Mardi Himal Trek

During your Annapurna region trekking, you will find plenty of food items to eat. Lodges have menu offering Chinese, Tibetan, Indian, Nepali cuisines including some continental food. Normally, you will have your dinner and breakfast at the lodge where you stay overnight while lunch will be served on the way where your trekking guide deems right for you. Eating Nepali dishes is a lot healthier and energetic that typically includes steamed rice and lentil soup aka Dal Bhaat along with local cooked vegetables like cabbage, green beans, carrots, potatoes, greens etc,. This powerful Nepali diet will be your basic lunch and dinner menu. Meat is readily available for non-vegetarian lovers. You may have Tsampa porridge, corn bread, buckwheat bread, barley bread or eggs & rice for breakfast. We suggest you to carry some energy bars, nuts etc. on your own in case you run into a situation where you have fewer options to choose from a menu.

Autumn in Nepal falls during the months from September to November while spring falls during March to May. These months have the best weather for trekking in the Annapurna regions. During these months, the skies are clearer than other seasons and you will be blessed with some of the most outstanding views of the Nepal Himalayas including the peaks like Annapurna and Dhaulagiri. During the winter and monsoon months, the trekking routes are quieter, and food and accommodation is much cheaper. Due to the inconsistency in weather conditions during these months, the views may not be as impressive as during the autumn and spring seasons.

Trekking to the base camp of the world’s tenth highest mountain Annapurna is definitely not as easy as one may think. It is a journey with lots of twists and turns, ups and downs and walking on different terrains. It does not involve technical climbing but having a prior hiking experience will do good while trekking. The trek gets harder as one keeps ascending to higher altitude. Any person with a strong body and a positive mindset, any level of trekkers can accomplish the trek without a problem. With increasing altitude, the air gets thinner and the possibility of altitude sickness increases. Each day of walking involves 12 to 15 km and 6 – 7 hours of trekking.

Yes, it is possible to trek in the Annapurna regions independently. But it is highly advised for those trekkers with prior experience of walking for a few hours every day. In addition, trekkers must be willing to carry their own baggage of at least 15 kg while trekking alone. Trekking without a guide would be the cheapest option to trek in the Annapurna regions but then, be ready to manage everything on your own including accommodation in the mountains, transportation to the trailhead and of course your meals. Nonetheless, if it is your first time in trekking in the Annapurna region, then it is best if you use a trekking guide for several reasons you wouldn’t regret later.

You will carry only important items required for your trek during the trekking. Any extra items that you have can be safely stored in our store room at our office or in our hotel. Your belongings will remain safe with us and there will not be any extra cost for storing your extra baggage with us.

You will carry your own luggage and backpack if you plan to trek independently. If you book your trip with us, we have not included porter cost in the package. However, if you require that your luggage should be carried by a porter and you are ready to bear the porter’s cost, then we will arrange a porter for you who will carry your luggage during the trek. But, you will be responsible for carrying you own daypack with all your valuable items, drinking water, camera, snacks and a medical pack.

In the past, there were no communication facilities until you returned to Kathmandu from trekking. But since the past few years, communicating with your relatives back home is not a problem at all from most of the places of the Annapurna regions, except from some places. While you are in Kathmandu, we suggest you to purchase a local SIM card, preferably NCell, and top up with certain amount of money. So, when you are walking in the mountains, you can talk to your friends or family, use internet facilities to upload photos of trekking and so on. Some lodges on the trek route also have Wi-Fi facilities for which you need to pay. Only some of the areas may face network problems due to which you may not be able to make phone calls or use your phone data to use the internet.

Your guide is a qualified, well-trained and an authorized person with a trekking license from the government of Nepal. He speaks English fluently and is also first-aid trained with an ability to handle almost any situation while trekking in the mountains. Some of the porters are also able to speak English fairly enough and all our guides and porters are fully insured.

A majority of the teahouses on the Annapurna trekking route have squat type of toilet facilities. In the recently built teahouses and lodges they have western style flush toilets due to the increasing flow of tourists in the Annapurna trail. However, at certain places, there may be shortage of water so it is advised to carry your own toilet paper and other toiletries.

Although it is not really necessary for you carry your sleeping bag, but we do advice you to carry one as sleeping at altitudes above 4000m during cold months could be really cold. The guesthouses at various places do provide blankets in the rooms but it may not be sufficient to keep you warm. If you do not have your own sleeping bag, we will arrange it for you to rent from some rental outlet at a small cost.

You can expect to have only about 3 – 4 showers during your trekking trip. Showers are normally the traditional hot water bucket showers that are available on request at an extra cost. It is not necessary to have shower at higher altitudes and our guide will provide tips on how to maintain personal hygiene during such times.

No, unfortunately there are no ATMs on the Annapurna trekking regions. Trekkers have to draw sufficient cash either from Pokhara or Kathmandu itself which have hundreds of ATMs. Every transaction in Nepal is done in Nepali rupees so you are advised to carry enough Nepali rupees bearing small denominations so that purchasing stuffs in the mountains is easier.

Teahouses and lodges in the Annapurna trekking regions provide filtered and boiled water, the major sources being taps, streams, and rivers from the Himalayas. Although it is possible to buy bottled mineral water at most of the teahouses on the trails, we do not encourage our fellow trekkers to use plastic bottles as they are not environment friendly. On the contrary, we recommend that you carry purifying agents like SteriPen UV, chlorine, iodine tablets or other purifying agents for environmental reasons.

We advise you to wear a comfortable pair of shoes that is previously broken in case it is newly purchased. Previously broken shoes will avoid your feet from getting blisters while walking. We normally recommend shoes with Gore-Tex style lining as it provides ultimate comfort and has thicker soles thereby making your walking experience on rough terrains a pleasant one.

Rainy seasons in Nepal fall during the months of June to August. During rainy seasons, the rainfall makes the trails slippery and less relevant for hiking. However, the trekking route remains less crowded and one can enjoy beautiful views of the Himalayan ranges and a wide variety of flora and fauna. Therefore, it is possible for you to trek during the rainy seasons or winters for a quieter experience with fewer trekkers on the trail.

Female tourists are subjects of esteem whether traveling alone, in pairs or as a couple. By and large, Nepali men are courteous and defensive of solo women travelers. There will be exemptions of course, but for the most part, there is no lack of enthusiasm related to traveling as a solo woman in Nepal. Nevertheless, for a solo woman or even a solo man, it is always wise to take a guide with you especially if it is your first trekking experience in the Nepal Himalayas. Overall, Nepal is safe for solo travelers where one can enjoy the companionship of other lone trekkers along the trail sharing the same passion.