About Dont Go Gently

Who are we?

Don’t Go Gently grew from one lone trekker into a small Not-for-Profit specialised adventure travel business out of a love for both the people and the natural beauty of the majestic Himalayas.  These two things fires the passion that makes us want to share it with everyone who is open to the experience.

What's our philosophy?

The mantra for our business is Respect. Respect for the local people, respect for the lands we visit and respect for our fellow travellers. We are about sharing our insights into a magical area of the world; having a low impact on the areas that we visit, and giving something back to the communities that take us in.

We accept the wisdom of an old proverb - "We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love….and then we return home."

 At Don't Go Gently we have decided to return the profits we make to some of the poorer areas we visit, primarily to help with the education of the village children and supporting the health education of the villagers. We are only a small company, and we cant help everyone, but we will show you how we are trying to help where we can.

Surprisingly, being a Not for Profit organisation takes a lot of pressure of us. We can pay our guides and porters fairly, as our "bottom line" is not the driving force behind our company. The money we pay them goes into their communities, and helps their local economies.

Our aim is to be financially transparent, so that anyone who travels with us can see where our profits go. We are also only too happy to help with advice or contacts for anyone who wishes to volunteer in the communities.

So why be Not for Profit?

While the Himalaya is the mythical home to the legendary kingdom of Shangri La, the harsh truth is that, in some areas, these are some of the poorest people on our planet. But they have an inspiring dignity, and they are proud of their country and their heritage.

So many people we have met in the Himalaya have opened up their hearts and homes to us over many years, with no expectations. While we have helped out to a small degree in the past, we now feel that we can do more. Also, we love the place and the people, so be able to share our passion with interested fellow travellers, while providing some help to the communities, is a genuine pleasure for us.

We are so thankful to the many village people we have shared with us, and helped to enlighten us on the truly important things in life.

So why travel with us?

By travelling with us, you will become part of the small, but growing, Don't Go Gently family, and therefore you will be helping too.

You will get to see some of the most amazing natural landscapes; be awestruck by the worlds highest mountains; walk trails that have been trade routes for at least 1000 years; be humbled by some of the most hospitable people you will ever meet, and travel home with the knowledge that you have helped the areas you visited, and not taken from it - of course, taking with you lifelong memories and incredible photos don't count.

We customise adventures for small groups to incredible destinations, and we also run scheduled trips each season, most often to areas that do not attract so many visitors.

We aim to work closely with you to understand your dreams and expectations. We also can provide a range of accommodation in the cities, so that you feel comfortable and in control. We understand that this is YOUR adventure.

Our years of travelling into various parts of the Himalaya (and with hopefully many more years ahead), have made us alert to many of the pitfalls that can ruin the experience the less informed travellers, and also some of the less than ideal practices that occur within some trekking organisations. We aim to help you to avoid them.

We are always seeking out new areas for trekking, where there will be fewer people, and where tourism will have had less impact on the local cultures (we do our best to keep it that way too).

While we love to get of the beaten track, the popular areas, such as the Annapurna and Everest regions are popular for a very good reason. We can work with you on a program that tries to avoid the peak seasons, while still giving you the experience of seeing these magnificent places.

We don't just want to book your trek, we want to work with you in the planning stage, giving you the benefit of our advice, so that you can then make a more informed decision on what areas to visit, when to go and what to take. We can also advise you on what to expect, and in some cases, what not to expect.

We offer plenty of pre-trip advice on everything from fitness to gear needs. We aim to be your travel partner.

So whether you are a solo traveller, a couple, or you want to get a few friends or family together for a shared adventure, just contact us, and lets start putting together a memory that will be one of the highlights of you life.