer and more accessible than solo trekking.
If a professional guide accompanies your journey, you will have an experienced trekker who can also be your voice at places where locals might not understand a word you say. Besides, there are several more benefits of hiring a professional guide for the Kanchenjunga trek, and we will discuss the same in this blog.
Exploring the Kanchenjunga trek
Kanchenjunga trek is a mind-boggling trek on the third highest peak in the world (8,586m), but the highest point of this trek is the mountain’s northern base camp is located at an altitude of 5,065 meters. By default, the Kanchenjunga trek is 18 days if you choose us, but the itinerary can also be customized.
To know more about this trek, read the Kanchenjunga Trek blog. The Kanchenjunga trek’s difficulty is rated as medium to strenuous, so it is recommended only for experienced and professional trekkers. By this, a trekker should understand that a professional guide is essential for the Kanchenjunga Trek.
Now, you might have questions about hiring an excellent guide or the parameters that prove the trekking guide to be outstanding and professional. Don’t worry, trekkers. We got your back! Here are some factors you need to know before hiring a guide for the trek.
Compulsion of hiring the trekking guide for Kanchenjunga trek
Before April 2023, foreign trekkers were allowed to go for any treks alone. However, by the start of April, Nepal Government has passed strict laws against trekking alone. Therefore, hiring a professional guide has been a compulsion for trekkers visiting the Kanchenjunga trek.
As the rate of trekkers getting injured or lost started increasing, the Tourism Board of Nepal and the Nepal Government decided that any trekkers who want to go for the Kanchenjunga trek must hire a professional and licensed guide who works for a registered trekking agency.
Therefore, every trekker should know they can only go for treks in Nepali Himalayas if they hire a licensed guide. Therefore if you are looking for an excellent guide, we are available for your services.
How to hire a perfect guide?
A guide is ideal if they are ready to help their clients fully. Besides, there are also several more criteria that the guide should fulfill to be called an excellent or professional guide. So, here are a few things that you can do to check the ideality and professionalism of any trekking guides:
Meet them in person
When you meet a guide in person, you can study every aspect and factor of the guide. Besides, you can also understand if they match your vibes or not. Conflicts with the guides can sometimes lead to the trek’s failure, and one guide can sometimes ruin the reputation of a whole trekking agency.
Therefore, we recommend you meet a few guides in person and select the ideal one among them. A guide ideal for one trekker might give a different vibe to another, so even if you see that the guide is highly-rated, try meeting him in person and check whether they are ideal for you.
Check their licenses and permits
When you hire a trekking guide from a registered agency, it is pretty sure that the guide is authentic and licensed. However, we recommend you check their licenses and permits. Saying this about our own country does not feel good, but we must warn our clients and trekkers about the frauds and scams that can sometimes happen while hiring a trekking guide.
If you are considering hiring a professional guide, approach the trekking agency first. Research the agency; if the agency is registered, only hire a guide from that trekking agency. If any individual claims to be a professional guide but says they are not affiliated with trekking agencies, it is better to avoid hiring such people.
Do they understand your language?
Most professional trekkers are fluent in more than two languages. They need that talent to ensure they can work as a communication medium between the foreign trekkers and the locals of the Kanchenjunga area. As this area is remote, most locals need help understanding English. If you only know languages like Spanish, Japanese, etc., chances are that no local person would understand you.
To remove this language barrier, guides play an essential role. However, it is not sure that all the guides understand or speak all the languages. Therefore, before hiring a guide for your trek, ensure that the trekking guide is fluent in your language.
Enquire the actual cost as well the additional cost
Before starting the journey, we suggest all the trekkers be well-informed about the cost they must pay for the complete itinerary. Also, remember that any additional days in the trek will add up to extra payments for the guides and porters. So make sure you are well informed about all the necessary costs to be paid to the guides and porters throughout the trek and also enquire about the additional amounts. This will reduce the chances of conflicts between trekkers and guides in the midway because of payment issues.
Besides, it would help if you also tallied the price offered by different agencies and their guides before choosing the ideal guide for your trek. However, while tallying the cost, we suggest you check out all the services the guides provide, as that will help you know whether a guide is worth your money.
Season and availability
If you are trekking the Kanchenjunga in peak seasons, the chances are that only a few guides are available, and the available ones might be expensive. However, you might get several discounts and offers if you are trying to hire a guide or porter for the off-seasons. Furthermore, many trekking guides will be accessible during the off-season, so the trekkers can have more choices when choosing the ideal guide for their journey.
We recommend searching for a guide earlier if you plan to visit the Kanchenjunga trek in peak seasons. If you go out to look for the guides right before the trek, you will have to pay a lot as the trekking guides will be primarily busy at that time.
See also: Best Time For The Kanchenjunga Trek
Highsides of Hiring a professional guide for the Kanchenjunga trek
Why is hiring a guide one of the essential parts of going for the Kanchenjunga trek? What can a guide do for me during my journey? These are the types of questions this section of the blog answers. We recommend you read this section to understand the importance of hiring a professional guide for the Kanchenjunga trek.
Experience brings safety
When you hire a professional guide for your trek, you are paying for the experience they possess. As they have been going to the Kanchenjunga trek repeatedly, these guides are well-known about almost every aspect and factor of the Kanchenjunga Base Camp trek.
When accompanied by a professional guide, safety comes to you automatically. The guides will help you throughout your journey and ensure that all the trekkers have a beautiful and comparatively less strenuous trek on the Kanchenjunga. As a result, the right guide is responsible for the safety of the trekkers.
Decrease the Physical Burden
The primary goal of hiring a guide or a porter is to make the trek less difficult. A guide can help you ascend the Kanchenjunga more efficiently and comparatively accessible. On the other hand, porters will carry your backpacks to the heights and let you trek more lightly.
Therefore, the guides and porters are also responsible for letting the trekkers explore the trek with more freedom, less burden, and meager chances of altitude sickness. When you do not have to carry heavy loads, you can take the whole experience of every detail of the Kanchenjunga trek.
Assistance in the local interaction
As excellent guides know everything about the Kanchenjunga trek, they can help foreign trekkers interact with the residents of the Kanchenjunga area. Furthermore, if professional guides accompany you, you can explore more about the Kanchenjunga area and the local lifestyle there.
Visiting the trek alone might cause a high language barrier between the trekkers and the locals. This might also affect the accommodation and fooding. Therefore, hiring a professional guide is very important to experience the best version of the Kanchenjunga trek.
Required Permits
One of the primary things that every trekker should know is that they need permits to visit almost every trek in Nepal. So, what are the permits necessary for the Kanchenjunga trek? Here is the list:
Restricted Area Permit for Kanchenjunga
While going on the Kanchenjunga trek, you will have to pass through four VDCs: Yamphuding, Lelep, Paping, and Olangchung Gola, which are declared as restricted areas by the Nepal Government. Therefore, to access these VDCs, trekkers need to obtain the Kanchenjunga Restricted Area Permit.
Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project
This permit is dedicated to the development and support of the Kanchenjunga region. With this pass, trekkers are allowed to enter the area that falls inside the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area, which occupies a total area of 2,035 sq. km.
We have not included the pricing rate for any of these permits, so you can contact us if you want to know about the cost or any other additional information regarding the permit and conservation areas.
For many foreign trekkers, obtaining these permits is a headache as they need help understanding the rules and regulations of the Nepal Government regarding the permits and passes. In such a case, a professional and experienced guide can show you the easiest and most efficient way to obtain all the permits necessary for the Kanchenjunga trek.
Services we provide
As you have read everything mentioned above, you must have understood the importance of hiring a professional guide now. You can contact us for a perfect guide during the trek.
Here are some of the primary services that our guides provide to the trekkers:
Expertise and experienced guides and porters
All of the guides and porters of exciting Nepal are highly experienced. Besides, they also have outstanding knowledge about the Kanchenjunga trek path and the local lifestyle. They have accomplished the Kanchenjunga trek so often that these guides and porters can assist you with all the forthcoming obstacles. Furthermore, they are also ready with the safety measures required to tackle such obstacles.
Budget-friendly guides and porters
We are solely devoted to providing the best services to our clients at very reasonable pricing. Our services aim for safety, success, and an adventurous and knowledgeable journey.
Comparing our price with the price offered by several other trekking agencies, you can see that Exciting Nepal provides a budget-friendly trekking experience.
Outstanding customer service
Once you hire us as your trekking partner, we will support you at any time of the day. Even if it is the middle of the night and you need assistance from our customer support team, you can feel free to contact us. Our team member aims to make the Kanchenjunga trek one of the best experiences for every trekker from a faraway land.
With all these services, we assure you that Exciting Nepal will be your best choice as a trekking agency if you want to experience the best vibes of the Kanchenjunga trek.
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FAQs
Why should I hire a guide for the Kanchenjunga trek?
Hiring a professional guide or porter has several advantages for trekkers while attempting the Kanchenjunga trek, like carrying backpacks, navigating the path, local interaction, and many more. Besides, Nepal Government has also passed a strict rule against solo trekking or trekking without a guide to keep the safety of the trekkers in concern.
How much budget should I have to hire a guide or porter for the Kanchenjunga trek?
The cost of hiring a guide or porter for the Kanchenjunga trek depends upon several factors like days of treks, season and month that you choose for attempting the trek, level of experience and services required, and many more. If you visit the Kanchenjunga trek in the off-season, the cost is comparatively cheaper than that during the on-seasons.
How do I choose a perfect guide or porter for my Kanchenjunga trek?
There are a few things you should consider while hiring a professional guide for the trek:
- The guide’s license and permits.
- Their experience level.
- Their cost.
- The services they offer.
If you are looking for a guide with all these qualities, you can come to us and hire a guide for the Kanchenjunga trek.