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Trekking in the Annapurna region of Nepal, to raise funds for Leukaemia Care, and for the sheer delight of walking in the shadows of the Himalayan giants.

 

Participants;

Malcolm Orgee, renowned horticulturist, who was recently diagnosed with Leukaemia, but who will bring a calm, steadfast temperament to the trek, whilst slogging uphill and down.

Phil Anslow, a 12 time veteran of the Himalayas, who is assisting Malcolm to build a 5 acre garden in beautiful Dorset. Good mates looking after each other and in my case learning from the master about the flora and fauna of the Himalayas.

We arrive in Kathmandu on Oct 7, and after 2 days visiting the Buddhist and Hindu shrines in the valley, we fly to Pokhara, the 2 city of Nepal, where our trek starts. It’s a half a day taxi ride to Nayapul, and the beginning of our trek to Poon Hill and beyond. Each day is an endless climb up steps laid down by Nepalese Traders, to reach our tea house for evening meal and our stopover for the night. As we leave Nayapul, our first stop is the national Park checkpoint, where our trekking permits will be checked. At this point we are still on a dirt road, but soon as we approach our lunchtime stop of Lamdoni, the trail turns into a hiker only path, with our first set of stone staircases. Our Nepalese Sherpa’s and porters will remind us here, that its Bistaraii, Bistaraii, slowly , slowly. We can stop at Tikhedunga for the night, or if we are feeling strong, 2 more hours up steep stone steps will get us to Uleri, at a height of 1960m. This is a Magar village, one of many different tribes we will encounter on our trek.

Day 2 of the trek, gives us our first encounter with giant tree rhododendrons, where Malcolm will be in his element. We are consistently climbing now, and when we reach Banthanti, we will be at 2250m. Lunch will be taken at The Hungry Eye Restaurant, where the dish of the day is Dhal Baat, rice, lentils and curried vegetables, the preferred meal of the Nepalese. Many other dishes are available, including Chow mein, soup, potatoes and sometimes Pizza. We are now only an hour away from Ghorepani, which means Horse-water, and our stop for the night. All roofs are blue in this village, and it has the thankless task of being woken up at 4.30 every morning during the trekking seasons, as a mass line of headlamps heads up to Poon Hill for magnificent views of the Annapurna Massif, as dawn breaks and the mountains are revealed.. This is of course the start of day 3 of the trek, and the highest point we reach at 3210m, and a long day it is. When we have taken hundreds of photo’s of the mountains in all their splendour, we head back to Ghorepani to pick up our gear and start on the descent to Tatopani, literally hot water , which describes the hot springs which rise next to the Kali Gandaki River and which will help ease our aching knees after an 8 hour descent through amazing countryside and fantastic views, one of my favourite walks in the whole world. We will spend a day and a night at tatopani, and then head for our departure point from the Annapurna conservation area at Beni.

 

   A minibus will take us back to Pokhara and our hotel for the night, letting us back into civilisation for the first time in 5 days. We will join all the other trekkers for a grand meal , dancing and singing as we recount all our adventures. The next day we fly back to Kathmandu, to browse the shops of Thamel to pick up bargains in trekking equipment, Hindu and Buddhist paraphernalia, and take in all the sights and smells of a wondrous city, before we head back to London with many stories to tell.