After a lovely week in Thailand, we caught a flight for Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. We had planned to spend at least a month in Nepal, and were planning to embark on at least two long treks which would lead us deep into the heart of the Himalayan mountain range. We started with the Khopra Trek two days after landing in Kathmandu. The Khopra Trek is a ‘less travelled’ 7 to 8 day trek that culminates at Khopra Danda, which is a small tea house (essentially a bare bones hostel) perched on a 12,000 foot ridge which leads up to the 23,684 ft peak of Annapurna South.
We started our trek in the Annapurna Conservation Area at a trailhead in the small town of Nayapul. With the peak of Machhapuchhare (literally, “fish tail” in Nepalese) visible off in the distance, we hiked up until we reached the village of Ulleri, where we spent the night in a busy tea house.
The next day we travelled on through fresh snow (from the storm that pelted the area overnight), rhododendron forests & grazing cattle to reach the little town of Ghorepani. The views of Annapurna South and Mt Dhaulagiri (which at 26,795 ft is the 7th highest mountain in the world) were beautiful.
