(Story-I of Our Newsletter ELEVATE on the Occasion of 25th Anniversary of Founding Three Jewels Adventures)
When Three Jewels Adventures was established 24 years ago, it was named ‘Tamang Expeditions.’ It was named so, not only because my family belonged to Tamang ethnicity but Tamang is one of the largest ethnic groups in the Himalaya and they are the main work force in trekking and mountaineering field mostly as trekking porters, some as guides and some others as climbing guides (sherpas). However, shortly after its establishment, Tamang Expeditions was renamed as Three Jewels Adventures. Three Jewels indicates the three sublime entities of Buddhism namely the Buddha, The Dharma (his teaching) and The Sangha (Spiritual community of Buddhist faith). Furthermore, Three Jewels also can reflect the three major geographic variations of Nepal i.e. The High Himalaya, Middle Hills or The Lesser Himalaya and the Southern plains.
From multinational companies to internationally renowned climbers, tourism experts and businessmen have invested in Nepal’s mountain tourism industry as trekking or climbing operators and other adventure activity runners. Three Jewels in the other hand was started by myself a young man from a remote mountain village who came to Kathmandu, the capital of the country, to study higher education. When the company was established in the year 2001, it was after a long trek with a couple from Colorado USA. During the trek, we became friends and they asked me what my dream in life was. I had replied, I wish to run a trekking company of my own in the future.
During last few cushion days after the trek in Kathmandu, the American couple took me to eat in different restaurants and we discussed how much does it costs to start a trekking company. We ended u[ asking one of the senior guides and he had said it costs 25000 rupees! My foreigner friends left me that much money as my wages and tips and went home. Later on I had learned that, the 25000 rupees was sums of bank guarantee only one of the many procedures to start a trekking business. To have a trekking company in proper would need a lot more of the investment. To keep the promise to my friends I at least completed the paperwork part of the company registration and kept the certificates in shelves as to have a physical office became near impossible.
As my newly registered company became limited in the papers, I resumed my guiding job with very kind Effie Fletcher’s company based in California, USA called Himalayan High Treks. We used to get couple of treks every tourist season. Meanwhile, as the Maoist insurgency raged in Nepal, tourist arrivals decreased. I left Nepal and reached Ladakh and did trekking there for tourist seasons there. I had not disclosed any of the clients or others about myself owning a trekking company. After almost 5 years of keeping the documents of the trekking company closed in a drawer, I tried to re-operate it, I was not allowed to operate the company because I did not update it on time, did not even have a bank account and did not earn even a single dollar on behalf of the company. However, the company was updated on the condition that the authorities would give one more chance and follow all the provisions from now on. As the company was being updated, this was when Tamang Expeditions was renamed as Three Jewels Adventures named suggested and borrowed from another kind trekking companion Marin Johnson in the USA.
By this time, I decided to restart the company; tourism in Nepal had become very competitive. A good website, cool brochure, smart managers and a dedicated team both in Nepal and abroad were needed to run the company. Three Jewels didn’t have all these. Thankfully, I was getting the opportunity to continue working in as a freelancer. In the meantime, Himalayan High Treks, started the Nepal India Pilgrimage for Venerable Robina Curtin, so a source of income for myself and family was maintained.
Three Jewels has been able to maintain its existence with the help of friends who trekked with me during the past many years or decades. The company has overcome challenges such as the Maoist insurgency, the global economic recession, the earthquake in Nepal, and the global pandemic of Covid-19. While dealing with the difficult situations time and again, the challenge is to continue the Three Jewels for the livelihood of myself and team involved and family associated. Embracing the belief that even difficult situations should be turned into favorable ones, we are about to celebrate the 25th anniversary of our company in 2025. We want to make the year truly memorable.
The conclusion of our small team based on our past experience of handling the company, is that, the way Three Jewels was run for the past 24 years was run almost like non-profit organization. Although the team was small, it helped everyone to make a living, but it did not allow the owner of the company to save a lot of money to have their own house, own car or luxurious life. Knowingly or unknowingly the benefit of the business reached to team members. Now we have considered it is necessary to promote Three Jewels as business otherwise, it will be more challenging to me and the team.
With the same aim, we hope to take our company to the next level and through this newsletter, with stories that are not shared during the trekking, we would like to share our mission to everyone. We want to be known as a model adventure company of Nepal based on the experience gathered in more than two decades time in the past. Nepal’s tourism market is very competitive and we are ready to accept the challenge. We know that for this step of ours to be successful, our gentleness and sweet words alone are not enough. We will be successful only with the help of fellow travelers who have walked with us in the past. Therefore, we humbly request all the friends who read this story of ours, to help us in an any possible ways for them. At this moment, we are committed to create something new and meaningful in Nepal’s mountain tourism market. We want to acknowledge every support of yours will be so very vital for us and we will always remain grateful.
– Amber Tamang, Founder
Our News Letter’s Second Story is About Female Guide in the Himalaya Please Click Here to Read More