I think Chris made a point. For most outings (hiking, backpacking etc) you don't need a huge knife or ax maybe only a modest fixed blade or folder. For years folks used very modest knives and survived. On a hike a good old Ritter Mini grip (plug!), Mora or Vic Farmer is probably all you will need.

As far as ax vs Kukris; if the kukris was perfect for northern forests like Canada's or Sweden's then the Norse would have made Kukris instead of excellent axes. Visa versa for the Nepali.
Beside both are pretty useful.
Bill