Located in the North East of the Indian sub continent, the Buddhist Kingdom of Sikkim shares borders with Bhutan, Tibet and Nepal and is nestled in the heart of India’s Eastern Himalayan range. Sikkim contains an environmental legacy of untouched but incredibly stunning and uniquely diverse landscapes and a cultural mosaic under the looming presence of the world’s third highest mountain, Kanchenjunga.

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Himalayan walking is at the heart of this experience, enabling you to enjoy the villages and rural life in remote mountain regions. Accompanied by local porters and guides, you step out of the modern world, walking between villages that are remote, and staying in traditional village houses, which a local company have spruced up to provide proper comfort without compromising their authenticity.  We will arrange visits to local schools, monasteries and markets to enable you to get a full understanding of the culture of each region, its people, religion and customs. Providing authentic experiences of local life, the walks are the perfect antidote to the frenetic world that most of us live in.

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These usually are three to four day walks. On your first day you will be met by your private guide and driven approximately 5 hours to your house in Sandyang Lee Village near Rinchenpong. The Sangdyang Lee House is beautifully located and offers fantastic views of the Kanchenjunga massif. In the early evening, your guide will give you an introductory briefing about Himalayan walking and your tour after which you will be invited to enjoy an evening around the fire with drinks and a delicious dinner under the stars.

The next day your Himalayan walking begins with a gentle climb along a lush jungle trail, by isolated houses and quaint hamlets along the way. You will find that the local people are ever smiling and very friendly. Pass by the Rangeet River in a lovely valley and continue onto the Magi Darra from where you can enjoy stunning views of the entire valley below. Further ahead is Poison Lake, which also offers fantastic Himalayan views. Close by is the newly constructed Gurung monastery which is also worth a visit. This afternoon we have a delicious picnic lunch arranged for you. On the way back you will have a chance to visit a traditional house that belongs to the Lepchas, who are the aboriginal people of Sikkim.

Awake at dawn the following day to walk up a short distance above the house to watch the sun come up. The sight of the sun rising through the fluttering prayer flags with Kanchenjunga in the background is truly unforgettable.  From here continue on to Rinchenpong Monastery to participate in the early morning prayers which the monks conduct daily. The prayers and chanting are truly fascinating and spiritually uplifting. Drive back to the house for breakfast. Later today you will head to Hee Village to our next house. The route runs along a ridge from where you will be able to get some amazing views. On the way you will pass through the charming village of Bhasmay.

Break the journey and take in the beauty of this region while you enjoy a delicious picnic lunch at a lovely spot. About one and a half hours later you will reach Hee.

After breakfast, the owner of the village house will show you around his village. This is fabulous opportunity to meet and interact with the local people. Continue uphill, through a wildlife sanctuary, to the enchanted lakes- a series of three beautiful lakes one after the on the mountain side. After a picnic lunch, walk along a flat path to a local cave, which the locals consider to be a home for holy spirits.  Radhu Kandu village is our next destination where you will arrive mid afternoon. The rest of the day is at leisure to enjoy as you desire.

The house at Radhu Kandu is the most special of the three. It is a charming traditional Sikkimese house with two bedrooms and outside toilets and showers. The owner family is lovely and quite entertaining to spend time with. The location is sublime and there is nothing better than having tea in the sit out room which has 270° views of the area. After breakfast, you will continue your Himalayan walking back down to the road head from where you will be driven for approximately 5 hours to Bagdogra where you can board a flight to Delhi.

Everyone wants to get away from their hectic life to a place where they can relax and see places they have heard before. I recently came across one such location off the beaten track. Nandadevi is an exclusive heritage estate – an invitation for people with a love of the Himalayas and nature. Guests may step back in time and enjoy their Himalayan Holidays in simplicity coupled by style and sophistication.

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Between 1805 and 1947, the British ruled Kumaon and established their administrative capital in Almora. With a keen eye for the best spots and a great sense of style and good taste, the British discovered Binsar, with its unparalleled natural beauty and sweeping views. Set at 7500 ft in the heart of Binsar Sanctuary, the NandaDevi property was the residence of a succession of District Magistrates from 1856 to 1945, after which it passed into the hands of the Shah family of Almora who owned a store providing groceries and wines to the British. Against a 700 rupee wine bill, Mr Van Renen handed over the property to Shyam Lal Shah who in turn sold it to Vivek Datta, a philosopher turned gentleman farmer from an aristocratic Delhi family, and his Belgian musicologist wife Marie in 1956, exactly a hundred years after it was built. It provides a unique Himalayan holidays experience, where the awe inspiring peaks in an unbroken chain of 500 kms can be contemplated up close. The wild beauty of virgin Himalayan oak and rhododendron forests surrounding the estate urge you to connect with nature, explore its secrets, and return to time and again.

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Nandadevi Estate is located in the core area of Binsar Sanctuary, which is under the management of Corbett National Park. There are only 5 properties in the higher reaches of Binsar Sanctuary, and they are all separated by kilometres of thick forest. The property, 20 acres of land, comprises of terraced fields and a 155 years old heritage bungalow – originally built by a British administrator in 1854. What makes the Nandadevi Estate one of the most beautiful places in the world, is not only its views but the harmonious way in which the property is naturally set with its own five hills, each with exquisite views, and its terraced fields which once were a thriving farm and apple orchard, and are gradually being restored to their original state a few acres at a time. All efforts have been made so that guests have the unique experience of stepping back in time and enjoying the simplicity coupled by the sophistication. The entire estate is at the disposal of the guests along with the estate staff making it a relaxing Himalayan holiday.

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The Estate has two Bungalows – The Goralkot Bungalow, built in the mid nineteenth century, is steeped in history and atmosphere and has been restored in a typical colonial style with wide verandahs, bay windows, and high ceilinged rooms with plenty of light and space. The whole structure is made of stone and wood. The rooms with four poster beds and their arched wooden ceiling and bay windows are furnished with priceless antiques from the Raj.  The Writer’s cottage was originally a barn located in the middle of the apple orchards and farm and was converted into a cottage in the mid 1980’s. An Italian writer called Tiziano Terzani, an icon in Europe as much for his writing as for his philosophy, stayed in the cottage for five years and wrote his most celebrated book there. The cottage is double storeyed and has a wraparound verandah from which views of Nandadevi, framed between two hills, views of Panchachuli and the Nepal Himalayas are visible. Done in pinewood and stone, the cottage has picture windows in every room and sunlight throughout the day.  Built around the concept of light and space, each room, including the bathrooms, have breath-taking views making it a perfect retreat for a Himalayan holiday.

They have recently revived the farm and four acres of land have been planted with vegetables and crops slowly we will bring the property back to its former days when there used to be 4000 fruit trees and substantial agriculture. The property also has a cowshed housing five milk cows, a bull, two riding horses, a few sheep, and chickens. Guests can order their meal fresh from the vegetable garden or dairy and watch the cows being milked. The farm, providing fresh dairy and poultry products and a range of local and exotic vegetables and fruit, ensures guests will enjoy Indian and Continental cuisine cooked to their taste and requirements in the bungalow kitchens.

They have a range of activities like hikes and bird watching in the Sanctuary, camping, horse riding, and mountain biking and day treks inside the Sanctuary as well as visits to nearby places of interest. However, the breath-taking surroundings and the luxuries of old world comforts and home grown, home cooked food will make it hard for guests to move out. Having said that I am sure guests who decide to go on Himalayan holidays want to explore the countryside and for those walks in Binsar Sanctuary ranging from easy strolls to day treks with picnic lunches can be arranged.  For guests who love riding, Horse riding along the old British horse trails in the Sanctuary can be organised. If you want to taste a bit of culture excursions to Almora to visit the Nanda Devi temple, the Old Bazaar and the main production unit of Panchachuli Women Weavers can be arranged.

It’s a unique concept and a one of a kind Himalayan holidays experience.

Snow Leopard Trek

Our snow leopard trek is a unique journey in quest of one of the most elusive and iconic of the Big Cats. Guided by experts and contributing directly to the Snow Leopard Conservancy, this exclusive trek gives one a unique insight into the ecology of these exquisite and beautiful creatures in the high Himalayas.

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Snow Leopards are rarely seen, but this trek is not a random one. Although their low numbers and reclusive nature, coupled with the inhospitable nature of their habitat can make the possibility of actually finding a snow leopard the most forlorn of forlorn hopes, our treks narrow the chances considerably. The treks take place at the end of the winter or early spring when the snow is at it’s deepest. The Snow Leopard is tied to its prey, and in vast and inhospitable country the prey is concentrated in the relatively few hospitable areas. By this time of year forage is scarce and the animals descend to the valley floors in search of graze and open ground. This narrows and focuses the search. Our treks concentrate on one such area in the Hemis National Park in Ladakh, south of the River Indus. This is an area that has been the location for snow leopard research and filming in the past. The bonus, and for many the real reward, is the exploration of the natural and human landscape of snow leopard country. The mountains are rugged but indescribably beautiful, as streams and rivers that bring the area to vivid life water the valleys that seam this barren but colourful vastness.

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The snow leopard does not inhabit this mountain fastness alone. It sits atop a complex eco-system and shares it’s habitat with a number of other fascinating creatures like Wolf, wild dog, Blue Sheep, Urial and Himalayan marmots while the skies are patrolled by such charismatic species like the golden eagle and bearded vultures.

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This is one of our most outstanding and inspirational journeys, as you trek in one of the most beautiful regions of the Himalayas and meet and interact the fiendly people who inhabit this harsh mountain area.

Walking in the Himalayas has to be one of the most perfect antidotes to frantic modern living. Our Himalayan holidays include long fairly arduous but exhilarating treks in high country but also a terrific range of relaxed walking holidays at somewhat lower altitudes that enjoy panoramic views of the high ranges while simultaneously providing fascinating glimpses into the lives and culture of the mountain people. Some of our Himalayan walking holidays use charming village homes that have been simply but tastefully adapted to the needs of western travellers. We have also recently added a couple of lovely, gentle treks in the lower (relatively speaking) hills of Himachal Pradesh that end up in Shimla or begin in Shimla. The classic Himalayan trek or walking holiday was the expedition style adventure where you went off into the high mountains with a large train of pack horses or porters, completely self-contained except for water. This remains the preferred option in high country and for longer treks. The independence and flexibility that this allows is particularly in keeping with that quest for freedom that underlies the impulse to foray into mountains away from the humdrum bonds of domesticity that anchor our everyday lives.

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In recent years there has been an exciting development that has added to the possibilities of Indian luxury holidays in Himalayas. This is the growth of beautifully located historic homes that are being converted to homestays in the most magnificent locations – many of which are now either within or at the edge of protected wildlife sanctuaries.

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There is nothing more relaxing, more fun than to have a comfortable base from which to head out for gentle or vigorous walks as the mood takes one without the compulsions of completing a set day’s march to the next camp. And if the weather turns bad – as mountain weather can – the option to retreat to a warm fire with a good book and, glass to hand, smugly contemplate the prospects of nothing more rigorous than an excellent meal while the weather blows itself to exhaustion outside. Our Himalayan walking holidays encompass the entire gamut of winter treks in Ladakh searching for snow leopards to relaxed walking trips from a comfortable base.

Trekking Nepal- I recently received a letter from a friend from my Nepal days in which he swears that the mountains have become higher – well, they are supposed to be growing at about 2 cms. a year – and that “some b……has gone and made them steeper too!” He does grumpily concede that it may have something to do with the fact that he is now a ‘senior’ – an ill-defined term that has nothing to do with time spent on earth but how well your knees perform going downhill. Of course, the joy of Nepal is that you can walk through jungled plains, or gentle Middle Himalayas or assault an 8000 meter peak. It’s all there. Best to get out there sooner rather than later though, for progress – as defined by the encroaching reach of roads, traffic and all that goes with it – is coming to the mountains and whatever the benefits to the locals, it does bring the sort of change that one is trying to get away from in the first place.

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Being an ex-Tiger Tops man I am admittedly biased but I think by any measure the Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge has to be one of the best of its kind anywhere in the world. It has just the right balance of local style, architecture and materials, simplicity, elegance and comfort that makes you feel at home but special. And what a location – a ridge 1500 feet above the Pokhara Valley with a skyline crowded with Himalayan giants – the entire Annapurna massif, Machha Puchhare (Fishtail) – a chiselled stone age dagger piercing the heavens – Peak 29, Manaslu.  The walking from here with the spectacular back-drop is fantastic. Villages and terraced fields crowd the hillside and a path runs east dropping after several miles to the valley floor. One bright December morning a small group of us headed out with an excellent young naturalist guide – a local kid trained by Tiger Mountain. Every breath was a celebration of life. An ancient Tata bus wheezed up a dirt road, grinding past a bright coca-cola emblazoned parasol set sharp against the elegant triangle of Fishtail. As the sun climbed the thermals brought out the raptors – Himalayan griffons, steppe eagles, Greater spotted eagle, Booted eagle and – as we crawled up a short but almost vertical stepped section – a huge bearded vulture dropped down on rocking wings to investigate eliciting the classic remark from Tim H (all of 80 then), “Clearly our speed up the hill suggests that we are dead.”

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Returning to the lodge in the late afternoon, I sat on the verandah cup of tea in hand watching the sunlight change from flat-and-bright to slanting gold. The little wisps of afternoon condensation cleared and as the Sun slipped below the horizon, the high peaks flared pink and vermilion in the alpenglow. So beautiful that even the memory is a pleasurable ache.