- Joined
- Jun 30, 2010
- Messages
- 799
- Reaction score
- 52
- Location
- Cape Town
- Bike
- Honda CRF-1000L Africa Twin
So, I get the Facebook friend request from a guy called Kumar in Nepal in January 2022. Look at his profile and see that he is a adventure biking tour operator there, so connect with him. Kumar messages me and says he can see I am a guide in SA and have taken lots of tours here and asks me if I would be interested in bring a group of riders to Nepal from SA. I give it a bit of thought and ask Kumar to give me a tour overview, best time of the year to come and some pricing.
Kumar gets back to me with a 2 week itinerary for October 2022 and some pricing. I look at the pricing in US$ and realise its probably not going to fly with riders from SA, so plead SA Rand US$ exchange rate poverty and send him a link to the Big Mac Index that shows just how undevaluaed the Rand really is. In no time at all he gets back to me with a massive price reduction! Immediately the red flags get raised and I get a bit worried. So I get onto his Facebook profile and start messaging some of his Australian and American friends, most them get back to me a say they have toured with him and he is legit and a good guy. Chat with Kumar, he tells me he has 18 Royal Enfield Himalayans available in Nepal and a fleet of Royal Enfield Classics and Bullets that he keeps across the border in India and that at any given time he also has about 4 hiking treks on the go in the Himalayas. So all looks good.
Get onto my Tankwa Biking WhatsApp group and Facebook and ask who wants to come. About 19 riders put their hands up, so the fun begins..
9 months later 8 of us (6 from SA and a couple from Germany I have guided in SA on two tours) plus a rider from Spain that Kumar asked if he could put on the tour arrive in Kathmandu to a warm welcome from Kumar and his son Sujan who was going to be our guide.
Kumar gets back to me with a 2 week itinerary for October 2022 and some pricing. I look at the pricing in US$ and realise its probably not going to fly with riders from SA, so plead SA Rand US$ exchange rate poverty and send him a link to the Big Mac Index that shows just how undevaluaed the Rand really is. In no time at all he gets back to me with a massive price reduction! Immediately the red flags get raised and I get a bit worried. So I get onto his Facebook profile and start messaging some of his Australian and American friends, most them get back to me a say they have toured with him and he is legit and a good guy. Chat with Kumar, he tells me he has 18 Royal Enfield Himalayans available in Nepal and a fleet of Royal Enfield Classics and Bullets that he keeps across the border in India and that at any given time he also has about 4 hiking treks on the go in the Himalayas. So all looks good.
Get onto my Tankwa Biking WhatsApp group and Facebook and ask who wants to come. About 19 riders put their hands up, so the fun begins..
9 months later 8 of us (6 from SA and a couple from Germany I have guided in SA on two tours) plus a rider from Spain that Kumar asked if he could put on the tour arrive in Kathmandu to a warm welcome from Kumar and his son Sujan who was going to be our guide.
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