Her you will find holy men, wild animals, the highest mountains in the world and approximately 35 different ethnic groups, among the most known are sherpas and ghurkas.
In Nepal, you find 8 of the highest peaks in the world, and around 75 % of the surface is situated higher than 3000 mas!
The name of the country comes from the words Ne and pala. Ne is the name of a divinity and pala means preservation in sanskrit.
The name of the mountainchain connected with Nepal, Himalaya, is coming from the words him (snow) and alaya (home) consequently, "The Home of Snow".
Nepal is offering the best possible high altitude trekking environment!
My third trip to Nepal I made in April 1998. This time as a tourleader for a group of ten swedish trekkers. The target was to trekk "The Annapurna Circuit", which has been my dreamtrekk since the first visit.
Arriving in Kathmandu this time was almost as "coming home". The city was cleaner as the campaign "Visit Nepal 1998" had been going on for a long time and resulted in actions to give the city a "facelift". But it was as chaotic as usual. I love this city!
The first days we spent making excursions in the Kathmandu- valley.
We visited Bhaktapur, the Dakshin Kali-temple where animalsacrifacions can be seen twice a week. We also were lucky to see the annual Seto Machendranath-festival in Kathmandu before the trekk.
Our trekk started in a very adventurouess way, when I fell down from the top of the bus, on the trip between Turture and Besisahar. For a while I was hanging outside the bus but was lucky to climb up again, before the driver was able to stop the bus.
In the lowlands it was very hot with tropical vegetation. On the high altitudes occasionally very cold and desertlike conditions.
In the villages we met people belonging to different ethnic groups as rai, gurungs, thakalis, ghurkas and people with tibetan heritage. All of them very openminded, kind and fascinating!
We passed many exciting and beautiful places, as Manang, the holy Muktinath, Jomsom and Poon Hill, from where you can see more than ten high Himalayan- peaks in the morning sun. The view over Dhaulagiri, the 6th highest mountain in the world, surrounded by rhododendronflowers, is something you never forget.
Our highest point during the trekk was the pass Thorung La, 5416 mas, close to the tibetan border.
The trekk ended at Dhampus with fantastic views over the peaks Machhapuchhare (Fishtail mountain), Annapurna South and Hiunchuli.
After coming back to Kathmandu we were lucky to see the annual Rato Machendranath festival in Patan, which is even more spectacular than Seto Machendranath.
As the trekks in Nepal mainly are done on high altitudes they sometimes are rather tough and dramatic, but very rewarding. In the villages you meet different mountainpeople and the views with the high, snowcovered peaks is something you never will forget.
There is a big difference compared with the trekks I am used to do in the swedish mountains!
I will take this opportunity to thank our trekking agency Sports & Nature in Kathmandu, Mrs Nandini Lahe-Thapa and Mr C B Gurung, as well as our guide Ganesh, assistant guide Raju and all our porters (8 ), who all supported us to arrange and fullfill the trekk and made it to a lifetime memory.
"Visit Nepal - whenever!"
55 Window Castle.
Bakthapur
Potters square.
Bakthapur
The Kumar festival.
Pokhara
Mountain people
Holy man.
Muktinath
Landscape.
Muktinath
View from
Poon Hill
Rhododendron flowers
Sunset over Macchapuchhare
Farmer.
Manang
Newarwoman.
Kathmandu
The Rato Machhendranath
festival.
Patan
Holy temple.
Muktinath
Mountain village
