I am planning a trip to the Mishmi hills. I have arranged transport and guide although dates and full itinerary are flexible. The timing Nov. is to increase the chances of finding Sclater's monal the main target. I would like someone to join and share cost which is about £100pp a day all inc.based on two.
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Arunchal Pradesh/Mishmi hills Nov 2022 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter woodrip
- Start date
George Wagner
Member
Hi, I am interested in joining you. However, it depends on who is the guide involved and who in India is organizing this? Who are your dealing with?
George Wagner
Member
Before we go any farther, does Peter Lobo have anything to do with this arrangement? If so, I am out. I have dealt with Peter before and he has proved to be a liar and a crook with me. He is one person to avoid completely.
We had a trip to Mishmi booked with North East Birding Tours and then the borders closed whilst we were in AP due to Covid, so we had to head home before making it over to the Mishmi area. Nilutpal at NEBT got us a full refund sorted via transferwise. Took a couple of months, but he kept in contact. So on my limited experience on this element of the company, they were very good at what must have been an extremely trying time for a business that relies on tourism.
Good luck with the Monal.
Good luck with the Monal.
George Wagner
Member
Thanks for the comment. I had a similar experience but with different results. I agreed to go with someone who arranged a guide to Mishmi Hills and other places. When it was time to wire the money, only then I learned the organizer was Tony Lobo, who seems to have a reputation of charging westerners higher fees that Indians for identical services. I specifically asked Tony about the Covid 19 situation in India. Tony assured me that it would not be an issue. Two days after arriving in India, India closed all international and regional borders. We never arrived at the meeting city or met the guide. We were lucky to got out on the last scheduled flights out of the country. Tony assured us that our money was safe but it would take a little time to wire the money back. When I contacted him few months later, he insisted he could only do by physically going to a bank but that was not currently possible because of the pandamic. He again assured me that he would do so in time but he would keep about a quarter of my money to cover cost. What costs? He provided none of the original services agreed to in the original agreement. He replied that we should pay for the guide services we never used. I heard nothing from him in over a year. I contacted him a few months ago as the pandemic was mostly over. He told me that he could not refund any of that money as the bank would not allow it after a year. ??? His only remedy was to have a future client wire the money directly to me rather than to him. But he had no current booked clients. However, he might be able to do so in about 3 years. So, he might refund some of my safe money 5 years after I wired it to him!!! The internal airlines refunded our unused tickets immediately. I will never see a penny of that money I sent Tony Lobo.
I am not eager to repeat such an experience again. My question remains. Does Peter Lobo have anything with this arrangement?
I am not eager to repeat such an experience again. My question remains. Does Peter Lobo have anything with this arrangement?
If you are still looking for someone to join, please let me know. I'm interested and expect to be available the first 3 weeks of November. Thanks.
