About Yangrima Eco-Lodge
How Did It All Began
Colonel Jimmy Roberts founded Mountain Travel, Nepal’s first trekking company and started bringing trekkers to Helambu in the 70s. Late Tashi P. Lama, a local priest built the first trekking lodge in the traditional Hyolmo village of Sermathang (8,600ft) in the early 80s, serving clients from the Mountain Travel and many other trekking agencies.
Helambu was the go-to trekking destination until the Maoist civil war started in the mid-90s. Trekkers stopped coming and many local lodges closed their doors. After the 2008 peace agreement, tourism started to pick up in Nepal.
However, the expansion of motorable dirt roads in the mountains affected trekking routes all over Nepal. Fortunately, the classic Helambu Circuit, Ganja-La crossing, Gosainkunda, Panchpokhari remain unspoiled.
The old lodge re-opened its doors as the Yangrima Eco-Lodge in 2020 with a new vision to promote sustainable tourism and create opportunities for the people in Helambu. Now the Eco-Lodge offers an authentic experience to a wide range of patrons from trekkers to wellness seekers, families and special interest groups in Helambu.
The Yangrima Eco-Lodge is built using sustainable materials including Hemp, Lime and Bamboo. It uses passive solar heating like double-glazed windows, solar for electricity and water heater. We harvest rainwater and recycle greywater reducing half of our freshwater consumption. Besides that, we grow our own organic vegetables and fruits and raise free-range chickens for eggs and grass-fed buffalos for healthy milk.
Help Promote Education and Local Community Development
All profits from the Eco-Lodge help support the work of Just Nepal Foundation to promote education and local community development. We started the Visit Helambu campaign and developed its role as the destination management organization under the auspices of Just Nepal Foundation. And we continue to promote sustainable tourism across the Helambu region by helping local homestay owners improve their operation and collaborative working skills as well as expanding their marketing reach through Just Nepal Foundation. The world is not such a lonely planet anymore. But there are fewer places with such rich biodiversity, healthy ecosystems and wholesome lifestyle so close to Kathmandu. So, we want more people to come, enjoy and Visit Helambu.
