Logistics
WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS' TREKKING PHILOSOPHY
WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS is focusing on group sizes of 4 to 6 participants only for its Manaslu Trek because our experience has found this to be the best way to have a successful trip while providing excellent services. Furthermore, it creates a pleasant ambiance within the Group, including an exchange of cultures and traditions with our local Team.
Last but not least, WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS’ focus on small groups permits more flexibility and support to the participants individually.
ACCOMMODATION & MEALS
Kathmandu: we stay at Hotel Tibet International and Yak & Yeti, on a sharing basis, including breakfasts and dinners. Depending on availability, single rooms can be booked upon request at an additional cost. All dinners are served in excellent restaurants in town where you can enjoy various types of cuisine, from the typical Nepali, Thai, and even steaks and Italian meals. Each restaurant has been screened by WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS representatives to ensure that it is of suitable quality for our guests.
During Trekking: we stay in the lodges (small traditional mountain guesthouses) that are recommended by WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS as per defined itinerary destination. Please be aware that single rooms are not available.
Many lodges serve a variety of cuisines such as continental, Indian, Tibetan, and local cooking. Please note that the beverages are on each participant’s own charge, except coffee and the selection of teas that are served for breakfast and in the afternoons upon your arrival, as well as some special snacks provided by WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS. Lunch packages are also available for some days.
OUR WILD YAK TEAM
The success of Manaslu Trek depends on both the personal condition of each participant and the experience of our Team. WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS’ Team has been carefully selected according to their experience in the specific environment and personal aptitudes. Our Team is thus highly experienced, skilled, trained, courteous, and helpful.
WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS’ is proud to support our local staff by providing them with a fair salary, encouraging them to take mountaineering workshops, wilderness first aid training, environmental preservation courses, garbage management, team leadership, and language refreshers on a regular basis.
Our Trekking Guide and his role: WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS’ Trekking Guide is a professional government-trained guide with experience in guiding and trekking around the Himalaya, including first aid training and deep knowledge about the local flora, fauna and general environment preservation. Our Trekking Guide leads you all the way through the trekking and across the pass while giving you interesting information about the mountains, culture, traditions, and landscapes. He will help as an interpreter with the local populations. He is ensuring your safety and is checking your needs throughout the trail, monitoring symptoms of high altitude sickness. Our Trekking Guide plays a vital role in taking care of our member's needs, supervising the Group and porters, and assuring the safety requirements. He also makes sure that the rubbish is properly managed and the trail is kept clean throughout the whole trekking trip. WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS will be frequently informed about the Group during the entire trekking experience.
Our Assistant Guide has also a government license but must work as an assistant guide during some time in order to become a company approved trekking guide. He assists our Trekking Guide with all major duties, ensuring the safety and checking that the performance of the group runs smoothly.
Our Porters: WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS has it, own reliable porters. It is their responsibility to carry your luggage during the trekking with proper handling standards.
WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS is very concerned about the porters. We support and respect the porters’ rights and have high standards to make sure that they are treated well. We pay them a fair salary, including a bonus and providing them with good food allowances, clothes, shoes, sunglasses, and insurances.
SAFETY FEATURES
Your safety is of supreme concern while traveling with WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS. In case of emergency, the Group has a first aid kit with a four (4)-litre oxygen bottle with a mask and regulator.
Our Trekking Guide is also equipped with communication means, only to be used in emergencies. WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS is associated with the rescue and national helicopter rescue airlines.
In order to minimize risks, in particular during the crossing of the higher pass weather forecasts are provided to our Trekking Guide on a regular basis.
Depending on the difficulty of some itineraries, our local Team will secure the route using the necessary technical gear, if needed.
Please note that the above-mentioned itinerary information is purely indicative and can likely be modified during the course of the trekking by our Trekking Guide, who has the authority to make such changes if it is deemed necessary (due to safety concerns, etc.). Every effort will be made to keep to the scheduled itinerary; however, as this is an adventure trip in remote mountain regions and at high altitude, we are not able to fully guarantee it as it is necessary to take into consideration each situation as it occurs and consequently to adapt the program in its best way. Elements such as weather conditions, health conditions of a group member, unexpected natural disasters, among others, can all contribute to changes in the scheduled itinerary.
Our Trekking Guide will try to ensure that the trekking runs according to the foreseen plan to the benefit of all the participants, but we thank you to be prepared for some flexibility and comprehension if so required.
Please check the degrees of difficulty while choosing a trekking Trip with WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS. The majority of the itineraries proposed in our trekking programs are in remote areas of the Himalaya and at high altitudes, mostly higher than the Alps. A good physical condition is necessary to appreciate the whole richness of this adventure!
Grade
Pre-Training before Trek
Trekking is good for everyone! A daily walk in a beautiful landscape with a consumption of significant volumes of water, chatting with local people and understanding the culture, observing your body limits, all combine to make much healthier your body and mind than they ever have been before.
Before you embark for your Manaslu Trek, WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS recommends a regular aerobic exercise including some stretching exercises for a couple of hours per week. Ideally, you should concentrate on cardiovascular fitness, building excellent stamina, and undertake a bit of strength training to be more efficient in the mountains. It is worth going for at least once a week for a 3 to 4-hour hike, which familiarizes already your body to sustain the long-time effort in the Himalaya. The fitter you are, the faster and more easily you will get the trail, acclimatize and enjoy the trekking days.
TREKKING GRADES
WILD YAK EXPEDITIONS proposes a simple grading system that gives you a first idea of the difficulties of the Trekking for which you might apply and enables you to determine which is the best for you.
MANASLU Trek: Moderate
A moderate trekking grade takes into account the following factors:
- An altitude up to 5500 m above sea level
- An average trail inclination of about 30%-45%; some sections may consist of loose, sandy, gravel ground and boulders
- An average of 400 to 800 elevation ascent a day (especially when crossing passes)
- The capacity to walk easily on glacier moraines
- A trail, which may be rough paved, loose dirt, slippery, in landslide area, icy or snowy (on some parts you might be assisted by the guides)
- The aptitude to walk at least 4-7 hours per day (longer days when crossing the passes 8-9 hrs.)
It requires the following skills from each participant:
- Good stamina, to be able to walk during several hours at a sustained walking pace in a high altitude environment during several subsequent days
- You are familiar with assessing obstacles and hazards along the trail, walk confident (depending on the trail conditions, you may need some help in certain sections, especially while crossing the passes)
- You are able to carry a small personal backpack (about 35 liters)