Himalayas Slackpack on a budget in Nepal
The Ghorepani Poon Hill Trek in Nepal is a relatively easy hike in one of the most scenic parts of the Himalayas. Anje Rautenbach lost her heart to these peaks.
In Pokhara, Nepal’s second-largest city, Machhapuchchhre Peak reflects in glorious white shades on Phewa Lake, while my trekking guide explains what we’ll be doing over the next six days. After searching the Internet high and low for an independent female guide, I eventually found Kamala Pun and we exchanged numerous e-mails. Now she’s here in real life, showing me a map and pointing to villages, possible stopovers and mountain ranges. She points to the highest point of the trek: Poon Hill, at 3 210 m. Poon Hill is aptly named because it is just a hill in Himalayan terms, and it’s what makes this trek one of the most popular in Nepal. The terrain is relatively easy, the altitudes are manageable and there are a great number of villages along the way. You can walk longer distances and do the trek in four days, or you can take your time and do it over six. Also, the scenery in the Annapurna region is meant to be unrivalled. It’s too late to fake an illness and it’s too late to get fit. My passport photo is stapled to my trekking permit, I’ve stored all my valuables for six days and I’ve bought a box of nameless energy bars. This is it.
Stay humble
The journey starts with a bumpy jeep ride from Pokhara to the village of Kimche. It’s not actually a Jeep, it’s a Tata, but I soon realise that anything bigger than a sedan and smaller than a bus goes by the name “jeep”. There are eleven of us crammed into a space meant for eight (my backpack is getting dusty on the roof) and every now and then the driver swerves to miss a cow – a sacred, untouchable animal to the Hindu. We arrive in Kimche in the mist at midday and start the walk to a teahouse in another village called Ghandruk – the first stop of the trek. Teahouses are scattered throughout Nepal’s trekking regions and they offer more than just tea. All have basic accommodation with linen, food, showers and, if you’re lucky, Wi-Fi. It’s a gradual climb to Ghandruk. We share the path with water buffaloes, donkeys and local residents who go up and down like klipspringers in the prime of life. The teahouse is called Excellent View Lodge. I watch life unfold in the village below with my hands around a mug of steaming hot chocolate. Buddhist prayer flags flap between houses, chickens peck and children run around. There are no cars, no fancy electronics and there’s almost no cellphone signal. Today they have power, tomorrow they might have 18 hours of load-shedding, but the view is indeed Excellent.
I quickly learn that when my guide Kamala uses the word “flat”, it’s just a synonym for uphill. There are no flats in the Himalayas; you’re either going up or down (or resting). We navigate through a dense forest of trickling streams, intricate branch get-togethers, moss-covered steps, colourful prayer flags and neat rocks cairns. We wait out a rain shower with a much-needed coffee at an altitude of 2 480 m. Just a day ago I was eating breakfast in Pokhara at 827 m. Before we reach the village of Tadapani, officials and a porter pass us with some sort of long object wrapped in green plastic. I assume it’s a beam or a pole for building: Everything used in these villages is either transported by donkeys or carried on foot. “But why are the police here?” I ask my guide. Only then do I notice that Kamala is in shock. “Someone died; that is the body of a trekker,” she says. I look again at the now unmistakable shape wrapped in plastic. It’s a rude awakening. To my right, the hill slopes viciously to the bottom. One wrong turn, one slip… We walk the last few metres to the village in silence, heads bowed. I notice my shoes, which are still covered in bright powder-paint splashes from Holi, the happiest festival on earth, which I celebrated in Kathmandu last week. And now this. As an ode to the trekker, Machhapuchchhre Peak, considered sacred in these parts, covers herself with a thick layer of mist. The other peaks follow and the view of what lies ahead remains a mystery.