Bringing Donations Through Customs in Nepal

We were ecstatic to get a donation of over 60 pairs of climbing shoes and approach shoes from an awesome climbing company in USA called New River Mountain Guides. NRMG Owner, Elaina Arenz-Smith, gathered the slightly used demo shoes for us to use for training rock climbing and canyoning guides and developing the sport in Nepal. When we got the shoes together and prepared to pack for our return home, I realized 60 pairs of shoes might actually seem like a retail shipment and customs was sure to be suspicious.

So I started searching on the internet about customs at Tribuvhan airport, and the news was not great. Apparently many people have been charged a hefty tax on clothes, shoes and school supplies that they have gathered to help our country. Recently, some American school children donated lap tops to give to Nepali school children, and they were all confiscated at the airport.

I don’t want our shoes to get nicked, so I contacted the US Embassy in Kathmandu, and they directed me to this page http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/cis/cis_980.html#entry_requirements which is not very informative. Then I called our friend Endra Rai of the Himalayan River Guide Association of Nepal(HRGAN); seems the best bet for a donation is to get a letter from the place you will be donating to before you arrive at customs; and get a receipt for the value of the donation. There is another friend who is really helpful and knowledgable about customs, Ramesh Kunawar of Masto Outdoors. Ramesh deals with customs regularly because of his outfitter company in Kathmandu. Both of these guys are great sources of information. I encourage anyone who needs customs advice first hand to contact them; they are super friendly and happy to help:

Endra Rai, HRGAN – e-mail :
infohimalay@wlink.com.np
himalayanecstasy@gmail.com

Ramesh Kunawar, Masto Outdoors:
+977 1 4650253 Mobile: +977 9841 298 640
E-mail: ramesh_kunwar2000@yahoo.com

Nepal Misistry of Finance Customs Page: http://www.customs.gov.np/