We encountered more than 1 stinky old cow in Nepal. And the odd buffalo.
Trekking within some of the most impressive mountain panoramas in the world was one of the main aims of our whole trip. The views didn’t disappoint – as we looked upwards from the highest point on earth we’ve been, Annapurna Base Camp (4130m), Annapurna South’s 7219m golden-lined ridge at dawn was just one of five 7000+ m summits towering close overhead. And the vast snow-capped horizon we saw from the top of Poon Hill (3210m, which makes it over double the height of Ben Nevis and still a mere ‘Hill’) was incredible. To the left end of the panorama was Dhaulagiri (8167m), the 7th highest summit in the world and the most majestic mountain I’ve ever seen, with a ridge falling symmetrically either side of a crown-like summit, gently at first before hitting steep symmetrical buttresses to east and west. Pure magic. Not enough skill or time for the photo of a lifetime, but that didn’t stop me trying. Before Sarah dragged me back off to yet another Nepali bread and honey breakfast, with odd milk tea.
We were lucky with weather throughout. We had squeezed the trek in just before they all stop for monsoon season, and despite it starting a little early this year (from around Day 2 onwards we had between 2-12 hour storms most days) we finished each day’s trek before the rains started, arriving at the simple tea-lodge accommodation anytime from 10.30am onwards. This was thanks to our guide getting us walking around 7am most mornings (and two 4.30 starts, yawn), which also gave us the best chance of seeing views in the early morning clear skies.
We followed the most popular circuit to Annapurna base camp, which took 10 days doing around 3-5 hours walking a day, although we knocked a day off at the end, having felt we’d done our share of long afternoons playing cards. Some days were easier than others, but our total vertical ascent was nearly 8km in the 10 days (Everest is only 8.8km high!), including some frustrating cross-valley days, where we discussed at length the benefits of a zip-wire with our polite and patient Nepali guide, Ram. Another alternative, ‘contouring’, following the contours instead of the path, is apparently something that doesn’t translate well into Nepali, either linguistically or conceptually. The direct route is always favoured, however steep, especially for the many porters carrying infeasibly heavily loads.
Other highlights included seeing a troop of Langur monkeys (the big ones with black faces and geriatric grey hair); soaring eagles; many buffalo either grazing or working; a dog who followed us for several miles we named Dave (after a dog-mad Ozzie vet we met in Laos, who would have been disappointed with our sexing skills as we later noticed she was clearly a girl); many devastating landslides of the past including a terrifyingly vast top-slice taken off neatly manicured steeply- terraced farmland; much marijuana growing wild; and briefly joining in with a group of kids sitting on the path singing and clapping to a traditional Nepali tune led by a 10-year old on a guitar.
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