I was trekking on the Annapurna Base Camp Trek in November 2007 together with two friends. It was wonderful getting to know rural Nepal and experiencing the enchanting scenery of the mountains. Ngima Sherpa was our trekking guide. It was his great enthusiasm that made our trip an unforgettable experience! He was reliable, perfectly organised and did far more than the necessary "guiding job": for example getting up in the early hours to run before us to secure accomodation, providing a girl we met on the trek with equipment when her shoes became broken or recommending accomodation in Karthmandu. The daily parts of the trek were well organized with enough time for breaks and to accomodate to the altitude. The lodges were excellently selected. Airplane and bus transfer from and to Pokhara were well planned. Ngima`s English is very good and he always tried to explain about Nepali culture giving us more insight into the daily life and religion of Nepali people. We trekked together with two porters who carried our heavier luggage. Both of them were well equipped and our guide cared for their accomodation and meals (I mention this since we met porters of other trekking groups who seemed ill equipped taking into account altitude and low temperature and had to carry really heavy loads!).
In summary our 2 weeks trek to the Annapurna Base Camp was a a unique experience and I can fully recommend Ngima as a reliable trekking guide.

Anne Katrin Baumgaertner
annebaumgaertner@web.de
Muenchen, Germany.