The Magic of the Annapurna Circuit

A trekking adventure in Nepal with The Adventure Company.

Written by The Adventure Company

After recently having had such a great time in the Himalayan foothills of India, I decided along with a couple of my new friends to do a more strenuous trek in the Annapurna circuit, Nepal. I was aware that this would be a great challenge, and I could not wait to hop on the plane and get started; I have previously had the exhilarating experience of white water rafting on the Kali gandaki river and fell in love with this beautiful country. Without a doubt Nepal holidays offer something really unique.

This particular trip was good because it concentrates on the actual trekking; a full 16 days are spent on the circuit. I had been searching for something of a challenge and activity holidays like these also enabled me to raise some money for charity; a double feel good factor!

So we started in the lively vibrant capital of Kathmandu. On arrival here I literally felt on top of the world; at 4400 ft above sea level the scenery is breath taking. The mountains surrounding the city are incredible as are the views from the temples; my favourite being World Heritage sites Swayambhu and Pashupati. I revisited to some of the wonderful buzzing teahouses and ate mouth watering Tibetan dishes in my favourite guesthouse, Las kus at the Kathmandu Guesthouse. This had to be the best place in the world to chill out before the challenge began.

By the time we reached the small village of Besisahar, spirits were high and our group was buzzing with excitement. Everybody on the trek had had some previous experience of trekking and was relatively fit. Our guide, Raj was really informative and extremely supportive; his general knowledge of Nepal was brilliant. He explained that we would be walking up to 8 hours a day and that this particular trek would allow us to acclimatise safely; rest days were built in to help adjust to the altitude. The trek would take us through many different eco systems and we would be hiking through sub tropical forests, rice fields and crossing suspension bridges as well as climbing up the mountains; this was adventure travel at its best!

I do suffer from slight vertigo however, and on our way to Bahudanda one of the first suspension bridges proved a little tricky; these were not the most solidly constructed bridges I had ever seen and there were holes in between the runners which allowed glimpses of land way below. To my great relief I ended up blundering across quickly with my eyes fixed on the other side! By the end of the first few days I thankfully realised that although this was a tough trek, it was fully supported. Our friendly Sherpa carried all the heavy baggage whilst we only needed to carry day packs with the essentials; water, cameras and sunscreen. Generally the meals consisted of simple local produce but they were delicious and we did not want for a thing; great coffee to get us out of our beds in the mornings and mouth watering cakes and biscuits after a long day hiking. The atmosphere in the evening was cheerful; we were all tired and slept soundly.

On our way between the villages Pisang and Manang one guy got the symptoms of altitude sickness, luckily and we were able to spend a day in Manang (3540m) relaxing while he adjusted before moving on. I was completely shattered at this point and aware that the hardest part was yet to come, so I spent time chilling out and chatting with the local people and playing with the friendly children. One of the best things about this trip was climbing the many paths and stone staircases and arriving in the remote villages and small tea houses; they seemed as if they hadn’t changed in hundreds of years. The locals were all so welcoming and interesting with their different religious beliefs; there were many Hindus in the lower villages but as we ascended the religion became predominantly Buddhist.

The scenery of course was totally stunning and changed on an almost daily basis; it seemed that one minute we were trekking through the forests and a few days later on our way to Yak Kharka (4018m) with its harsh open terrain, frozen waterfalls and boulders littering the path ahead. I was really finding the going tough at this point and breathing was becoming more laboured. So it was amazing when we did eventually cross the Thorung La pass to Muktinath. We had started at dawn and after a five and a half hour climb we reached the summit (5416), luckily in the sunshine!

I felt an overwhelming sense of achievement. The views of the Annapurna range surrounding us were fabulous; we could also see the Gangapurna and the Dhaulagiri mountains. We spent a while here taking photos, it was the highest point most of us had ever set foot and I felt light headed with happiness. After this the steep descent was much easier as we were pretty fit by this point. The highlight on our descent was at Tatopani (1160m) where we soaked in the spring fed thermal pools, what a treat for our tired muscles! This was one of the best holiday experiences I have ever had, and has given me the incentive to do lots more similar trips.