Mountain lovers can understand what reaching the Himalayas means. You wake up and it’s cold. You put on some warm clothes and sit on the edge of a cliff with a cup of ginger tea warming your hands. The wind gently moves the clouds that cover the mountains. Gradually, great snowy peaks emerge, the sun rises, the mist descends, and the show overwhelms you. Now you are in a magical place.
It was a growing dream of mine to see them up close, so alongside with my friend Makarios decided to fly to Nepal in order to do the trek to Annapurna Base Camp, also referred to as the Annapurna Sanctuary. Getting there after the two years of Covid, felt unreal. Stepping out of Kathmandu airport, felt even more unreal. It is an exciting, daunting and overwhelming experience all at once, a complete sensory overload, with the shrieks from competing taxi drivers, honking rickshaws, smells wafting from food stalls and even animals in the streets! We spent few days there, and we took the short flight to Pokhara, which is made for pre and post trek tourists and is filled with gear hire shops, cafes, massage centers and comfortable accommodation. The amazing thing is that the Annapurna range, whets your appetite for mountain views right from there.
From Pokhara, we headed to the village of Nayapul, and started our trek into the mountains with a stiff climb up thousands of stone stairs to the village of Ulleri where we had our first stay in a tea house. They are small lodges which run by locals that offer basic lodging and meals. In lower elevations, tea houses may be multi-story concrete buildings with private rooms and attached western style bathrooms. The further you hike up, the more basic the accommodations get. Every tea house has one large communal dining area with a wood burning stove in the center. It’s a great spot to meet other trekkers, swap stories, warm up, and sip tea while you watch the sunset over the mountains. Meals are often cooked over a fire in the kitchen by the owners and everywhere you will find Dal Bhat, the traditional Nepali food of locals and trekkers in the Himalayas. The Dal bhat recipe consists of lentil soup (the dal), and boiled rice (the bhat) and it is great for trekkers as it contains plenty of carbs, protein, fluid, vitamins and minerals.
The next day, was spent trekking steadily uphill through the jungle and we met our first of many heavily laden mule trains. There are no roads in this region so unless it is grown there, everything comes in on the back of a mule or a person. Want a beer, some chocolate, stove fuel, building supplies or a new toilet? It all comes in on the back of a mule. On our third morning, we were up well before the sun to make the three-kilometer trek up from Ghorepani to the viewpoint at Poon Hill. When we arrived, the sun had already started to rise and most of the clouds had cleared so we had amazing views of the Annapurna range as well as Dhaulagiri massif. We finally pried ourselves away from the views and headed back down to breakfast in Ghorepani before shouldering our packs. The day’s trek through the jungle took us across ridges and down a forested canyon before we arrived at Tadapani.
In general, the diversity of the scenery is impressive. You start at the tropical rainforest surrounded by rhododendron, fern and bamboo passing several small villages, where you get a first-hand and authentic insight into the way of life of the local people, and in a couple of days, you find yourself among the snowy peaks of the Himalayas. Next morning, we started early and we followed the trail downhill in a beautiful rainforest feeling free and happy to have the privilege to be there. After passing many small settlements we reached Chomrong which is built on the hill and made of stairs instead of streets. We walked downhill for about half an hour, sympathizing with the people coming up as we will have to walk up again as well in a few days! Two hours later, we were in Upper Sinuwa where we made another tea break and later in the afternoon, we reached Bamboo where we spent the night.
Although, we were in a good shape and we didn’t had any altitude symptoms we have decided to do the final stretch to the basecamp in three days instead of two so next destination after Bamboo was Deurali. The landscape starting to change and as we were moving higher, the thick forests give way to tall grass and the terrain turns alpine. The following day, Machapuchare appeared before us in its full glory. The ‘fish tailed mountain’, has never been officially summitted, and it is revered by the Nepalese for its exquisite beauty, and it is believed to be one of the homes of Lord Shiva. The hike was gorgeous, and it took us into the valley and upward to Machapuchare Base Camp, the last stop before our ascent to the Annapurna Base Camp. That was the night we slept at the highest altitude, but we didn’t have any problems with altitude sickness. All we felt was the excitement of being so close to Annapurna. We were almost there!
The final day, we set out at 4:00 am and it was ethereal to hike in the dark under a dazzling starry sky. We made it to ABC just as first light was starting to spread, in a basin surrounded by a ring of glorious peaks. With a 360-degree view of some of the highest summits in the world, it’s hard not to feel humbled; I could have stayed there all day. Sadly, that wasn’t an option so before long it was time to begin the descent and we traced back our steps to the lodge at MBC. Had a quick breakfast and left for Chomrong, the stop for the night. There, the route split, and the next day we were able to take in new scenery on the other side of the valley. This meant a stop at Jhinu, where natural hot springs in serene surroundings by the gushing river were a blissful answer to our aching muscles. This was much needed, as we had a very long hike to Pedi ahead of us, where we took a transfer to Pokhara. As we bid the mountains a sad farewell, I felt a huge sense of fulfilment – and a touch of pride at gaining a pair of rock-solid legs – after a surprisingly gruelling trek.
Written by Dimitris Papageorgiou
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