Himalayas Magazine – June 2019

36 | TRAVEL HIMALAYA SPRING 2019 http://www.travelhimalayamagazine.com

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Manaslu crossing the Larkye pass

has long been dismissed as the

poorer sister of the more popular

Annapurna Circuit trail. This is mainly due to

the fact that Manaslu has never been as famous

a mountain as Annapurna and up to a couple of

years ago there were hardly any lodges or tea

houses en-route. But this hidden gem of a trek

is a not to be missed as a classic Himalayan

trek. Nowadays, it is possible to trek the whole

route staying in local lodges or teahouses.

“Probably the best Himalayan trek I have ever

done”, “Nepal as it was 30 years ago”, “fantastic

classic Himalayan scenery”, are some of the

comments from a very experienced group of

trekkers I took round the circuit last year. I

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and absolutely agree with them - the culture

and way of life reminded me of how Nepal was

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Until a year or so ago the trek could only really

be done as a camping trek, but now there are

lodges along the route and new ones are being

built all the time. The tea houses vary in terms

of comfort and facilities and MCAP (Manaslu

Conservation Area Project), has run courses on

lodge management. You do need a special trek

permit for Manaslu but this is easy to get in

Kathmandu, you have to have a minimum of

two trekkers per group and every group must

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backpackers. This means the trails are quieter

than other more popular routes.

The beauty of this trek is its diversity and

the ever-changing landscapes - from tropical

lowland villages with rice paddies and banana

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forests and gorges to the upper regions of

Nepal, where there are only big mountains

and the scenery is wild and barren. Crossing

the Larkye La, the highpoint of the trek, huge

Himalayan peaks and glaciers surround you

before you descend again into verdant forests.

The people and culture change throughout

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Gurung mountain people while higher up are

those Tibetan Buddhist who emigrated here

centuries ago. along the way.

Last November I set off from Kathmandu

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experienced Himalayan trekkers. It was

a long drive to the start of the trek at

Arughat, and although the road is good for

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part of the journey deteriorates into a mud

track and our bus rumbled up and down

the hills - after eight hours we were glad to

leave the road and start walking.

One of the great advantages of this trek is

that it starts very low – below 1000m – and

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days are hot, it also means the trek is great

for acclimatisation. We started walking on

a new jeep track through Arkhet Bazaar

and on to Soti Khola (another reason to

do this trek sooner rather than later is a

jeep track being blasted out of the cliffs,

which will eventually spoil the trek). We

crossed the river to avoid the jeep track and

trekked through small villages to Lapubesi,

where a nice lodge and good food awaited

us. The next couple of days we followed the

mighty Budhi Gandaki River, heading north

on a roller coaster of ups and downs. We

passed through attractive traditional Hindu

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trees and wonderful fresh vegetables, many

of which appeared in our dinner. At Jagat

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here the houses were built of stone with

intricately carved windows and doors. As

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tempting views of the snow-capped peaks

MANASLU CIRCUIT & THE LARKYE LA