Photography trek- Nar Phu Valley

Once you reach KTM airport and finish with the immigration and custom formalities, walk out of the Exit door into the passenger pick up area you will see hundreds of people with different sign boards. Please look for Hi On Life Adventures sign board. Once you spot it, walk straight to the signboard and identify yourself. From here we will take care of you.
When you arrive to your hotel you will be briefed about your activities and “do’s and don’ts” while your stay in Kathmandu.
In the evening we will go for a traditional Nepali dinner at Kathmandu’s finest Nepali restaurant to end the day.

After breakfast you will be taken for a half day city tour where you will be visiting some historical temples and monuments. You will end your sightseeing with a lunch.
After your lunch you will be return to your hotel and your Group leader will give you your trek briefing and issue you your ‘trek pack’ consisting of a duffle bag, down jacket, sleeping bag, inner liner for your sleeping bag and rain poncho.
Your afternoon is free for you to do your packing and purchasing your last minute items for your trek.

Early morning drive towards west from Kathmandu, following the winding road over the valley alongside the Trishuli River brings us to a small bustling highway junction called Muglin. Here we cross a suspension bridge and leave the East West Highway and continue on the Prithvi Highway that connects Kathmandu and Pokhara. After the suspension bridge over the confluence of Trishuli and Marshyangdi, we drive alongside the Marshyandi River towards Pokhara until we reach a town called Dumre which is 148 Kms from Kathmandu. On a clear day, the mighty ranges of Annapurna, Ganesh and of Manaslu are intermittently in view. Here we leave the Prithvi Highway and turn North and drive 36 kms on a narrow road to Besisahar. It will take us approx. 5 to 6 hours from Kathmandu to reach Besisahar.
Besisahar is a fairly large bustling town with plenty of tourist lodges and restaurants. This used to be the starting point of the Annapurna Circuit trek before the construction of the road. From Besisahar we need to change our vehicle to a 4 wheel drive jeep and drive alongside the Marshyangdi River on a dirt road for 42 kms to reach Chyamje. It will be a tiring day with a long drive specially the rough road from Besisahar to Chyamje, so we take an early dinner and call it a day early.

Right after we commence our trek after breakfast, we leave the jeep road and cross to the other side on a suspension bridge and start climbing stone stairways through a forest for about 2 hours with the river tumbling through a maze of large boulders. After reaching the top of the zig-zag climb, the valley suddenly widens out to reveal the village of Tal, which nestles amongst the fields of barley, wheat and potatoes. We have now entered the district of Manang. We will stop at this village for lunch. There is a beautiful waterfall in this village. You can take a bath at the waterfall while you wait for lunch.
After lunch we walk past the village along the bank of the river and cross a suspension bridge to meet the jeep road on the other side. An easy walk along the road passing several small restaurants and small Rainbow trout fisheries brings us to a village called Dharapani. From Dharapani we walk along the wide jeep road for an hour to reach Bagarchap (2160m), the first village on the trek with typical Tibetan architecture. Here we may observe firewood stacked on the roofs in preparation for the long, hard winters. Excellent views of Lamjung Himal 6983m, Annapurna II 7937m, and Annapurna III 7555m, can be seen towards the west and Mt Manaslu 8156m, Peak 29 7871m, and Himalchuli 7893m, can be seen towards the East. There are many apple orchards in this village and around this area. Our lodge for the night is in the midst of the apple orchard.

We begin with a gradual climb steadily through a dense forest. There are beautiful waterfalls along the trail. After 3 hours walk we reach Timang where we stop for lunch. Again breath taking views of Mt. Manaslu, Peak 29 and Himalchuli can be seen from here. After lunch we continue through the coniferous forest to an amazingly beautiful village of Thanchok. It is an old Tibetan style village with beautiful terraced fields and apple orchards. After Thanchok, we again meet the jeep road and an easy trek for an hour reaches Koto. Koto is a small bustling town with several lodges and a police check post. Koto is a junction for the Annapurna Circuit main trail and the Nar Phu Valley trek. Restricted area permits are checked for Nar Phu Valley. We stay here for the night.

Today we start early, as there is a lot of distance to cover. Right after the check post we cross the Marshyangdi River and enter the remote valley of Nar & Phu through a narrow canyon.
We trek through beautiful pine forest following the Nar Khola in the canyon, past small cave shelters and pilgrims’ resting places called Dharmasalas. We stop at one of these pilgrims resting place in the forest for lunch. The trail is narrow which is cut through near vertical rock massifs in the canyon. Emerging from this narrow canyon, the trail passes under a wide waterfall. Suddenly the forest becomes thinner and the landscape wider. The last stretch into Meta involves climbing a steep hill. Meta lies on a big open cultivated field and consists of a few lodges, which are simple but clean and offer good meals.

From Meta , the trail meanders along the ridge passing some of the unique, colorful Tibetan Buddhist chortens that Nar and Phu are famous for. The trail is easy following the contour and is marked by spectacular shapes of very old juniper trees and colorful bushes along the sides. This day in particular is very beautiful with huge snowy peaks to the East and dramatic arid landscape to the west and north. We stop at a small Khampa settlement called Chyaku. Chyaku is a large agricultural pasture where they grow barley and potato and keep goats and sheep.

An hour walk from Chyaku brings us to another beautiful Khampa settlement called Kyang. Beautiful views of the Annapurna II, dramatic rock cliffs and charming Khampa settlement of the sheep herders make this place amazingly picturesque. After Kyang the trail enters a narrow gorge and is cut through near vertical rock massif. After about 2 hours trek through this scenic canyons and gorges, the trail climbs steeply through dramatic rock formations to the entrance of Phu. From here, we can see the villages of Phu, the old “dzong” (Tibetan-style fortress) and the remains of two ruined forts, impressively situated atop the flatlands before the village.

Phu is one of the remotest villages of the Himalayas. The history is dated back 900 years and numerous conflicts between the Tibetans and the people of Phu has been recorded. A 3 day trek from this village takes you to the Tibetan border. From here you can also enter the Kingdom of Mustang via Saribung pass.
Today we spend an acclimatization day in Phu. We will explore the tiny alleyways of the town where the villagers are seen spinning their yak and sheep wool, women weaving carpets from yak wool, pounding mustard seeds into a paste for oil, or go about their other daily chores. We will climb up to the top of the village for breathtaking views of Mt. Kang Guru and Himlung Himal. In the afternoon we will visit an ancient Bon monastery.

We will retrace the route back down towards Meta, but turn off just before reaching Meta and descend steeply down to a fascinating bridge high above the narrow river cut gorge. From here we walk to the Nar Phedi monastery, which will be our accommodation for the night. In fact, the monastery is all that Nar Phedi consists of.
The rooms in the monastery are neat and clean. There is a small dining room enough for 15 people and next to it is the kitchen where we can watch them prepare dinner on a modest fireplace. At 5 pm they usually do a prayer ceremony, which we can witness. A small donation is expected for the maintenance of this beautiful place.

We begin our trek with a gradual climb, at times steep, winding up a hill towards Nar. We pass an array of wonderfully painted chortens on the way into the village of Nar. We arrive Nar at around lunch time. Nar is situated on the Northern flanks of the Pisang Peak. The village is situated on a large pasture and cultivated fields where they grow barley and potatoes. There is a beautiful monastery in the village. It is a very social and lively village where people are seen weaving woolen fabrics for rugs and blanket, working in their fields, small gathering of women chit chatting at the village water source an some busy with their daily chores. We will stay at a lodge next to the newly built monastery.

The trek is fairly easy and a very gentle climb on a vast almost flat valley bed. Spectacular views of Kang Guru is seen as a backdrop as we leave the village behind and Pisang Peak to the south. There are 2 tea shops just before we start climbing toward the pass. Here we will stop for the night to make the distance between Nar and Ngawal shorter.

Today is a long day, so get up before sunrise and head towards the Kang La pass. The trail climbs gradually and not too steep in the beginning towards the pass. Before reaching the pass we climb steeply on a zigzag trail until we reach the top of the pass. From the pass there are fantastic views over Annapurna II, Gangapurna, and Tilicho Peak all above 7000m. The trail down starts off steep on a loose scree for about an hour. Then it gradually becomes less steep and we reach a beautiful meadow with views of the Chulu range. Here we stop for a picnic lunch and give rest to our tired legs after the steep downhill. There are beautiful rock formations along the trail and pass by Milerepa caves before we reach Ngawal, on the upper Pisang route of the Annapurna Circuit. Milerepas are Bhuddist are yogis and poets who renounce the world and live in caves for meditating and writing poems that inflicts the deeper meanings of life. We arrive Ngawal in the late afternoon and stay at a relatively modern and beautiful lodge with wifi, hot showers and comfortable beds and delicious food. It is a nice lodge to relax after a hard days walk.

Today is a very scenic walk along the side of the valley towards Upper Pisang. Breath taking views of the Annapurna II and III dominates the skyline towards the south. Upper Pisang is a beautiful traditional village with a beehive cluster type houses, closely realted to Tibetan architecture. After a 3 hour walk sometimes through forest and sometimes in the open, we reach Upper Pisang where we stop here for lunch. After lunch we continue our walk to Dhukkur Pokhari (lake of the doves).
After lunch we will drive to Shiri Chaur in a jeep passing by the villages of Kota, Bagarchhap and Tal that we had walked through before entering the Nar Phu valley.
At Shiri Chaur, you can celebrate your last night party of the trek because the next day you drive directly to Kathmandu and there wont be a chance to say farewell to your staff.

After breakfast will drive to Besisahar which should take us about 2 hours. On reaching Besisahar, we will change from our jeep to our van and continue our drive to Kathmandu.
We arrive out hotel in the late afternoon. The evening is spent either with a farewell dinner of just take an early night after a tiring drive, and get ready for the final departure the next day.

Your Group leader will meet you at the hotel 3 hours prior to your flight time and drive you to Tribhuvan International airport for your departure.