Local-first
Every guide, porter and office hire is Nepali. Every itinerary is designed and led by someone born in the region you're visiting.
About Sangam Travels
We grew up in these mountains.
A Nepali-owned operator of small-group journeys across the Himalayan belt. Forty-seven guides on monthly salaries, group caps of eight, and a 12-week prep plan emailed on the day you book.
Our story
We started this so a friend could guide on his own terms.
In 2018, our founder Sajan was working out of a small office in Thamel for an agency that booked 120-person treks. The guides were paid weekly, in cash, often late. Porters were hired on the morning of departure with no insurance and no warm gear. The trips were profitable. They were also quietly grim.
Sajan left, called a guide named Pemba Sherpa, and asked a single question: what would you do if you ran the company? Pemba had a list. Group caps at eight. Porters on monthly salaries with health insurance. Acclimatisation days that were truly rest days, not "optional" hikes. A 12-week training plan emailed to every client on booking, free.
We started with three itineraries, four guides, and one truck. Seven years later we run a dozen departures a month across five regions, employ 47 guides and porters on full salary, and have planted two community forests along the Annapurna and Langtang trails. We're still small, on purpose.
The job of a tour operator is to be quietly responsible for someone else's holiday. Everything else is decoration.
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Quietly building
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Local guides on payroll
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Our highest pass
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Carbon offset, per trip
Our principles
Four things we won't compromise on.
Slow journeys
We cap groups at eight, build in true rest days, and walk slower than the brochures. The mountains are not the place to be efficient.
Fair-wage porters
Monthly salaries, full health and rescue insurance, weight limits enforced, warm gear provided. Our porters renew with us year after year.
Carbon-light
We offset 120% of every trip — flights included — and have planted two community forests on the Annapurna and Langtang corridors since 2021.
The team
People who grew up in the mountains you're flying for.
Every itinerary is led by a NMA-certified Nepali guide, paid a monthly salary, with full health and rescue insurance. Meet a few.
Lead Mountain Guide
Pemba Sherpa
Khumbu·18y
Born in Khumjung, 60 minutes from Everest Base Camp. NMA-certified guide since 2007. Has summited Everest twice and led 140+ EBC treks. Trusted on every high-altitude departure.
EnglishNepaliSherpaHindi
Cultural Programs Lead
Kamala Tamang
Kathmandu Valley·12y
Born in Bhaktapur. Trained as an art historian at Tribhuvan University. Designs every Kathmandu, Patan and Bandipur itinerary, with quiet access to courtyards most travelers never see.
EnglishNepaliNewariHindi
Senior Trek Guide
Tashi Gurung
Annapurna · Mustang·14y
From Ghandruk village. Speaks fluent Tibetan, opening doors in Mustang's monastery network. Has crossed Thorong La 47 times. Famous on every trip for the rest-day apple brandy ritual.
EnglishNepaliGurungTibetan
Wildlife & Lowland Guide
Anish Rai
Chitwan · Bardia·9y
Naturalist-trained in Chitwan, formerly a ranger with the national park service. Knows every rhino corridor and tiger trail. Brings a quiet patience that turns 'looking for wildlife' into 'finding it'.
EnglishNepaliTharuHindi
In the press
Quietly recommended by the people who know.
"Genuinely small-group. Genuinely Nepali-owned."
"A model for considered adventure travel."
"The team to book with for the Annapurnas."
"Travelers' Choice — top 1% worldwide."
Field notes
Dispatches from the
trail.
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