Kavya Tours Nepal is small on purpose. Read how a solo Annapurna trek in 2011 became a fair-wage, US-based Nepal travel company.
In November 2011, Patricia Williams — then a special-education teacher from New Jersey — took her first flight to Kathmandu. Her guide on the Annapurna Base Camp trail, Nima Sherpa, walked her through mustard fields she still describes as "electric yellow" and up into a snowfall she never expected. On the descent she promised Nima she would send him more work. Kavya Tours Nepal, named after her daughter, opened for booking in October 2014.
A decade on, we're still small. We turn down more trips than we take. Every itinerary is drafted by a human, not a template. Every guide on the ground is someone Patricia has personally met.
Patricia hikes Annapurna Base Camp with guide Nima Sherpa and returns home with an idea.
Registered as an LLC in New Jersey. First guests fly out in December — a family of four to Kathmandu.
We publish and honour a wage floor 20% above TAAN's recommended porter rate.
All 2020 deposits refunded in full within 30 days. Two-thirds of those travelers rebook with us in 2022.
1% of every booking is set aside for school supplies in three villages along our trekking routes.
1,800+ travelers guided. Still no call center. Still Patricia's phone number on every invoice.
We cap departures at ten travelers and most run smaller. You'll know your guide's name, their family's names, and the tea shop where the group stops for hot lemon.
Every porter, guide and driver is paid above the TAAN recommended rate, insured for high-altitude evacuation, and given rest days written into the itinerary.
One price, in US dollars, everything included except international flights, visa fees and personal spending. No surprise "tea money" at 3,500 metres.
1% of every booking funds school supplies in the villages we walk through. Not an add-on; it's already inside the price.
Patricia answers her own email. Send a note and you'll hear back within one business day.
Get in touch →