What to Expect On Tour

The Technical Details as set out below are intended to advise you on best practices when travelling with us.

NATURETREK LEADERS All our leaders are expert naturalists. They will be able to show you, and help you to identify, many of the birds, plants and mammals that occur in the region that you are visiting. Many of our leaders have quite exceptional backgrounds in the country to which they are taking you. Often they have lived there for several years; inevitably their knowledge and interests extend beyond just the area’s natural history. All of our leaders speak English and between us we speak over 15 other languages — not much good for summoning birds, but essential in coping with the inevitable hiccoughs that find their way into all third world travel arrangements! Please note however, that whilst we assign leaders to particular tours well in advance, we reserve the right to make changes if necessary. Tour leaders’ biographies are available on our website, or we would be pleased to post you a copy on application.

TOUR & TREK GRADING Each holiday is graded A to D. A is easy walking — for anyone; B is moderate — for anyone of any age used to some regular walking; C is fairly strenuous — for those with a measure of fitness or the unfit who are prepared to feel tired at times! D is tough — for the keen walker. These grades are not based just on the length of each day’s walk: the nature of the terrain, the altitude, and the overall length of the trek are all taken into account. For those with reduced mobility we would recommend our Grade A holidays as being the most suitable, but please let us know your needs before booking and we will provide details of suitability for any given tour.

ACCOMMODATION This cost is always part of the stated price, whether it is in hotels or camping. Hotels used in larger towns are at least tourist class, and usually first class. We try to choose the hotel that offers the best combination of convenient location, atmosphere, friendliness and facilities. We provide twin rooms, most with private bathrooms, unless a single or deluxe room is requested. Hotels in remote places are the best available. Please bear in mind some hotels may not have lifts but only flights of stairs.

HEALTH & VACCINATIONS Have a medical and dental check before you go and, for some of our trips, we advise immunisations against typhoid, TB, polio, tetanus and hepatitis A, and that you take anti-malarial tablets if advised by your doctor. There are some areas where other immunisations such as rabies, meningitis, yellow fever etc. may be required. On all our trips we carry a medical kit to deal with minor accidents. Information on health for UK residents can be obtained from www.travelhealthpro.org.uk. For UK residents travelling to the EU, please remember to take you Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC), or European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) if still valid.

PASSPORTS & VISAS Details for British Passport holders are available on our website and will also be given on booking. We regret that we are unable to obtain your visa for you. Non-British nationals must be responsible for their own visa and other entry requirements.

ITINERARIES A detailed itinerary will be sent to you on booking, or on special request. On walking holidays in particular, local weather, politics, transport or a host of other uncontrollable factors can mean a change in itinerary on the ground. It is very unlikely that an itinerary would be substantially altered, but if this is necessary your leader will decide the best alternative in consultation with the group.

PERSONAL SPENDING MONEY This is only needed for any extra drinks that you may require, meals not included in the price, airport taxes and souvenirs. The average person might spend £100 on these items.

FLIGHT DELAYS/ROUTE CHANGES Naturally every effort is made to avoid delays and changes to the itinerary, but inevitably there will be occasions when they do happen. There is no guarantee that flights will depart at the time specified and any delay that may arise is down to the airline. Where such a delay does arise, we will use our best endeavours to arrange for the air carrier to provide appropriate meals, and if the delay is significant or involves an overnight stay we will assist in making arrangements for you.

FLIGHTS On nearly all our holidays we provide Economy Class seats on scheduled flights (unless otherwise requested). The fares are normally group-based, with restrictions as to validity, stop-overs, re-routing, etc. While we can often make alternative flight arrangements to suit particular needs, we emphasise that these are always likely to be considerably more expensive than the published arrangement. Should you not wish to fly with the group from the UK, a ‘land only’ price is available on request. As our holidays are planned well in advance, details of airlines, airports and flight timings are not given in this brochure. They will, however, be detailed in your confirmation invoice, if known at the time, and confirmed in your Final Joining Instructions sent to you two weeks prior to the holiday’s departure.

GROUP SIZE Our trips are costed on a minimum of 6 participants and 16 is usually the maximum, with the exception of our chartered cruises. Sometimes, to prevent disappointment, we may operate a trip for as few as four people, and we reserve the right, where a group contains less than 6 people, either to apply a ‘small group’ surcharge of between 5% and 10%, or, with your consent, to make certain alterations to the way the trip is run. If this happened, we would advise you as early as possible.

SMOKING AND VAPING The overwhelming majority of Naturetrek clients are non-smokers/vapers. To enable them to enjoy their holiday in comfort (and fresh air!), we insist that smokers/vapers refrain from smoking/vaping in the proximity of all other group members, and whilst watching wildlife, at all times. In particular, smoking/vaping in any confined space — be it the lounge, dining room, minibus, bedroom (if shared with a non-smoker) or at any other group gathering — cannot be permitted and, in signing our booking conditions, you agree to accept these guidelines and the right of all our tour leaders to dismiss from a tour any participant failing to respect them. Please advise us, at the time of booking, if you require a ‘smoking/vaping area’.

OUR CANCELLATION Due to the special nature of our trips, we cannot guarantee the departure of every holiday, though we do try very hard to ensure that each one runs. Should a trip seem to be attracting insufficient numbers for a departure, we will let you know at least thirty days before its departure date, in case you wish to cancel then — with a full refund of your deposit and other payments to us — and make other holiday arrangements.

EXTENSIONS & PRIVATE PARTIES Should you wish to extend your Naturetrek holiday by visiting areas additional to those in our programme, we should be happy to help you with your arrangements. Further, we are always pleased to organise tailormade birdwatching, botanical and other wildlife holidays for private parties of any size.

SINGLE ROOMS & SUPPLEMENTS We regret that nearly all of the lodges and hotels we use charge single supplements, as they are usually small establishments needing to fill all beds. If you particularly wish for a single occupancy room, we are normally able to provide one for you at the supplement price listed for each tour. If you wish to share (to avoid this supplement) we can usually match you up with someone else of similar age and same sex, also wishing to share. If we are unable to do this, we regret that the single supplement must be charged unless your booking was received by us at least 6 months prior to the holiday’s departure. N.B. This offer only applies to UK and European holidays, and up to £250. If the single supplement is higher than this then the difference will still be charged.

ON TREK ...
HOW FAR DO YOU WALK EACH DAY? This question is best answered in terms of time not kilometres, as the altitude, terrain and programme vary to such an extent each day. For example, a day’s walk at 2,000 metres, along a flat trail, through an area devoid of interesting natural history, might cover 18 or more kilometres. A day’s walk uphill, through a bird-filled rhododendron forest at 4,000 metres, might cover just eight or nine kilometres. Both walks might take the same time: perhaps seven hours or so. Walking time probably varies between 4-5 hours on a grade A or B trek and 7-9 hours on a grade C or D trek, but there is no hard and fast rule; much depends on what we see!

ALTITUDE This is one of the most important considerations in trekking, so we indicate against each trek the maximum altitude reached. No one can foretell how he/she will react at high altitude; age, fitness and previous high altitude experience have no bearing at all in the matter. The vital factor is acclimatisation. Our treks are planned to allow the maximum time for you to acclimatise, with the result that very few of our trekkers have ever had serious problems.

BAGGAGE & PORTERAGE These are not backpacking treks. All your trek baggage will be carried by pack animals or porters. You need carry only a small daypack for your camera, waterproofs, water bottle and other essentials, and even this is often carried for you by a friendly porter! You are restricted to around 20 kg of baggage on flights, and we recommend you take rather less than this to allow for souvenirs that you may collect. Don’t bring a smart suitcase if you want it to stay smart! On-trek baggage should be restricted to around 12 kg and packed in a soft kitbag; any belongings not needed on trek can be left in your suitcase in the hotel. Baggage must not be left unattended in any vehicles.

TREK STAFF On all our Himalayan treks we take an experienced team of guides, cooks, and porters or animal drivers, managed by a local ‘sirdar’. The guides will assist trek members at all times, and will encourage group members to walk at their own pace rather than feel obliged to keep up with faster members of the group. One guide will always bring up the rear. On all our other treks similar, if sometimes less experienced, staff will look after us.

REMOTENESS All the areas in which we trek are remote. Consequently the lifestyle on trek is necessarily very different from that on an ordinary holiday. If you are not willing to accept this you should not travel with us on a trek.

FOOD When trekking, and normally when camping, food is included in our price. Provisions are normally based on fresh local food and supplemented by ‘luxuries’ that we import. It is designed to be nutritious, but in some areas it is not always possible to make it gastronomically very interesting. In the larger towns, when staying in hotels, we normally provide only breakfast so that you may explore the local restaurants to suit your own taste.

EQUIPMENT All basic communal camping equipment is supplied by Naturetrek. This includes all cooking and eating utensils, 2-man tents, and in most areas stools, dining tents and loo tents. You will normally need to bring a sleeping bag, foam mat or lilo, walking boots, a daypack and other personal items. On some European tours a picnic set may be required for lunches in the field. However, a full clothing/equipment list will be sent out to you on booking, as well as a reading list.