Annapurna Sanctuary in The Himalayas
Spend 17 days in the mountain kingdom of Nepal, now at peace with itself once again, and experience the exhilaration of classic international trekking with a visit to Annapurna Base Camp at 4,100m/13,500ft. Witness at first hand the indigenous way of life and sample Sherpa and Gurung hospitality in the many tea houses along the way. The itinerary also includes a full day at Base Camp itself to enable you to sample fully the sublime grandeur of the Annapurna Sanctuary, one of the Himalayas’ great places. Stand at the foot of the awesome south face of Annapurna, one of the world’s fourteen 8,000m peaks and the first one to be conquered in 1950. Learn about the famous early climbs, the triumphs and the tragedies, and get close to Machhapuchhare, the fish-tail mountain, one of the most beautiful of all Himalayan peaks.
This trek is based upon a 17-day itinerary of which 13 days are spent on the trek itself. During April, the Spring flowers are in bloom and the mornings are generally clear and sunny. Clouds can gather during late afternoon with the occasional thunderstorm, but our itineraries are planned to ensure we arrive at our tea houses before the threat of any rain!
After a full day in Kathmandu we take a short flight to the lakeside town of Pokhara for lunch followed by a short bus ride to the start of the trek. The route climbs north-westwards to the ridge-top village of Ghorepani from where a pre-dawn ascent of Poon Hill affords us a grandstand view of a Himalayan sunrise. As dawn breaks, the sun casts a rosy pink glow upon a wide vista of snowy peaks including Dhaulagiri and Annapurna, the world’s 7th and 10th highest mountains respectively. From Ghorepani we turn north-eastwards to Chhomrong the last permanent settlement in the Modi Khola gorge which we now follow to the Annapurna Sanctuary.
From here it’s a steady climb up the gorge towards Machhapuchhare, a majestic twin-topped chisel of a peak which resembles a fish tail from certain viewpoints and which guards the entrance to the Sanctuary itself. From the site of the 1957 British Machhapuchhare Base Camp, the Sanctuary begins to unfold. A short walk along a moraine wall brings us to a clutch of tea houses collectively known as Annapurna Base Camp. All around, precipitous slopes, steep rock buttresses and towering white peaks fill the view. In pride of place, immediately across a deep glacial trough, rises the mighty South face of Annapurna, first climbed by Chris Bonnington’s 1970 British expedition. Whether you stand and gaze at this awe-inspiring spectacle in early morning sunlight, or under a clear starlit night, the memory will linger long after you return. A full day here allows us to explore the area closely and for those who are willing, the option of a further climb towards the 5,000m/16,400’ mark and the snowline.
The return route follows the Modi Khola gorge back to Chhomrong before passing through Landruk to the road head and return to Pokhara for a well-deserved lunch by the lake. Having returned to Kathmandu, clients have the option of taking a short early morning flight to see Everest, an appropriate way of rounding off this quintessential Himalayan trek. For a detailed itinerary, see here: