The main reason to come to Pokhara, is to go hiking, and we did just that. Off into the Annapurna mountains for a six day trek we went.
We toyed with the idea of getting a guide and a porter, but after finding out the cost and talking to people who had just completed the trek decided we would go it alone. A wise decision that turned out to be.
This trek is possibly the hardest thing we’ve ever done. As we were in the Himalayas, we assumed we’d be going uphill which is hard enough, but it turned out that most of the trek included going up and down 2 or 3 kilometres, three or four times a day, at 45 degree angles, in very hot and humid conditions,with our backpacks (we left some of our gear behind, but even so our packs were heavy enough!).
Apparently the Nepalese have three different words for “flat”, which all include some degree of incline, there is obviously no such thing as “flat” in Nepal!
Anyway, this didn’t deter from the enjoyment, it was a great experience and it was with a great sense of achievement that we arrived at the trekkers lodges (teahouses) in the evenings after 6-8 hours of walking.
The porters have it worse, they’d go by us carrying 25 kilos wearing flip flops, although some of them did look pretty knackered. The locals get in on the act too, carrying supplies up to the teahouses - up to 80 kilos in a basket or two on their back some of them! Others cheated or had more sense or maybe more money in that they used mule trains.
During the first few days we didn’t see much wildlife as it was busy on the trails--it was a Chinese national holiday so there were quite a few of these guys about--but on the third night we stopped at a more basic (very basic) teahouse and were the only trekkers. This proved to be a good call as the next day we trekked on our own for a good 4 hours and saw plenty of fauna including a Langur Monkey and a family of Griffon Vultures.
We walked through many rhodeddendron forests, but unfortunately the wrong time of year for flowering--it would be awesome in April.
At the end of the 4th day we stopped at a teahouse which was quite close to a hot spring, so decided to hang out there the next day and enjoy relaxing in the water and kicking back at the teahouse.
The last day was a leisurely trek back and we walked some of it with a really nice couple we met on the way down--and ended up spending more time with when we had got back to Pokhara--Ollie and Erin.
All in all, this was a fantastic experience, probably one of our best.
We toyed with the idea of getting a guide and a porter, but after finding out the cost and talking to people who had just completed the trek decided we would go it alone. A wise decision that turned out to be.
This trek is possibly the hardest thing we’ve ever done. As we were in the Himalayas, we assumed we’d be going uphill which is hard enough, but it turned out that most of the trek included going up and down 2 or 3 kilometres, three or four times a day, at 45 degree angles, in very hot and humid conditions,with our backpacks (we left some of our gear behind, but even so our packs were heavy enough!).
Apparently the Nepalese have three different words for “flat”, which all include some degree of incline, there is obviously no such thing as “flat” in Nepal!
Anyway, this didn’t deter from the enjoyment, it was a great experience and it was with a great sense of achievement that we arrived at the trekkers lodges (teahouses) in the evenings after 6-8 hours of walking.
The porters have it worse, they’d go by us carrying 25 kilos wearing flip flops, although some of them did look pretty knackered. The locals get in on the act too, carrying supplies up to the teahouses - up to 80 kilos in a basket or two on their back some of them! Others cheated or had more sense or maybe more money in that they used mule trains.
During the first few days we didn’t see much wildlife as it was busy on the trails--it was a Chinese national holiday so there were quite a few of these guys about--but on the third night we stopped at a more basic (very basic) teahouse and were the only trekkers. This proved to be a good call as the next day we trekked on our own for a good 4 hours and saw plenty of fauna including a Langur Monkey and a family of Griffon Vultures.
We walked through many rhodeddendron forests, but unfortunately the wrong time of year for flowering--it would be awesome in April.
At the end of the 4th day we stopped at a teahouse which was quite close to a hot spring, so decided to hang out there the next day and enjoy relaxing in the water and kicking back at the teahouse.
The last day was a leisurely trek back and we walked some of it with a really nice couple we met on the way down--and ended up spending more time with when we had got back to Pokhara--Ollie and Erin.
All in all, this was a fantastic experience, probably one of our best.
