Annapurna to Chitwan: Walks & Wildlife

Enjoy two Nepal adventures in one trip: walk among iconic Himalayan mountains and safari with an expert naturalist

One trip, two of the great adventure experiences in Nepal: walking in the Annapurna foothills and wildlife watching in Chitwan. The trekking portion of our adventure is the ideal introduction to walking in the Himalaya, staying at low altitude with spectacular views throughout. After, we experience another side of Nepal by going in search of roaming wildlife at Chitwan National Park. With the help of an expert naturalist, we explore the home of the one-horned rhino, while also spotting birds, crocodiles, boars and deer.

Why trek with Exodus?

• More than 30 years’ experience organising treks in Nepal
• Exodus annually commissions independent air-safety audits on domestic carriers in Nepal and only use those approved as part of the audit
• Experienced English-speaking local leaders who are qualified in first aid
• All staff (leaders, guides and porters) are fully insured and paid a fair wage
• Speak to Exodus office staff who have done the trek themselves

People, Places & Planet

We work hard to create trips that improve life for the people and places we visit and look after the planet we explore. Find out more about our sustainable travel ethos and practice here, and find out about the work of the Exodus Travels Foundation here. 

Some sustainable travel highlights of this trip include:

People: How this trip helps improve life for local communities.

• The mountain lodges are a source of local employment, sell locally made handicrafts, carry out cleaning campaigns in the village and contribute towards school building and improving the water supply.
• The use of a local leader and trekking support staff (guides, porters/yak herders) means our customers are well informed about local traditions and cultural-social sensitivities.
• It was not until 2005 that the ancient tradition of chhaupadi (banishing menstruating women and girls to huts or sheds during their period) was made illegal in Nepal. In rural parts of the country, menstruation is still a taboo subject. Since 2018, Exodus has supported the Freedom Kitbag Project, providing reusable sanitary wear and education in reproductive health to many hundreds of women and to their wider communities.
• Exodus has had a deep connection with Nepal since the 1980s and over the years has supported, and continues to support, many Himalayan community projects, including a care home and the High Altitude Workers Welfare Association and running medical camps in hard-to-reach communities, to name but a few.
• Visiting the Tibetan Tashiling refugee village allows the community to share their history and traditions with groups taking part in a momo-making cookery class. We offer opportunities to build a sustainable income as the villagers have diversified their opportunities with most working in the carpet handicraft centre and some opening their own shops selling souvenirs and Tibetan traditional food.

Places: How this trip helps protect and conserve local landscapes and nature.

• By travelling in a small group, led by a local guide, we ‘tread lightly’ to minimise our impact on local resources and the environment.
• Our trips adhere to ABTA’s industry-leading animal welfare guidelines to ensure the best possible practices with regard to working animals and wildlife viewing. Our animal welfare policy can be found here.
• We work with our partners on the ground to proactively eliminate or reduce waste, for example eliminating all single-use plastic water bottles and instead providing refills for reusable bottles.
• Read about our commitment to nature protection and restoration here, including our rewilding commitment for every customer who travels with us.

Planet: How we seek to keep the carbon footprint of this trip low.

Read about our climate action here, including our carbon reduction and compensation commitments.

• A vegetarian diet is common in Nepal, especially in the mountains where eating meat is not generally recommended due to hygiene concerns and a lack of refrigeration facilities. The staple diet is dal baht, which comes in various forms but generally includes lentil dal, vegetable curry, and rice.

Tips for sustainable travel on this trip

• Leave no trace: We do all we can to ensure we leave no rubbish behind in the wild and beautiful places we visit; we ask that you do the same. If there are no recycling facilities in-country, we’d ask you to consider bringing recyclable materials home with you. When trekking – biodegradable soap, shampoo, and toilet paper are recommended. Keep to paths to reduce damage to plants and disturbances to wildlife.
• Plastic waste reduction: Avoid using plastic bottles or buying mineral water and instead use refillable water bottles wherever possible. Buy boiled water or carry water purification treatment (we recommend purification tablets or a SteriPEN or similar type of handheld UV water purifier).
• Try to buy locally made handicrafts but be wary of items made from wild animals eg shahtoosh shawls made from endangered Tibetan antelope.
• If, while packing, you find a spare bit of space in your bag then you may be interested in donating to one of our projects. Exodus supports a Porter Clothing Bank in Kathmandu and also distributes clothing to villages and schools.

Cultural respect:

• The Nepalese greeting is namasté – with hands held in front of the face, the higher they are held, the more respect it exudes. Men shake hands with men but not with women.
• Walk in a clockwise direction around temples or monuments. Ask permission before entering places of worship and remove your shoes. Leave leather behind before entering Hindu temples.
• Pointing your feet (the least sacred body part) at people or religious places or pointing or beckoning with a single finger is considered impolite.
• Displays of affection should be avoided and loose-fitting clothing that covers legs and shoulders is advisable, especially when visiting homes, monasteries or temples.
• Do it like the locals! The left hand is associated with toilet duties, so eat, wipe your mouth, pass food, give and receive with your right hand. Only handle your own food and drink.
• Ask before you capture people on camera. Exchanging a few words or gestures beforehand can go a long way. Offering (and sending) a copy via post is a great way to benefit both parties!

Is this trip for you?

This trip has been graded Activity Level 3 (Moderate). For more information on our trip gradings, visit the Activity Level Guidelines page. If you have any queries about the difficulty of the trip, please contact us.

Walking routes and fitness: Our six-day Annapurna hike is a great introduction to Himalayan trekking with full porterage throughout, so you need only carry a backpack. There are three to five hours of walking on most days. You need fairly decent fitness levels, as there are quite a few steep uphill walks and some quite long descents (two to three hours). Many of the trails consist of stone steps.

Accommodation: The lodges used during your trek offer the highest level of comfort in the Himalaya and are luxurious compared to the teahouses.

Nepal flight safety: Many of our treks in Nepal use domestic flights to reach the trekking areas. The mountainous Nepalese terrain is subject to changeable weather, which makes flying conditions complex and challenging, and unfortunately there are significantly more incidents here than in other countries, including fatalities. The EU highlighted the poor safety record in Nepal in 2013 by including all Nepalese-registered airlines on the EU banned list, which prevents them from flying in EU airspace. While no Nepalese-registered airlines currently fly within the EU, the EU instigated this ban to highlight the risk of flying in Nepal to EU citizens. These airlines are unlikely to be members of internationally recognised safety audit systems and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of Nepal does not operate to the same standards as those of Western nations.

Flying within Nepal is therefore a known risk, and we strongly encourage you to consider this carefully before booking. We suggest you refer to the following sources:

• The current travel advice for Nepal issued by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
• The Air Safety Network entry for Nepal

In response to concerns over this safety record, Exodus arranges for independent air-safety auditors to visit Nepal annually to assess the suitability of the available carriers. We then restrict our use to only those approved as part of this audit. In emergency situations, we will need to use helicopters, so we also have a list of approved helicopter carriers. Should concerns arise regarding the safety of an airline on our approved list, we will remove the carrier from the list immediately, and it would only be reinstated once our air-safety auditors are confident the airline meets acceptable safety standards.

We appreciate you may have concerns about flying within Nepal, so we ask that you consider all the information above when deciding to book this trip.

Following a review of all our trips we have categorised this trip as generally not suitable for persons of reduced mobility. However if you are a regular traveller on such trips, please contact customer services to discuss the trip and your personal condition.

Vaccinations and Health

There are no mandatory vaccination requirements. However, recommended vaccinations include polio, tetanus, diphtheria, typhoid, hepatitis A.

The risk of malaria is present in certain regions only (such as Chitwan); you may wish to consult your GP or travel health clinic for further advice. The risk is highest in the low lying southern ‘terai’ districts bordering India.

A yellow fever certificate is only required if travelling from a country with risk of yellow fever transmission or for travellers having transited for more than 12 hours through a country with risk of transmission.

Dengue fever is a known risk in Nepal. It is a tropical viral disease spread by daytime biting mosquitoes. There is currently no vaccine or prophylaxis available; therefore, the best form of prevention is to avoid being bitten. There was a dengue outbreak in September 2022 with a number of cases recorded in Kathmandu and the Kathmandu Valley. We therefore recommend you take extra precautions to avoid mosquito bites such as wearing full length trousers, long sleeves and applying insect repellent during the day as well as at dawn and dusk.

Altitude is not a factor of consideration on this trip as all activities take place below 6,560ft (2,000m).

Ticks are known to be present in this region and can carry Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis and other diseases. Please take care to protect yourself. You can read more about ticks here.

Visa

Nepal

You can obtain your visa in advance or on arrival. The Immigration Department of Nepal has suspended visas on arrival for certain nationalities – please check if this applies to you with your nearest embassy or consulate.

Visa in advance

Apply for this through your local consulate or embassy. Further details on this option can be found here:

• For UK passport holders: https://uk.nepalembassy.gov.np/visa/
• For US passport holders: https://us.nepalembassy.gov.np/tourist-visa/
• For Canadian passport holders: https://ca.nepalembassy.gov.np/tourist-visa-application/

When applying for your visa in advance, the Nepalese government has an online application system (see links above for more info), but it is currently only accepting payments through Nepalese payment channels. Once the online form is completed, the applicant is required to print out the form and either send it, together with the passport, to the embassy, or attend in person.

Visa on arrival

1. When you arrive at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, there will be three lines. If you have already secured your visa, go straight to the Immigration line. If not:
   Fill in a tourist visa form at the electronic kiosks. After inserting your passport, the machine will automatically fill out an application form, take an electronic photograph of you and print a paper slip. If the machine won’t read your passport, complete the details manually using the touchscreen. We recommend taking a passport photo with you just in case.
   Top tip: This process can be completed through the online immigration portal (click 'Visa On-Arrival') within 14-days prior to arrival in Kathmandu, helping you to avoid lengthy queues at the kiosks when you come through immigration – ensure you print and bring the confirmation with you. If you have completed your visa on arrival form in advance, go directly to the visa fees counters with your printed confirmation and skip the kiosk queues.
2. Proceed to the visa fees collection counter and pay the visa fee (in cash, if possible). Make sure to keep the receipt. Card payments are not always possible, so paying in cash is easiest, most currencies are accepted but US dollars are preferred.
3. Go to the relevant immigration desk and present your tourist visa form, payment receipt and passport to obtain your 15-, 30- or 90-day visa stamp. Please check you have been given the correct visa duration.

Food & Drink

All breakfasts, seven lunches and seven dinners are included. Allow approximately 3,000-5,000 rupees (US$22-US$38) per day for meals not included in Kathmandu and Pokhara.

Dhal bhat is the staple diet in Nepal and comes in many different forms but generally comprises curried lentil dhal and meat or vegetables, rice, and a pickle/chutney. Another popular snack is momos, a Nepalese dumpling filled with meat or vegetables.

Meals in the lodges range from traditional Nepalese food to Chinese and Western dishes. The food is good quality and usually served buffet style. You are provided with safe drinking water on trek and in Chitwan.

If you have a gluten-free diet, we strongly recommend you bring extra food and snacks with you to supplement the food on trek as there will be little variety available to you, particularly for breakfast. Even some soups are from powder/packets and contain gluten.

Drinking water

Staying hydrated is important when undertaking any physical activity; on this trip, it is generally recommended to carry a 33floz (one litre) water bottle and drink at least 67floz (two litres) per person per day.

However, we strongly encourage you not to buy bottled water on trek as this contributes to the growing problem of plastic pollution in the trekking areas of Nepal.

You can top up water bottles at tea breaks and lunch stops along the way – some villages have water stations selling UV-treated drinking water for about 50 rupees (US$0.40) per litre.

Alternatively, all teahouses provide free cold water. This should not be drunk untreated, so we recommend you bring a reusable bottle/water bladder (ideally two) and use an effective form of water treatment. Talk to an outdoor retailer for the latest advice as technologies are improving all the time.

Exodus has partnered with Water-to-Go, a filtration system that eliminates more than 99.99 percent of all microbiological contaminants from any non-saltwater source – visit Water-to-Go for more information. Exodus customers can claim 15 percent off their first order and, better still, 15 percent of the purchase value will be donated to the Exodus Travels Foundation. These bottles filter the water as you drink through the spout may not be the most efficient while on the go on a trek.

Weather

The main trekking season in Nepal is from October to mid-May when daytime temperatures at most altitudes are generally comfortable for walking, the sky is clear much of the time, and rain and snow are occasional occurrences. Daytime temperatures vary from 15C to 30C (59F to 86F).

However, different seasons offer different advantages for trekking.

Mid-September to November: Daytime temperatures are up to 25C (77F). Skies are usually clear and days on trek are sunny and mild with clear mountain views. Nights are colder with temperatures dropping to about 5C (41F).

December to end of February: Despite the cooler conditions, this is an ideal time to trek in Nepal. For this particular trip, December is the best month as the skies are usually very clear, the days are sunny, and the mountain views are at their best. Early mornings and evenings are cold with temperatures down to about 5C (41F), but days are sunny with temperatures up to 22C (72F). The trails are also much less busy. Chitwan is cold in the early mornings and evenings but pleasantly warm in the daytime.

March to May: Temperatures are warmer in general but haze often builds in the afternoons and there can be rain. Temperatures rise to 30C (86F) and above in Chitwan and in Kathmandu. On trek, the days are hot (up to 25C/77F) and nights are a bit cooler. Flowers bloom in this season and this is one of the reasons people chose to trek at this time.

In any mountain area, the weather is never wholly predictable; you should be prepared and equipped to deal with any differences in weather beyond the conditions described above.