new Nepal. Annapurna Mountains

My trip in Annapurna: The Jomsom trek

Day 1

- Pokhara – Jomsom: 20 minutes flight
- Jomsom – Kagbeni: not more then 3 hours
- I flew into Jomsom with Cosmic air. They have 3 flights early in the morning at 6.30 8 and 9 am. Avoid the last flight if possible, you never know the weather turns bad. There are also flights with Royal Nepal and Ghorka. Note these planes are very small and can have no more then 15 passengers. Our flight had a 2 hour delay.
- If you have a guide and porter, make sure you book their tickets together with your own. The reason is that their tickets are much cheaper, so airlines are sometimes reluctant to sell them tickets if you buy them separately.

- The flight itself is quite spectacular. Try to sit in the first seats, so you can see the cockpit and the mountains you’re flying in between. You’ll easily see Annapurna, Dhaulagiri with icefall etc...

- The first day is an easy day. The walk itself is mainly through the river bed, you won’t see any great views once outside of Jomsom. Once after 10 am, you’ll get a fierce wind , usually from the back. There’s a big suspension bridge before Ekhlebatti. You’ll arrive in Kagbeni by noon. If you really feel strong, you might consider going on to Jhargot or Muktinath, but I didn’t do that. Kagbeni itself is a very interesting village, on the verge of Upper Mustang. Walking around the village may well take 1 to 3 hours.
- I stayed in the Shangrila lodge. They have a sunny restaurant with reasonable views on the valley. Their pasta is excellent. Rooms cost 50 Rp without and 150 Rp with bathroom for a single.

Day 2: Kagbeni 2800m to Jhargot 3600m and trip to Muktinath 3800 m

- I expected this to be a pretty hard day given the climb of 1000 m, but after all it was not too hard.
- After leaving Kagbeni, you get a very steep climb for about 45 minutes, then a less steep climb for another 45 minutes till you get at 3300 m.
- Then there’s 45 minutes of flat track, and then again it goes up and you start passing some houses till you arrive in Jhargot. The whole walk took 3 hours.
- We stayed at Hotel Sonam, but according to our guide the management had changed, and it was not a very good choice. The food was not that good, and portions were rather small.
- In the afternoon, I walked up to Muktinath which is 200 meter higher. This is still a pretty stiff climb of about 1 hour. The village is pretty touristy with lodges and also some souvenir shops. The temple itself is pretty interesting, and for Hindus it’s a very important temple. The complex consists of different buildings, especially the one with the 108 sources is worth seeing.
- You might be tempted to do a side trip to Dzonga, a village which you can see from Jhargot and Muktinath. However, this village is in the Upper Mustang zone, so you need a special permit. Apparently police does control now and then, and if they catch you without permit, they sometimes make you pay 70 $.

Day 3: Jhargot 3600m – Marpha 2500 m

- For me personally, this was quite a boring day, but not everyone agreed. The scenery is pretty monotonous along the river, with lots of rocks, very few trees or plants. I had a fierce headwind all the time. First you descend from Jhargot to Ekhlebatti for about 2 hours, then you backtrack to Jomsom for 1h45’. You’ll probably have a fierce headwind once you get in the Kali Gandaki village. In Jomsom I had lunch in the excellent Om’s House. This is also one of the beeter places to spend the night in Jomsom, altohugh it is a bit more expensive then a teahouse. From Jomsom to Marpha it’s again a 90 minutes walk, mainly along or in the riverbed. I arrived in Marpha at 3 pm, and it just started raining then.
- Marpha is a very nice and also photogenic village with white houses. Try to get up early to catch the early morning sunlight and to see the village waking up. This is a good advice for trekking in general. On top of that it had snowed during the night, so everything was covered with a layer of snow.
- I stayed at the Neeru Guesthouse. This looks the best place in town, with rooms around a courtyard and a big dining area. The food is excellent and the atmosphere was very good.
- You can get ozonated water and change money in Marpha and Jomsom.

Day 4: Marpha – Kalopani 2400 m

- This was a very interesting walk. I started at 8 am after a walk in the village. It is 90 minutes till Tukuche, again a very nice and photogenic village. From there we followed the riverbed all the time which gives excellent views on both sides of the river, especially on the Dhaulag

iri icefall. There’s also a trail on the right riverbank passing the villages of Karbang and Larjung but this is a bit longer. We arrived at noon in Koketani and had lunch there. Then it was a short walk to Kalopani where we spent the night. This is maybe a bit too early, and it is easy to walk another 90 minutes to Ghasa, but I followed the advice of Chris Beall to spend the night there and get up early for sunrise. This is supposed to be spectacular, but unfortunately I was unlucky with the weather.
- I stayed at the Pine forest Lodge, and how much I would like to recommend this place, it’s really difficult. The building is certainly impressive with a large restaurant, and also the rooms are large and clean. It was built by the Nepalese government and now serves as a hotel management school. At the time we were there, the staff was really helpless. Their English was poor, no hot showers, no cakes, the restaurant was freezing cold and we were the only guests. So for dinner, I went to the Kalopani Guesthouse next-door where I had met some people. It was definitely warmer, and the atmosphere was better with everyone sitting along 1 big table. Food however was just OK.

Day 5: Kalopani 2400m – Tatopani 1100 m

- We got up early to see sunrise, but missed it due to clouds. We walked for 90 minutes till Ghasa and had breakfast there. Ghasa is also a very nice village, so I guess it’s really worth spending the night there. There’s a ‘safe water station’ in south Ghasa. From Ghasa it took 4 hours to Dana through very nice scenery. The gorge becomes more narrow, the river wilder, the valley greener and you’ll pass plenty of villages. We had lunch near a spectacular waterfall.
- This was certainly one of the best days on the trail, but on the same time also pretty long despite the descent. If you’d stop in Lete instead of Kalopani, you could make it shorter.
- In Tatopani, everybody seems to stay at the Dhaulagiri lodge. This is definitely the best lodge we stayed in. Rooms without bathroom are in the main building (40 Rp) and with bathroom are 200 Rp and set in the nice garden with orange and lemon trees. Really marvelous setting. Everybody sits outside on the terrace eating and drinking. It is of course much warmer at this altitude. It’s a short walk to the hot water pools near the river.

Day 6: Tatopani 1100 m – Gorepani 2800 m

- As you can see from the altitude, this will be a difficult day, and indeed it was! You start with a 30 minute walk along the Kali Gandaki, the path goes up and down and you cross 2 suspension bridges. Then you come into a Maoist villages (there were some banners). From there you either continue straight to Beni (17 km), or you take left for a steep climb of 1 hour over steps. We arrived on the top at 9 am, you have a nice view over 2 valleys. From there it goes up gradually, with now and then a steep climb. We stopped at Shika for lunch at 11.30 am. After Shika it’s all the way up, and especially the last climb is pretty hard. We arrived in Gorepani at 3.30 pm. Always be careful around Gorepani as robberies have been reported in that area.
- Gorepani is a small village with some bookshops, souvenir stalls and plenty of lodges. We stayed at Sunny Hotel. They have doubles with bathroom for 300 Rp and without for 100 Rp. Those without had a bad smell of rotting wood. They have communal warm showers. The food is really excellent.
- We were unlucky with the weather since it was rather cloudy, so we didn’t go to Poon Hill, otherwise this should be a highlight of the trip. You could also go to ‘Superview Lodge’ to have breakfast on their sunny terrace.

Day 7: Gorepani 2800 m – Birethanti – Nayapul 1100 m

We left Gorepani at 8.10 am and arrived at Thirtedunka for lunch at noon. The steps from Ulleri to Thirtedunka are very steep, the descent takes 50 minutes. I can’t imagine doing this part of the trip in the opposite way, and most people do it in 2 days spending the night in Ulleri.

Conclusion

1) I think I had a good trip, considering I didn’t have the time to involve in a full scale trek of several weeks.
2) Days 1 2 4 and 5 were the best. We were a bit unlucky with the weather in Gorepani.
3) Total costs for this trip where:
- Annapurna conservation area permit 2000 Rp
- Flight Pokhara-Jomsom 67 $2 flights for Nepalese guide and porter 2 x 1120 Rp
- Fee for porter and guide 10 + 6 $ x 7 days + 50 $ tip = 162 $
- Spending 600 Rp per day = 4200 Rp
- Total 8420 Rp + 229 $ = 334 $