Annapurna Base Camp Trek - Sept 2006

Travelogue and links to Photographs from a trek I did last month. The travelogue, at best, will serve as a resource for any hiker planning a visit to Nepal or, at the very least, cure insomnia :)


View slideshow - http://community.webshots.com/album/554538805sVgNNc

-Sanjay
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Travelogue of the trek to the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) I did last month. This is also called the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek.

Preparation:
We had initially short listed a few treks in Himachal Pradesh and Leh - Ladakh region but were intrigued by what we read about Nepal and hiking in the Annapurna region and hence decided to do the ABC trek. The Annapurna Circuit trek is more popular, because of the diversity in the landscape you get, but takes about 3 weeks to complete and we did not have the luxury of time for this. So ABC it was!

The "Base" for the trek is a town called Pokhara, west of Kathmandu. This is the hub in Nepal for treks to the Annapurna region and also for organizing rafting expeditions and jungle safaris. You can either fly to Pokhara (Bangalore - Delhi - Kathmandu - Pokhara, is one of the routes) or take a train, as we did, to Gorakhpur (U.P). It took us 48 hrs to get there from Bangalore. We reached there on the 10th of Sept. by 6 PM. Then it is a 2 hour taxi ride to the border town of Sunauli. We stayed overnight at a lodge (4-5 to choose from) and then crossed over to Nepal in the morning. No hassles on either side with the Security chaps, thankfully. Indians do not need a Visa for Nepal, but do need a valid Photo ID card. At Bhairawa (the Nepali side of the border town), we exchanged some of our Indian currency to Nepali (not a must, as Indian currency, except Rs 500 and 1000, are accepted in Nepal. Indian Rs 100 = Nepali Rs 160). We then took a minibus to Pokhara, which should have been a 5 hour journey. The bus broke down midway, so we reached Pokhara at around 4 in the evening, delayed by 2 hrs.
We checked into a decent hotel (Green Park - Rs 200 INR per night) at the mainly "touristy" locality in Pokhara known as "Lakeside" (on the banks of "Fewa" lake). Pokhara is very laid back and you get the first views of the Annapurna range here, to the North West of the town. Lakeside is dotted with Restaurants (Nepali, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Italian, Greek, Korean...), Travel Agents' offices and shops where you can buy/hire trekking gear. Some of us hired rucksacks and sleeping bags here.


We were sipping chai and met Gopal Sharma by chance. He turned out to be a qualified Guide to the Annapurna region and we signed him up to take us to ABC (Guide Charges -10 US $ per day). We discussed and finalized the route we would take. We planned to complete the trek in 7 days, trekking an average of 7 - 8 hours per day. It still isn't a MUST to have guide with you whilst trekking the Annapurna region, but the local knowledge these guys have and the know how to deal with the Maoists (Maobaadi) is an advantage.

We (Team of 7 + the Guide) set off from Pokhara on the 12th (Tuesday). We needed to register at the Nepal Tourism Office and get ourselves Permits. Make sure to carry 2 Passport size photographs for this. We then took 2 cabs and headed towards Nayapul ( A 45 minute ride), which was to be our starting point for the trek.

The rooms in all the lodges/tea houses we stayed in consist of 2 beds and a small table. The floor is concrete and the walls, thin plywood. You will be given thick blankets, so sleeping bags were really not necessary throughout the trek. Thedoors have padlock to keep your gear safe.

Day 1 - (Nayapul - Birethanthi - Kyumi)
Nayapul is the last chance for trekkers for any last minute shopping. Things we usually forget before setting off can be bought in shops here - Umbrellas, Rain Coat, extra pair of Socks. A 15 minute stroll brings us to Birethanthi, where we had lunch (it was 12:30 PM by then). It was here that we were warned of the first set of "Maobaadi" we were to meet. After lunch at "Hotel Moonlight", we met these guys just round the corner. They had actually setup a makeshift toll booth here! The "tax" is Rs 100 (nepali) per day per trekker. None of the chaps here seemed older than 17. Our guide told us the more senior "Commanders" work backstage and only appear to bully trekkers who sometimes refuse to pay the "tax". We were actually given a receipt for the tax we paid and had to be produced whenever another maoist gang demanded it. The maoists run a parallel government in these villages and apparently, the toll pays for it. The official Nepali Police/Army have no presence here.
The trail here is paved with terraced paddy fields and plants with medicinal properties, which are supposed to cure everything from headaches to diarrhoea! The trail is relatively easy going through small villages and we reached Kyumi by 5 PM. Kyumi is a beautiful little hamlet with awesome views of the valley and we decided to call it a day at a lodge here. Most of the lodges in the Annapurna region have hot water showers. Clean toilets were a surprise, especially after trekking in India. Meals in these lodges are hygienic, but a little more expensive than in India. The rates get higher as we go along the trek, because the cost of porting the provision gets proportionately higher.

Day 2 - Through Leech Land! (Kyumi - New Bridge - Jhinu - Chomrung - Lower Sinuwa)
This was probably the toughest day of trekking. We set off from Kyumi by 7 AM. The idea was to reach our destination for the day by 2-3 PM each day, to avoid the afternoon showers which are common this time of the year. Kyumi to New Bridge was through wet, damp forests and prime leech territory. A leech finds it's host by detecting changes in temperature and vibration. While they bite,they also ingest an anticoagulant which bleeds the host even after the meal. We gave up the battle after about 30 minutes of the trek. It’s a 90 minute trek to New Bridge, so called because a new bridge was built to replace an old dilapidated one over the Modi Khola river. The lodges here gave us a chance to pluck the bloodsuckers out, clean our feet and assess the damage.
Jhinu was the next destination and this place is famous for its hot springs. We decided to press ahead and try the hotsprings on the way back, stopping only for a cup of tea at one of the 10-12 lodges/restaurants here. We had to reach Chomrung village for lunch, and this trail turned out to be a killer. It’s almost a vertical climb to Chomrung as the village is nestled at the top of a big hill. The sun was high up and the climb, tough. We were relived when we reached Chomrung by 1 PM. After Roti - Aloo Sabji at a lodge/restaurant here, we set off to the village of Sinuwa.

Chomrung itself is a village with amazing views of the Annapurna range. This is the last of the major villages that you will see on this trail. There is a primary school here and a reasonably large provision store here provides supplies to lodges further down the trail. Also the last place you can make you telephone calls from.
We descend the hill and climb another, to reach Sinuwa. We were now accompanied by kids from the Chomrung Primary School. The way they negotiate these hills, barefoot, is amazing. We reached Sinuwa, leech bitten and all muscles hurting, by 4:30 PM. The hot shower (solar powered) was most welcome and we hardly has the zeal to have dinner before we crashed.


Day 3 - Through the Rhododendron forests (Lower Sinuwa - Upper Sinuwa - Bamboo - Dovan - Himalaya - Deurali)
Our pace picked up on day 3. The trail between Sinuwa and Bamboo is through thick Rhododendron forest and was the best 2 hours of trekking thus far. The trail was fairly easy, with the sound of the forest for company. Langurs and a few birds native to this part of Nepal can be spotted here. Small streams and waterfalls made this part of the trek truly awesome. We reached Bamboo by 9:30 AM. It is so called because of the abundance of the plant around here. Don’t forget to try the "Tusa Fry", a bamboo preparation, here.
Bamboo to Himalaya, another small hamlet, is a steady climb and we had lunch here by 12. The stretch between Himalaya and Deurali, however is another vertical climb which seemed to go on forever. We pass through the spectacular "Hinko" caves before reaching Deurali at the top of the ridge. Deurali is at about 3,200 meters and I had signs of altitude sickness here. As a precaution we had Garlic soup here before dinner. No hot shower from here, a bucket of hot water warmed by burning wood costs Rs 50, but trekkers are advised not to use this because of environmental issues (deforestation).

Day 4 - First views of Machchapuchare, Annapurna range (Deurali - MBC - ABC)

Day 4 again was a steady climb all the way to the Annapurna Base Camp. We got our first glimpses of the snowy peaks with sky blue background here. We reached the Machchapuchare Base Camp by 9 AM. Machchapuchare means "Fish tail" because of the way the peak looks. Refer the photographs to see what I mean. The mountain and the adjoining glacier down were clearly visible now. We had breakfast of spring rolls here and the cook here, Asyang played the guitar for us. The setting at MBC was truly magnificent. Bright, blue skies and the mountains in the backdrop.

We set off to ABC by 10:30 AM. MBC - ABC is a 2 hour trail which goes steadily up. There are no trees by now because of the altitude, but meadows with flowers of all colors! It had become cloudy by 12 and visibility was too poor for us to sight the Annapurna range from ABC. The trail follows a glacial valley up into the amphitheater like basin that is the ABC. The cold winds ensured we pull our woolens out - we guessed the temperature was about 9-10 C by now.

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the area around ABC. There is a memorial for Anatoli Boukreev an accomplished Kazakh climber who died Christmas Day 1996 in an avalanche on Annapurna.

Day 5 - Golden Sunrise ( ABC - Bamboo )
We woke up by 5 AM on day 5, anticipating clear skies to watch the first rays of the sun hit Annapurna, and were not disappointed. It was glorious and we were apparently the first set of trekkers this season to get these early morning views of the peaks. Perfect photo ops. Clear skies lasted for close to an hour and a half before the clouds gathered.

The lodge owners then told us about 2 senior maoists who had visited ABC the previous night and extorted Rs 1200 each from the owners of the 4 lodges at ABC. We heard the rate was 3000 per lodge further down the trail!
We started on the return journey by 9 AM and reached Bamboo by 5 in the evening, downhill most of the way.

Day 6 - (Bamboo - New Bridge)

Day 6 meant we had to climb up the ridge to Chomrung again, this time in the opposite end of the ridge. We counted 2,400 steps from the base of the ridge all the way to the lodge where we had lunch, in Chomrung. Climbed down to Jhinu after this and reached New Bridge amidst a heavy downpour, by 4 in the afternoon.

Day 7 - (New Bridge - Landruk - Deurali - Tolka - Pothana - Khare)

We had a choice of either backtracking via the same route from NB towards Birethanthi or take a longer route to the Highway towards Khare. We opted for the latter. This proved to be a wise choice as this trail was the most beautiful of the whole trek. The views, the weather were perfect.

The village of Landruk was infested by Maoists. About 35 of them had come there the previous evening. They asked us for the receipt for the "tax". We heard rumors of 3 American trekkers being roughed up for not paying up. Landruk - Deurali via Tolka was again a steep uphill trek, but the last one of the trek. Deurali - Pothana is a beautiful trail through the forest and beds of wild, purple flowers.

The trek ended on the village of Khare, by the highway, by 3 in the afternoon. We took a taxi back to Pokhara from here.

I spent a couple of days in Pokhara lazing around. The International Mountain Museum here is a must see. Don’t miss the section where they’ve displayed the garbage collected on Everest!

We visited Kathmandu (dirty, polluted and chaotic), for a day, did the customary sightseeing (Pashupathinath, Boudhanath, Patan Durbar and Swoyambhunath). I was keen on doing the "Mountain flight" - a 60 minute plane ride around the Everest (Rs 3,200 INR) but bad weather cancelled all flights or 2 consecutive mornings. We flew Kathmandu - New Delhi - Bangalore on the way back.

Conclusion:

This is probably the best Himalayan trek I've done because of the weather, the views and mainly because, trekking in Nepal is so much more cleaner, both on the trail and in the lodges you stay in. The locals are very friendly, except for the odd maoist who seems to be wary of you! September is always "iffy" in terms of the weather because of the fear of late monsoon showers, but we got lucky. Total expenses Pokhara to Pokhara was 4,800 INR per person.