In travel, the only way to gain knowledge and experience is by doing it yourself, "in the field", the hard way.
In fact pretty much every single word on this website has been written by Mark and drawn from his own extensive experiences and many of the photo's featured are Mark's too!
Mark reckons he has over 40 visa entries over the last 35 years for Nepal alone and as a former trek leader also spent a few full seasons trekking and travelling far and wide throughout Nepal "from east to west and everything in between".
Mark and Abhi have worked together closely for many, many years now and take immense pride in providing a friendly and informal service to our discerning clients.
Kathmandu based - Abhi is the man who makes the 'magic' happen and runs the whole show in both Nepal and Bhutan. Abhi and his team work tirelessly to ensure all aspects of your bespoke holidays run as smoothly as possible. From arranging guides and porters to booking transport and accommodation. Abhi is the "main man" in Nepal and even now still conducts pre-trip briefings for Snow Cat Travel clients personally.
UK based - Mark personally manages all customer enquiries. With over 40 years of knowledge and experience as a Trek Leader (Himalayas and beyond), combined with senior management positions with some of the UK's best-known adventure travel companies, Mark will hand-craft your Himalayan adventure to perfection....just for you.
To be a professional guide with Snow Cat Travel isn’t easy. We only choose the very best for our clients. All Snow Cat Travel guides are both professionally qualified and licensed by the Government of Nepal. But there's a lot more to becoming a qualified Nepal Guide. Not only do we hand-pick Snow Cat Travel guides based on qualifications alone, guides are selected only with proven knowledge and experience criteria, but more than that, we look for personality too—a friendly nature with a “can-do” attitude. And yes, being able to speak English.
Invariably, our clients return from their Himalayan treks and adventure journeys full of praise, admiration, and respect for all the Nepalese and Bhutanese people who have ensured their holiday has been both wonderful and memorable. Our friendly, knowledgeable English-speaking guides are both trained and qualified. Their passion and enthusiasm are second-to-none. Of course, the type of support crew you'll have will depend on the itinerary itself.
Certainly you'll meet and get to know more than your guide, whether it be the gentleman who looks after our 'meet and greet' and transfer services for your arrival and departure at Kathmandu Airport, or our courteous drivers, whose high standards, patience, and skills negotiating traffic, potholes, and everything else overland travel in Nepal and Bhutan brings are just incredible. If you're heading into the Himalayas, then it's likely you'll have porters (pack animals, usually in Bhutan) to carry your main baggage. The first-time visitor is often astounded that porters are sometimes women too.
But being a trekking porter is considered a very good job, and our porters are paid a fair wage (in fact, respectable tour operators follow a code of practise for both porter wages and welfare), and the loads they carry are strictly limited to a regulated maximum. If your holiday involves camping, then you'll have additional trek support crew, such as a cook and his assistants, additional porters to carry all the camping gear, and so on. How they manage the whole operation of preparing breakfast (and bed tea, of course), breaking camp and packing up, and then most likely passing you on the trail and having camp set up and ready, welcoming you to camp with refreshments and with supper already on the go, is just mesmerising. That they do all of this seemingly without effort and always with a smile invariably endears them to our clients. Indeed, we actively encourage you to make the effort to get to know our Nepalese and Bhutanese people, who are working as part of your holiday team.
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I have just got back from trip with snow cat to Annapurna Base Camp with some friends. We had an amazing time and the guides were excellent.
As a Snow Cat Travel customer, a contribution to the Support Rural Nepal project is included in the cost of your holiday.
Whether you're a first time visitor or a regular, our handy and illustrated travel guides showcase the beauty and wonders of Nepal and Bhutan, as well as containing lots of useful information too.