Study and Social Services Tour - 9 days

Arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu. After the clearance of customs and luggage’s, exist from the Airport Departure lounge and as soon as you exist you can see number of peoples outside holding a placard. Among them one of the representative of Nature Trail Travels & Tours, Trekking & Expedition will be holing a placard with your name in it. So, closely look at them. He will then transfer you to your respective hotels. Or else, you can visit our office and after full description about your trip, you will be driven to your hotel. Overnight at hotel in Kathmandu.

The distinctive cultural and historical identities of the Kathmandu Valley make it an extraordinary place to explore. With your camera in hand, discover the enchanting cities of Kathmandu and Patan Durbar Square. We will drive to Kathmandu Durbar Square first. Kathmandu Durbar Square is listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It is an ancient courtyard incredible with spectacular craftsmanship that reflects the local inhabitants of yesteryear. Several buildings in the Square collapsed due to a major earthquake on 25 April 2015. But construction has already been started and efforts have been made for its restoration. You can observe the hand crafted arts carved in temples, palaces, dabali, etc. Further, we drive to another historical town of Patan. The drive takes just 30 minutes without any traffic. Patan Durbar Square is regarded as the culturally and historically richest Durbar Square among three Durbar Squares (Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square and Bhaktapur Durbar Square). It is also listed in UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Patan, the city of Artists, offers many visual treats for your study which will be practical. After full day sightseeing, you will transfer to your respective hotel for overnight stay in Kathmandu or Patan, the choice is yours.

Work on portraiture and capturing scenes from everyday life during the study tour today. Today’s program will include: Bhaktapur Durbar Square and Changunarayan. Bhaktapur town is an ancient Newari town and is a cluster of prehistoric temple. The Durbar Square is a cluster of prehistoric temples, shrines, and sculptures: the Golden Gate, 55 Windows Palace, Big Bell, Dog Barking Bell, Taleju Temple, Vatshala Temple, Statue of Bhupatindra Malla etc. which is scattered all over this site.Changunarayan is located at the hilltop known as Changu or Dolagiri. The temple is known to be the oldest temple of Nepal. After sightseeing today, you can either get back to Kathmandu or stay in one of the hotel of Bhaktapur.

Getting an opportunity to visit the place where our late King and Queen used to live is a golden opportunity. Today, you will observe all the opened rooms of Narayanhity Durbar. Narayanhity Durbar is a palace in Kathmandu, which long served as residence and principal workplace of the reigning Monarch of Kingdom of Nepal. Located in the Kathmandu, the palace was often the center of state occasions and royal hospitality.The palace complex is located towards east of the Kaiser Mahal next to Thamel,is incorporated in an impressive and vast array of courtyards, gardens and buildings. This palace was built by KingMahendra in 1961. The name, Narayanhity, is made up of two words ‘Narayana’ and ‘Hity’. Narayan is the Hindu god Vishnu, whose temple is located opposite to the palace. ‘Hity’ means “water spout” in Newar language, which is also located to the east of main entrance in the precincts of the palace, a landmark that features prominently in local legends. The Palace stands on the floor space3,794 m² (40838.28 sq.ft.) and is divided into three parts, the guest wing, the state wing and the private wing. Narayanhity Palace has 52 rooms called sadan and are named after 75 Districts of Nepal. Interior of the palace is based on Late Victorian style. After the 2006 revolution toppled the monarchy, the newly elected assembly declared Nepal as a republic country and King Gyanendra was forced to vacate the palace within 15 days. The royal palace is now turned into a public museum. The crown jewels are considered to be among the most valuable objects in Nepal. After visiting this Royal Palace, we further drive towards Swayambhunath also known as Monkey temple. There is a Stupa at the hill top. Itis an ancient religious architecture atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley, west of Kathmandu city. For the Buddhist Newars in whose mythological history and origin myth as well as day-to-day religious practice, Swayambhunath occupies a central position, it is probably the most sacred among Buddhist pilgrimage sites.

On the following day, we travel overland from Kathmandu to Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha, which has been reserved as the place of holy pilgrimage.Lumbini has been included as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.This pilgrimage site in southwest Nepal attracts devout Buddhists from around the world, who arrive to pay homage at the Sacred Garden where the ‘Enlightened One’ was born. A famous landmark is the Ashoka Pillar raised by the great Emperor who converted to Buddhism. Today Lumbini has been enlivened by the multitude of architecturally beautiful temples, stupa and monasteries built by various international Buddhist communities.

Sightseeing tour in Lumbini will be done by rickshaw today since other transportations are not allowed in those sites. Lumbini being the birth place of Buddha is also an important architectural and historical site of the world civilization. The places of interest today are: Tilaurakot, Gotihawa, Kudan, Niglihara and Sagarhawa.Kudan was where Buddha was received by his father after his access to enlightenment. King Suddhodana specially built the Kudan (Nigrodharma Park) for the accommodation of the Buddha and his followers. Gotihawa is the birth place of Krakuchanda Buddha. Niglihawa is where Kanakmuni Buddha was born. Sagarhawa is the archaeological findings as “place of the massacre of the Shakyas”. We also walkthrough the Sacred Lumbini Garden where the Buddha was born converges on the Ashoka pillar, visit the Maya Devi Temple with its bas-relief sculpture depicting Maya Devi holding on with her right hand to a branch of pipal tree and giving birth to the infant Buddha who stand up on a lotus pedestal.The Ashoka pillar is said to have been erected by the Indian Emperor Ashoka in 250 BC and bears an inscription confirming this as the birth place of the Buddha. A stone image of Maya Devi giving birth to Lord Buddha as she holds onto a branch is seen in the Maya Devi temple.There’s a museum nearby, The Kapilvastu Museum; the pottery, jewelry and ornaments are gathered in-house. End up the remarkable tour in Tilaurakot by visiting the shrines, monasteries and stupa near the sacred garden.Tilaurakot is the ancient palace of King Suddodhan (Siddhartha Gautama’s father), where the Buddha spent his formative years as a Shakya Prince. The remains of many ancient Stupas and monasteries can be found in the surroundings of Lumbini. You will have a great opportunity to study the history of the birth place of Buddha today.

After such a wonderful tour, you will be driven back to Kathmandu with full of good memories and blessings. Upon arrival, you will be transferred to your respective hotel where you will take some rest.

This day is a kept as a leisure day for you to do some shopping for your loved and dear ones. A token of love from Nepal can be a wonderful gift for them. Or you could also visit some animal centers which are serving to protect and provide medication and shelter to the stray animals. You could volunteer in one of the organization by helping them feed the animal, clean and wash them, maintain hygiene, provide some new ideas regarding their health and care, taking dogs and cats to the walk, preparing food for them, etc.

This will be a more relaxing day and you will be satisfied with your job at the end of the day.Some of the animal centers we can visit are:

Sneha’s Care

Sneha’s Care is a Charity foundation run by a woman who aims to help the street animals by any means she could. Sneha’s Care is founded by Ms. SnehaShrestha and her team in 2015. In her view, if we can formulate animal law in Nepal then the cruelty among the street animals will decrease which will gradually decrease the numbers of injured animals of street. So, she has been actively working for the same. This animal shelter has been sheltering more than 50 dogs who are victims of road accident, acid attack, attack from sharp weapons, and attack from boiled waters, diseased and abandoned animals. Sneha’s Care has very low administration cost, and all members work on volunteer basis. So, only few staffs are appointed on a paying basis as the shelter is run by 90% or personal cost and only 10% of donation amount. So, they are very happy to welcome the volunteers to do their regular works.

Animal Nepal

Animal Nepal (AN) is an innovative NGO based in Lalitpur District, Kathmandu Valley, and run by an enthusiastic team of volunteers, who are both local and overseas animal welfare campaigners and educators.AN believes that through awareness-raising and practical interventions, widespread animal cruelty can be gradually reduced, and that Nepal can ultimately become a model country for animal welfare in the region.AN conducts three outreach programs, focusing on stray and community dogs, working equines and working elephants. We manage three rehabilitation centres cum sanctuaries: Chobar Animal Sanctuary in Chobar village, and the Donkey Hospital and the Donkey Sanctuary, both based in Badhikhel. AN is well known for its national campaigns in the areas of working animals, livestock transport and slaughter, elephant abuse, dog poisoning, humane zoo conditions and urban greenery. AN conducts awareness campaign among school students and media representatives.

KAT Center

The Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (KAT Centre) was first conceived after Jan Salter, the founder of KAT, visited the organization Help in Suffering in Jaipur, India. Impressed with the way this and other animal welfare organizations have managed difficult street dog problems and eliminated rabies through Animal Birth Control (ABC) and widespread rabies vaccinations, Jan came back to Nepal convinced Kathmandu, Nepal can become a rabies-free, dog-friendly city. The KAT Centre was registered as a non-profit, charitable animal welfare organization in 2003. The Centre officially opened its doors on 9 May 2004 and it has grown steadily since then.

Depending upon your flight schedule, you will be transferred to airport for your final departure from Nepal. We hope that you enjoyed this pilgrimage tour and will return back to Nepal in future.