Nature Trail, Travels & Tours, Trekking & Expeditions

Placement organization

Name of organization: Nature Trail, Travels & Tours, Trekking & Expeditions
Town/city: Kathmandu
Country: Nepal
Website: https://www.naturetrail.com/

Student

Name of student: Annika van den Bedem

Specialist area: Tourism Management (EN)
Placement period: 2018-2019

Information about placement organization

Type of organization: Travel agent
Organization’s activities: – Trekking in the Himalayas
– Tours throughout Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet, and India
– Wildlife safari
– Outdoor sports (rafting, bungee jumping, canyoning, golf)
– Scenic flights (mountain flights)
– Birdwatching
Target group of the organization: Adventure seekers, return visitors
Company culture: Very informal and laid back. Therefore, there is no pressure on the intern which sometimes leads to boredom. Colleagues speak in Nepali to each other and to you in English when needed. So, be prepared to hear Nepali all day and be the only international at Nature Trail.
Number of employees: 23
Dress code: casual
Did the organization meet the agreements you made beforehand? Sort of

Information about your placement

In which department(s) are you working?

Marketing

Brief description of your daily activities: – Check the social media channels (analytics)
– Post content on Instagram 2-3x per week
– Rewrite content for the website
– Create a content calendar for social media
– Create a responsible business model
– Optimize the certifications
– Work on school assignments
– Other day-to-day work
Brief description of your company assignment: Create a responsible business model (what do we do to be a responsible travel agent, in the office, during tours and our partners)
Comment briefly on your supervision by the organization: Very laid back, I get a lot of freedom to work on my own.

Requirements for students on placement

What kind of personal skills are required for this placement? Independent, patient, flexible, easy to adapt
Additional company requirements for this placement? no
English: Advanced
Spanish: –
French: –
German: –
Italian: –
Other languages: –

The trip

Mode of transport to reach your destination: Airplane

Accommodation

How did you arrange your accommodation? Through a friend
How did you go to work every day? by foot

Visa / work permit / vaccinations

Do you need a visa? Yes, you need a tourist visa for 90 days and extend it to 150 days.
Do you need a work permit? No
How did you arrange the necessary documents: Went to the consulate in Amsterdam for my Visa
How much time did it take to arrange the necessary documents? 1 day
Did you need certain vaccinations? Yes
How long in advance?

Language course

Did you take a language course before you started your placement? No
Would you recommend to have a language course prior to this placement? No

The costs in euros

Travelling expenses (e.g. return ticket): € 600
Accommodation (monthly): € 200
Local transport (monthly): € –
General costs of living (monthly): € 500
Costs of visa: € +/- 250 euros
Costs of work permit: € –
What did the company pay for/to you? Nature Trail paid for my hotel + breakfast (first 10 days) when I arrived

Culture

How did you prepare for the country’s culture?
To be open-minded and just go with the flow but realize you’re going to a non-western, a rather poor country which still struggles after the 2015 earthquake
Did the culture of the country influence your performance during the placement in any way? Yes

Future students on placement

Future students are free to contact me for further information: Yes
My e-mail address: annikavandenbedem@hotmail.com

Other information

Recommendations on what to do and what not to do: Know you’re ready to live in a non-western country or don’t bother going to Nepal. Be open-minded and very patient. Nepali (work) culture is not as straight forward and planned as we are used to back home. Don’t worry and enjoy all the beauty Nepal has to offer in your free time. Make friends with the locals and enjoy local food. Namaste!
Leisure possibilities in the city/surroundings of where the placement took place: Kathmandu has a very rich culture and is definitely a place to be for everyone who enjoys visiting religious sites (temples, stupas, etc.) or is interested in Hindu and Buddhist culture. Also, it is a great country for anyone interested in meditation, yoga, and spirituality. Visit the Boudhanath Stupa, Monkey temple, Pashupatinath Temple, Durbar Square (KTM, Patan, Bhaktapur). Visit Nagarkot, NamoBoudha, Lumbini, Chitwan National Park, Pokhara, Shivapuri national park. Lastly, DO GO on a trek, it will for sure be a highlight of your experience in Nepal. I did the Poonhill + Annapurna Basecamp trek and I loved it! (it was quite hard tho, but the views were worth it).

Media

Youtube link Youtube placement video link