We have some important updates about four of our treks in Jammu & Kashmir.
You may know that there has been a lot of unrest in Jammu and Kashmir over the past few weeks.
As a result, the District Administration of Pahalgam has clamped down on trekking in the Pahalgam region. Nobody is permitted to go on the treks in this region: the Nafran Valley, Tulian Lake, and Tarsar Marsar treks. Even the Bodpathri trek, which is in the Budgam district, is closed to trekkers.
So far this season, we have not been able to take a single group on any of these treks, except a couple of groups to Tulian Lake, after which permissions to that trek got retracted as well.
What have we done so far:
We have taken a hard call and cancelled treks to Tarsar Marsar, Nafran Valley, Tulian Lake and Bodpathri until August 3rd.
We have been diverting trekkers to treks that are still running smoothly within Kashmir (Kashmir Great Lakes, Pir Panjal Lakes, Warwan Valley), with altered itineraries to suit their travel plans. But even these treks have very strict permission controls by the government.
So we have also given trekkers a choice of diverting to Himachal Pradesh treks, where we are accommodating them in our existing groups.
In the event that they have chosen not to shift to alternate treks, we have credited 100% of the trek fee back to them in the form of an Indiahikes voucher.
What will happen to future treks?
We are hoping that the situation will ease out by the end of the month. However, the political and military situation in Kashmir is beyond our control. Much like you, we have to wait and watch too. Decisions can swing either in favour of trekking or completely shutting down. We don't know yet. There is no clear directive from the government.
We are sharing this news piece so that trekkers are not in the dark about the situation. We would like trekkers to be prepared for any change in plan.
Here are six possible scenarios:
- If the restrictions on trekking are lifted, then that’s the best. Future treks will run as scheduled.
- In case these 4 treks do not open up in the future, our 100% efforts will be to offer trekkers another trek within J&K so that they do not miss out on their flight and accommodation expenses. Since the availability of permissions is a factor, we are unable to confirm the specific treks at this time. But it will be a beautiful trek in Kashmir. What we can assure trekkers is that we will create an itinerary that suits their dates and the difficulty level of their trek.
- In case all treks in Kashmir shut down, our effort will be to shift them to a trek in Himachal Pradesh, where treks have been running smoothly.
- In scenarios (b) and (c), if they do not want to shift to any other trek, we will offer them a voucher with 100% of the trek fee that they have paid. They will be able to use it on any trek in the future within the validity period.
We are watching week-by-week and making decisions. So far, we have taken a hard call for groups until August 3rd.
Our next decision will be by July 24th for treks from August 3rd until August 17th, based on how the situation unfolds.
For now, our suggestion is that future trekkers wait and watch. We will have further communication here. Please wait to hear from us.