21 Apr 2023
We went for a 12 day upper mustang tour, combined hike and (private) jeep. We had an amazing experience; upper mustang is a one of a kind destination with extremely beautiful nature and a very special and rich culture. Highly recommend going!
As for the organization:
Tops:
- Very nice guide and driver, which showed flexibility and took an effort to listen to our wishes
- The combination of hiking and Jeep for 12 days really enabled us to see Upper Mustang to its full extent
- Kesh made an effort to get our permits in a short time window in Kathmandu, allowing us to fly to Pokhara the same day
Improvement points:
- Itinerary could be improved at certain points, having less empty afternoons and seeing a bit more as well as have the hikes more thought out. Also had Kora La (border) in the itinerary, even though the area is closed for foreigners for a while.
- Himalayan Mentor hugely charged extra for add-ons (hotel upgrade in Lo Manthang), asking several times the actual price. We did an upgrade ourselves later in the itinerary (instead of upgrading through Himalayan Mentor), which was much better. Don’t forget you might have to pay a bit extra for the guide/driver in that case as well (which is fair of course).
- Pre travel communication could be better: it would be nice to know we should bring towels, toilet paper etc, which guest houses we stay and the itinerary could be more detailed.
All in all we recommend Himalayan Mentor, but I suggest making clear agreements on the improvement points.