When you choose to explore Nepal’s beauty and her opportunities for adventure and her cultural riches, you would do well to choose EncountersNepal.com not only for their excellent reputation as a travel company but also because of the genuine ethos and commitment to the sympathetic promotion of his land and people by the proprietor of the company, Rishi Nepal.
Rishi grew up in the mountains where great resilience, abundant resourcefulness and deep respect for the land are all necessary for survival. As part of a large family in a remote area, he has developed during his childhood and early adolescence the great attributes that render him today as a well-known, charismatic and giving tour leader and company manager. When your family must cultivate all the food that you consume, when shoes are a rare commodity, when attending school requires a two hour hike through difficult terrain each way, when each family member must take a turn at night to look out for tigers and other predators, when you use the locally available herbs and roots that have been shown to relieve pain, injury and illness over many years, when respect for each other and great optimism are necessary for survival, you develop an unwavering bond with the land and the community that fed and provided for you during your formative years.
Rishi’s psyche is inextricably linked to his land and his people and this drives all his undertakings. He has been actively involved with the award winning environmental group KEEP ( Kathmandu Environmental Education Project) for over ten years. Currently, he is treasurer of this famous institution. He is committed to the environmental protection of his homeland and insists on the removal of all rubbish carried in by his groups, so that the landscape is left pristine, just as his guests and guides found it. He is very conscious of the preciousness of clean, safe drinking water and will advise you on how to purify water if necessary during your trekking.
Rishi is also strongly committed to the fair remuneration and working conditions of all guides, porters and cooks he engages, which makes him very popular as an employer. He himself knows from his early work in the industry how honest, responsible, reliable, prudent, fit, strong and hardworking you have to be to be able to constantly trek, guide and carry equipment and luggage through mountainous terrain. Rishi therefore has enormous respect for those who undertake these duties in order to make the experience safer and more enjoyable for travellers from other countries who wish to enjoy the many scenic and cultural assets of his land. He pays his employees therefore accordingly well for their loyal and steadfast service to his guests. He also encourages his guests to express their personal appreciation of the contribution of their helpers too. As you would expect, Rishi chooses to employ only those he knows who will be of truly great service to his guests, those who enjoy their work and who will do their utmost to ensure the safety and enjoyment of each of his clients. Rishi has been an active and well recognised member of TAAN, the famous national trekking organisation for over two decade. This means he is up to date on all policies and procedures to maximise trekker enjoyment and welfare. He understands well the demands and challenges of each major trekking route and can give you sound advice as to which routes might be most suitable for you according to your interests, level of fitness and the time at your disposal.
Rishi’s engagement with the social welfare of all those in his community and his concern also for the well-being of all those with whom he comes into contact is well known and this extends of course also to the international guests of his cherished travel company. Deeply concerned about educational opportunities for all children and young people, Rishi is not only chairman of a very successful school which offers classes from Pre-school to Class 10 in a suburb of Kathmandu, but he also remains an active supporter of the school in his home village of Phulkarka and has played various executive roles in the ex-students’ club. Rishi also plays a pro-active role in the Phulkarka Welfare Society. Many of his close family members still reside there. The village of Phulkarka in Dhading was virtually decimated in the catastrophic earthquake of April 25 2015 yet is now regenerating and recovering. In the immediate wake of this disaster, Rishi also contributed in every way he possibly could. Another aspect of Rishi’s community involvement is his keen membership of the Lions Club.
In addition, Rishi does all he can to promote sustainable tourism in Nepal. He was instrumental in establishing Homestay facilities in Phulkarka. Most recently he has been involved in establishing “Stupa View Inn”, which offers spotlessly clean,comfortable yet very affordable accommodation, right in the vicinity of the famous stupa, Swayambunath. Rishi is still a young entrepreneur with a huge social conscience who works tirelessly to give visitors to his country a wonderful, unforgettable experience.