Fair Trails Explorer Tours postponed

1. Sep. 2021

Our Explorer Tours are designed for adventurous travelers to be the first to test and experience unusual travel formats. Unfortunately, the Fair Trails Explorer Tours to Nepal had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Read more in this blog.

On the trail of the snow leopard: Immersing yourself in the kingdom of this mystical big cat on the Snow Leopard Trail, the first Fair Trail in the Himalayas ©Snow Leopard Conservancy

Our Explorer Tours represent a unique opportunity for discovery-minded travelers to be the first to test and experience recently created products in sustainable tourism. The Fair Trails Explorer Tours to the Himalayas promise to be something very special. Unfortunately, these explorations, scheduled for November 2021, have had to be postponed until spring 2022 due to a pandemic.

Fair Trails Himalayas
Fair Trails® is the Trail Angels’ initiative for sustainable and fair tourism in underdeveloped rural regions, especially in developing and emerging countries. For the time being we have focused on the Himalayas and especially on Nepal. A fascinating task, which we have tackled together with our project partner ENNOVENT and co-financed in the form of a business partnership with the Austrian Development Agency, the official Austrian agency for development cooperation. Despite the constraints imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been able to develop an entirely new, innovative product format – Fair Trails Experiences – over the past few years, creating momentum for several Fair Trails.

Panoramaweg Südalpen Panorama am Hochplateau

The idea behind Fair Trails Explorer tours: approach new unique experiences with curiosity, patience, tolerance and humor. Fishing in the jungle river with the Tharu people on the Local Life Trail © Trail Angels

Fair Trails Explorer Tours
Especially in such adventurous regions as Nar Phu, this remote mountain region on the border to Tibet, or the Mahabharat Mountains in the south of Nepal, which are covered by dense jungle, we are looking for explorers who will test and experience the new Fair Trails products together with us with a lot of curiosity, patience and tolerance. This is the idea behind our Fair Trails Explorer Tours.

For our first Fair Trails we have designed two very special Explorer Tours: One Discovery Tour will combine the highlights of the Snow Leopard Trail in the realm of the snow leopard north of the glacier giants of the Annapurna Mountains and the Local Life Trail in subtropical southern Nepal. While the other exploration will take you off the beaten path to the Everest region. First, the Khumbu Heritage Trail will track down the cultural heritage of the Sherpas, and then the Buddhism Trail will immerse you in the world of Buddhist mountain monasteries.

Both discovery trips were scheduled to start on November 2, 2021 and were fully booked. Unfortunately, as mentioned above, they had to be postponed due to pandemic. As things stand, the Fair Trails Explorer tours will now depart on March 26, 2022. They will again, as planned, be accompanied by selected Fair Trails experts and us Trail Angels (Nepal expert Günter Mussnig on the Snow Leopard Trail and Local Life Trail and IVBV mountain guide Stefan Lieb-Lind in the Everest area). There should be some places available for this date, but we will communicate this specifically.

Panoramaweg Südalpen Panorama am Hochplateau

Fair Trails Experiences: Immerse yourself in the great myths and challenges of the destinations and become part of a great project. Tracing the cultural heritage and everyday culture of the Sherpas on the Khumbu Heritage Trail © Trail Angels

Outlook
Using the experiences we will gain during the Explorer tours, we can then finalize our “Fair Trails Experiences” product format for all four Fair Trails. The Fair Trails Experiences will be unique journeys that immerse you in the great myths and challenges of the destinations, making you part of an extraordinary project. The first Fair Trails Experiences will – also as of today – then be bookable in October 2022.

Even though the pandemic has repeatedly set back the progress of the project for us and our partners in Nepal, we are not discouraged. We are currently setting up the first Fair Trails booking center in Nepal. And together with our project partners ENNOVENT and Pilum Digital, we are working hard on a strategic alliance with the Austrian Development Agency to scale the Fair Trails model to other countries.

 

Panoramaweg Südalpen Panorama am Hochplateau

Sustainable tourism for regional development: the focus of Fair Trails Himalayas is to promote underdeveloped rural regions in the Himalayas. Children in the remote highlands of Dolpo in northwestern Nepal © Trail Angels

Author

Günter Mussnig

The graduate geographer is one of the founders and managing directors of Trail Angels, which is responsible for the Bookyourtrail.com web platform. As a trekking & outdoor enthusiast, he is one of the fathers of the Alpe-Adria Trail and has been exploring the Nepalese Himalayas for more than 25 years.

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