Lower down the hillsides trekkers can enjoy close contact with local people and their villages; eco-friendly, cultural homestay treks are the new thing. West of Poon Hill on the sunny slopes above the Kali Gandaki River are the Parbat Myagdi treks. Not far from Pokhara is the Siklis Trek; once popular with camping groups, it remains a peaceful and traditional area. The Lamjung foothills – around Chowk Chisopani–Tandrangkot–Puranokot – are the latest area to introduce homestay trekking. A little further north, the Gurung Heritage Trail is sure to be enjoyed by increasing numbers of trekkers in the future.
The joy of discovering these routes must be tempered with some words of warning: no trek to the remote Himalayan region can be underrated in terms of objective danger. Sections of this guide are devoted to the essential advance planning that is required by any potential visitor, especially because of the isolation, difficulty of access, and sheer ‘different-ness’ of the destination.
Having spent over half our lives trekking in Nepal, we have never tired of the Himalayas. Our youthful romantic notions about these distant, lofty peaks have not dwindled with age – we find ourselves drawn to these mountains, time and time again. It is an addiction that is hard to shed, so beware – you too may find that the ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ trek becomes habit-forming!
Geography
Climbing from Putak with the Thorong La in view (Trek 1)
Stretching over 2500km from the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Pakistan in the west, the Himalayas form an unbroken chain that divides the plains of India from the Tibetan plateau. Nepal is 250km wide on average and roughly 800km in length. The country’s highest peaks, from east to west – Kangchenjunga, Makalu, Everest, Lhotse, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri, all exceeding 8000m in height – are located along its northern borders.
From fossil records in Nepal and Tibet, it is estimated that a sea existed in this area about 100 million years ago. At some time in the following 50 million years India began to ‘collide’ with Tibet through the process of plate tectonics. Some 40–45 million years ago, the Indian plate continued its northward march, forcing the Tibetan plateau upwards. Around 20 million years ago, the main Himalayan chain was formed by the same process. The Himalayas have continued to rise over the last two million years.
Nepal’s border region with India, a narrow, once-malarial jungle strip called the Terai, has been cleared for agriculture and today provides the majority of the population with food. Rising abruptly from the plains of India are the Siwalik Hills: dramatic, steep, yet fragile, being easily denuded by the heavy rains. The steep and forested Mahabharat Hills, rising to over 3000m, mark the southern edge of the middle hills of Nepal, where most of the rural population lives. Most visitors trek through this area – home to the valleys of Kathmandu and Pokhara – marvelling at the impressive farming terraces and rolling hills dotted with quaint houses.
The Himalayan mountains comprise a relatively small zone along the northern border with Tibet/China, but are the visual focus of the whole country. The main Himalayan range is not a watershed; dynamic fast-flowing rivers cut through these mountains, giving access to the inner sanctuaries of the peaks. The main watershed ranges are north of the Nepal Himalayas in Tibet – equally astonishing and alluring mountains – with an altitude range of roughly 3000–8848m (the summit of Everest).
Climate
To see the greatness of a mountain… one must see it at sunrise and sunset, at noon and at midnight, in sun and in rain, in snow and in storm, in summer and in winter and in all the other seasons.
The Way of the White Clouds, Lama Anagarika Govinda
The Himalayas are an amazing natural barrier that divides the main weather systems of Asia, affecting the climate in a unique manner. The southern Indian plains experience hot, humid monsoon patterns in the northern hemisphere summer, with cooler, dry, high-pressure-dominated winter periods. In Tibet to the north the climate is harsh, cold and windy. The mountains cause a rain shadow creating a desert-like region, with only the far south of Tibet experiencing any influence of the monsoon. The Annapurna range sits between these two extremes, making a trek in the south very different from one in the north. It is these contrasting climates that make the Annapurna Circuit trek one of such variety. For the specific effects of the climate on trekkers see ‘When to go’.
Plants, animals and birds
Plants
Poinsettia
Nepal is a paradise for botanists. With so many climatic zones, it’s no surprise to find that there are in excess of 6500 different types of plants, flowers, trees, grasses and growths of all dispositions across the country. Many of the plants favoured by gardeners in the West have their origins in the Himalayas; Joseph Hooker, a noted 19th-century explorer and botanist, discovered many of these as he explored Sikkim and eastern Nepal.
Rhododendron
The lowland jungles and slopes of the Siwalik foothills are home to sal trees, simal, sissoo, khair and mahogany. Hugging the Mahabharat ranges and higher you find the ubiquitous pipal and banyan trees, like an inseparable couple shading porter rest-stops (chautaara). Chestnut, chilaune and bamboo occur in profusion, and in the cloud forests are a myriad of lichens, ferns, rattens and dripping lianas. The prolific orchids, magnolia, broadleaf temperate oaks and rhododendron (locally called laliguras) colonise the higher hillsides. Higher up are spruce, fir, blue pine, larch, hemlock, cedar and sweet-smelling juniper. Poplar and willow are found along the upper tree line; in the high meadows look out for berberis. Even in the highest meadows, hardy flowers and plants, such as colourful gentians, survive.
Animals
With such a wide variety of plantlife and breadth of climatic range Nepal is home to a diverse population of mammals, reptiles and birds. The lowland Terai is home to the spectacular Asian one-horned rhino, elephant, spotted deer and sambar deer, as well as the odd sloth bear, leopard and tiger, which are rarely seen. Gharals, marsh mugger crocodiles, alligators and snakes lurk in the murky waters of the lowland marshes and rivers that drain into the holy Ganges River. These once-thick jungles still host an amazing number of semi-tropical birds, despite clearance for agriculture. The middle hills are extensively cultivated, but still hide a variety of animals. Monkeys and langurs abound in the forests.
At altitude look for marmot, pika (small mouse-like animal, related to the rabbit), weasel, ermine, Himalayan hare, brown bear, wild dog, blue sheep, Tibetan sheep, wolf, thar (species of large deer) and the famed musk deer (a prized trading item in the past). Skittish wild ass, the kyang, are only found in the northern zones of Mustang and Nar-Phu. Wild yaks do still roam in isolated, remote valleys, but most are now domesticated. As well as the infamous butter tea, yak milk is also used by nomads to produce cheese and yoghurt. The dzo – a cross between a yak and a cow – is commonly used as a pack animal. Herders keep sheep and goats, as well as yaks. The snow leopard is rarely encountered and virtually never photographed. Hunting blue sheep in the dawn or twilight hours, they are extremely wary and unlikely to show themselves. Television crews with big budgets have waited many years to get any film of these beautiful creatures. If you see a yeti, do let us know!
Note that trekkers need not worry about encountering dangerous animals in the Annapurnas in general, although domestic guard dogs occasionally show more interest than is desirable.
Birds
(contributed by Rajendra Suwal, WwF Nepal)
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