The Mardi Himal Trek is a newly opened route and hidden beauty in the Annapurna region. This trek is the best destination to avoid the crowd, which is not far from the Pokhara city too.
located just east of the Annapurna Base Camp Trek, Mardi Himal trek offers spectacular views of Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Machhapuchre and Manaslu ranges. Visiting Siding and Lwang villages gives you to the local cultural experience of this trek.
The Mardi Himal trail winds along small ways through ancient hemlock and rhododendron forests, till you climb out at around 3300m. Here, the landscape changes quite suddenly with wonderful views of Mardi Himal, Machapuchhre (Fishtail), Annapurna South and Hiuchuli.
From High Camp, you’ll be able to reach in around 3-4 hours to Mardi Himal Base Camp (4250m), which offers spectacular close up views of the whole Annapurna range. There’s also an excellent viewpoint approximately two hours from High Camp.
Best Time to Trek Mardi Himal – Seasons
September – October – November is Autumn Season: this is Nepal´s peak and the best time to go trekking. March – May is known as the second-best season of the year to go trekking. December – January – February: the skies are clear but it can get very cold and there is a risk of passes being closed due to snowfall in the high passes.
May – June: This is Nepal´s hot pre-monsoon season and it may get very warm in the day indeed. The valleys however are starting to bloom with flowers though green leaves come up, still a good time to trek.
June – early September (Summer): This is Monsoon season and the least popular time to go trekking in Nepal. The risk of leeches, downpours increases greatly. Due to the early forested areas leeches at this time of year in Mardi Himal are quite active! Wear long trekking trousers tucked in at this time of year.
Upon your arrival in the Kathmandu airport after completing your custom formalities Visa, etc. pick up your luggage and look for our airport representative from Himalaya Discovery, who will display your name on the board at the arrival gate. You will be greeted by our representative and transferred to your hotel.
Pokhara is located about 200km from Kathmandu and the tourist coach takes about 7 hours to get there. The drive mostly fallows along Trishuli River side enjoying the view of landscapes. But If you prefer not to spend 7 hours on the way, then take a flight to Pokhara which is 25 minutes only. In the Evening, you may take short stroll around Pokhara city and overnight at a hotel in Pokhara.
After breakfast, we drive one hour to Kande and commence our trek to Pothana at the elevation of 1810m. The trail is steep until Australian Camp and pleasant easy walk up to Pothana. Overnight at guesthouse.
From Pothana you walk up to a place called Pitam Deurali where you will turn off the main Annapurna Base Camp trek and continue along a quiet trail through a dense forest of oak, maple, hemlock and rhododendron. Tonight, we stay at one of the lodges in a clearing of the forest at Forest Camp or also known Kokar by locals. There are 3 guesthouses with woodfire places. Overnight at guesthouse.
The trail continues from Forest Camp to Low Camp through the forest however as we ascend the vegetation starts to change with more rhododendron and the trees are covered with moss, lichen and tree ferns. At Low Camp, there are 5 lodges with woodfire places. From Low Camp superb view of Mount Fishtail with a green valley. Overnight at guesthouse.
After breakfast, the trek continues along the Mardi Himal ridge mainly on grass with some isolated rhododendron bushes along the way. Look out for the colorful Danphe pheasant
on this section of the trail. Towards the west there is a good view to Annapurna South and Hiuchuli. The guesthouses at High Camp is bigger than guesthouses at Low Camp and Forest Camp with woodfire places, there are 6 guesthouses. From High Camp excellent views of Annapurna South, Hiuchuli and Machhapuchhre (Fishtail).
Today is to wake early for the sunrise view of the Himalayas, then after an early breakfast hike up to Mardi Himal Base Camp of course if you want! There is a well-established trail through the grass with a couple of steeper sections however overall not too challenging. Look out for the yak/ cow crossbreds’ grazing up here as well as Danphe pheasant. In the summer season, the sheep and goats from lower villages Siding / Kalimati are brought up to graze in this area so you will pass a number of herder’s huts along the trail. After three hours you should reach Base Camp at the elevation of 4250m this is where one can look into the Annapurna range and the panorama view is spectacular looking at the south face of Annapurna and all of the peaks in the Annapurna. Overnight at guesthouse.
Today trek back until Low Camp then we take a different route to complete a circuit, from Low Camp there is a trail that goes down to Siding village rather than going back down Mardi Himal back to Forest Camp. Siding is a traditional local village and still very much away from the busier modern tourist treks. From Siding drive back to Pokhara. Overnight at hotel in Pokhara
Today, we drive back to Kathmandu. It will take about 7 hours, overland journey by tourist coach. And the gentle light brings us on our way back to the bustle of Nepal’s capital. In the evening we will have a farewell dinner in a traditional Nepalese restaurant with cultural performances.
Chhiring Sherpa
