porters @ annapurna region

[weifarer]

Hi! I'll be doing the Annapurna Circuit trek this December and I must say the tips I've found from this forum have been really useful for a first-timer to Nepal like me.

For the AC trek, I'm planning to head to Besisahar and start from there. Will it be difficult to find a porter there, after we alight from the bus? My partner and I are both students and can't afford to engage the services of 1 guide + 1 porter between us, so we're going to engage either 1 porter or 1 porterguide only.

This may sound a silly question, but what is the usual way to pay them - daily, at the end of the whole trek... or even part before and after? Do we have to pay for their lodging & food on top of the daily rate?

Thank you, your advice is much appreciated. Cheers.

[yakshaver]

Since you start in Besi Sahar, I suggest you get your porter in Thamel, where you can get recommended guides and porters.

A number of people on this forum have used guides and porters at various times, and we can recommend.

If you write a private message to me I will recommend you people I trekked with a number of times.

I suggest that for two tourists (you and your partner) a porter-guide would be enough. It is not easy to find a good potrter-guide, it is a bit rare.

Sometimes your hotel or guesthouse in Thamel can recommend you one. I would not get one off the street, just like that, and I would not get one off the bus in Besi...

In terms of pay, you pay them by day, but give them maybe a third of the money at the beginning, of maybe half, and then pay the rest at the end. That is if you employ them privately. If you get the porter-guide from an agency, then they will ask for the whole money upfront, and that is ok.

It is also customary to tip them 10-20% extra at the end, if you were happy with their serivces.

The price for a guide might be 20-30 USD per day, for a porter about 10 USD, and for a porter guide, maybe 15-20 USD/day. That includes their food and accomodation on trek. You will also pay them for the days of travel to and from the trail head, and pay their bus tickets as well.

[weifarer]

Thanks yakshaver, you answered all the silly questions I had in mind as a first-timer :o

I'll be arriving in Kathmandu on a Sat and intend to travel to Besisahar on Sun. But I understand that the ACAP and TIMS offices at Thamel will not be open on Sat, do they accept applications in advance and not in person? I ask because my friend will be heading there in Nov and I'm thinking of asking him to get the permits for me then.

[Landfall38]

I think you are cutting it a bit fine by expecting to go to Besi the day following arrival in KTM. Especially so if you have never been to Nepal before.

We always plan 3-4 nights in KTM (usually 4) before heading out. Yes, I fly from north america so have major jetlag which you will not have -- so perhaps 2-3 nights in KTM.

KTM and valley are worth visiting.

[chas]

Getting a porter/guide in Kathmandu has many advantages. In 8 previous treks over many years I always got local porters (like in Besi), but a few weeks ago I went through an agency, purely by chance. It was great. They got the TIMS and permit, got a porter and guide/porter for two of us (it was pre-season and they weren't booked up so the guide/porter was paid porter rates even though he was far more than a porter) and got us minivan tickets, all in a few minutes, and even showed up at our hotel the next day to get us on the van to Besi with the porters. The porters were great (23 trail days: AC and ABC). We paid up front, which meant we didn't have to carry a big wad of money for them. We gave them a great tip. Overall an excellent experience. I'd do it that way again, if I go back.