Yes we know…the last time we posted something on our website was quite some time ago, but from time to time you just have to experience the country without always being online. 😊
So while being in Nepal for already three weeks now, we can’t believe that the time is running so fast. But what can we say about our previous time so far?
We are more than fascinated by that country and also happy that we got the opportunity to explore Nepal with Karmalaya.
Karmalaya is a social tourism startup headed in the heart of Salzburg and realises through sustainable (volunteer)tourism projects in remote regions in Nepal, Uganda and Indonesia. Through the philosophy “Heart Work & Soul Travel” the social startup has the opportunity to establish on one side soft tourism in remote regions, that would never have the chance to benefit from tourism in the classic way. On the other side Karmalaya can use the travel revenues to support local projects in the fields of women empowerment, animal protection, infrastructure etc. and also initiate and finance their own social projects.
Philipp and I are really impressed what the team of Karmalaya already achieved in the last couple of years – especially when you think about the earthquake in 2015 where many houses and a lot of parts of Nepal were destroyed.
You need more people and startups like this to make the world a better place and we are really happy that we are a part of the team during our time in Nepal.
So the last two weeks we got the opportunity to work on new video and photo footage for Karmalaya throughout Nepal where we visited a variety of projects that get support (or were established) by the social startup.
From a yoga center in the pure nature of Nepal, a elephant project with super cute elephants in Chitwan, the different monasteries that are breathtaking, a home for elderly people in Kathmandu, an organization which works in such a lovely way with disabled children, an institution for animal protection, a project for women empowerment (where I wasn’t able to stop buying things 😅) or the many different projects that were established to rebuild houses, schools, care centers etc after the earthquake. We visited so many different and impressive projects and got the chance to explore Nepal in a completely different way beyond the typically tracks of a tourist.
Beside that we never drove so much bus than in Nepal and are now real pros when it comes to the public transport system 😅 Eight or twelve hours in a bus on a mountain street (which wouldn’t be called a street in Austria at all) – that’s nothing for us anymore 😊 Philipp also had twice the chance to exhibit his talent in getting out a jeep and a bus from mud.
Right now we are back in Kathmandu and work on the footage we collected the last couple of days. As we really like the whole flair of the country, Philipp and I made the decision to extend our time in Nepal for one more week. We want to see more of Nepal’s beauty and culture – so China you have to wait for us one week longer 😁
We will keep you all up to date once we finished our collaboration with Karmalaya and are already looking forward to show you the many many pictures Philipp took during our adventure in Nepal.
So stay tuned 😊
Namaste from Kathmandu,
Melanie & Philipp
Another amazing experience so far: Staying at a mountain village somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Nepal.
Another worse experience so far: Almost crashed down with our Jeep from a narrow mountain road.
