Excellent trip! My wife and I identified the itinerary that we wanted for our trip to Nepal (Poon Hill trek, rafting and Chitwan safari with New Years Eve in Kathmandu) and we searched various travel companies to help make the itinerary work for us. We got in touch with local tour specialists through Bookmundi. Shiva responded quickly and arranged the itinerary that we wanted with some extras that we hadnt considered all for a reasonable price. After a few emails back and forth with Shiva to confirm all the details we were ready, happy and confident that the trip would be great.
After arriving in Kathmandu, everything was arranged for us, and we were assigned Prakash as our guide for the week along with a porter for the trek. Prakash was talkative and funny, and looked after us greatly. He was happy to share many things about his culture and we enjoyed his company. He has been doing many treks in Nepal for the past 7 years, so he knows his stuff and we knew we were in capable hands. Also, he understands a lot of foreign cultures and knows what we are looking for in with our time in Nepal.
The trek was fabulous with beautiful views and we were lucky to have such great weather in December (sunny, 15C in the day and less than 5C at night). The tea houses that you stay in are basic, most had hot water for a shower (but maybe try and be the first or second one in the shower so the hot water doesnt run out!), and the food was decent. Note that any drinks (including teas and water) are to be paid for yourself, but everything else is included (i.e. accommodation and food). Day 1 lasts around 4 hours hike all uphill, Day 2 is 7 hours hike all uphill, Day 3 is 7 hours hike uphill and downhill, and Day 4 is 4 hours all downhill. The paths are well maintained (some of the steps are quite big!), lots of tea houses to stop off at along the way (usually every hour or so) and they have a lot of supplies.
The rafting on the Trisuli River was fun. It is around 20km which takes around 3 hours and there were 9 of us in the rafting boat. The water is cold, and depending on the company you go with you need to check whether there are showers at the end, or at least how you will get to warm clothing / shower.
The Chitwan safari was good experience. We stayed in a nice lodge (Hermitage) and went on a boat, walk and jeep safari. The vegetation was very high in December making it more difficult to view the animals, but we still hit lucky and saw a lot. You can do elephant riding and there are other tricks that the elephants can do. We chose not to go with these as we were sceptical about their training.
We used a private car to get from Pokhara to the rafting, then to Chitwan, then back to Kathmandu. For us we felt it was worth doing and Shiva booked it all for us, and Prakash was with us to make sure it all went smoothly. When we were back in Kathmandu, Shiva took us to a lovely local restaurant with dancing to see how the trip went for us. Both Shiva and Prakash really looked after us and made sure everything went to plan. Great trip, thoroughly enjoyed, thank you to both of them!