I bought this guidebook after realizing that the most popular one to trekking in the whole country, Lonely Planet's
Trekking in the Nepal Himalaya
, has barely changed since my 1st copy of it from 1994, still only covering the very same treks in much the same length.
This book promised to cover more off the beaten treks as well, and indeed it did - kind of.
As things stand, by far the greatest coverage is still devoted to the 3 main trekking areas (Annapurna, Everest, Langtang-Helambu) and while an effort has been made to include alternative (but usually minor) trails in these regions, overall I found descriptions and maps of these far less clear and practical than in the LP guide. Certainly there's much less info on accommodation and other facilities along the trails and on prices, and without recommended overnight stops breaking up the flowing descriptions of routes there is little indication of how long a trek actually takes to cover.
After covering the popular areas, the book does have a chapter on more off the beaten track ones. These include several not covered by LP at all, but it should be noted that most of these are not in high mountain areas but are inter-village walks in the middle hills, descriptions of them are often very vague with the author often admitting he has not "properly" (I guess not at all?) surveyed several of them in person which, coupled with the rather poor maps, makes it dubious one could walk those potentially interesting treks relying on this guidebook alone.
However, on a more positive note, this guide gives lots of advice on how to go about trekking in untouristed areas in general, with plenty of cultural advice, hints on staying in local homes and the like. It also has much background info on the local ethnic cultures and fauna, though this tends to be somewhat haphazardly scattered in boxed texts throughout the book.
Finally, it should be noted that this book doesn't cover any "restricted areas", including famous trekking ones like Mustang, Dolpo or Kanchenjunga. The reasoning given is that these are only accessible on organized treks so a guidebook to them is less essential, but this way you'll never even know if they are interesting enough for you to invest into a guided trek.
Overall, this is mostly a worthy investment for the independent trekker with an interest in some off the beaten track, "new" trails that are more of interest for culture than high mountain scenery. And anyone buying it should be prepared for the dearth of less clearly presented and generally less practical information and poorer maps. A good compromise might be buying both books - or this one plus individual guides by Trailblazer or Cicerone for specific regions like
Everest
,
Annapurna
, etc.
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