Hiking the Himalayas: off-season Nepal offers occasional mountain views and lessons with a ‘leechy stick’
A low-season trek in the Annapurna region presents encounters with few fellow hikers but plenty of Himalayan fauna, including rather too many leeches
The Kathmandu dust that flours my throat gives little indication that the monsoon season has arrived in Nepal. Nor does the brilliant sunshine that accompanies the eight-hour bus journey from the capital to Pokhara, the lakeside town that serves as ground zero for trekkers and thrill seekers in this part of the world. Even Raju, the guide who talks me through the options for a three-day hike before we settle on a whistle-stop up-and-down to Mardi Himal Base Camp, mentions the rains only in passing, advising me to pack waterproofs, beaming all the while.
Passport exchanged for the promise of a permit to enter the Annapurna Conservation Area first thing the following morning, I venture down to the water’s edge to watch the sun slip behind the forested hills that frame Phewa Lake. Couples and families promenade along the shoreline, silhouetted against the dusky pink afterglow, as winking fireflies dance in synchronicity, heralding the arrival of the night.
Raju is ready and waiting with the required paperwork at first blush. He comments on the cloudless sky, then introduces Bikram, the slight, attentive guide with a dazzling smile who has been tasked with taking me up the mountain.
We clamber into an old Mahindra, my head almost stroking the ceiling, and set off on a journey that pushes the four-by-four’s suspension to its limits. Eventually, the road triumphs and, with spinning wheels, we concede defeat, continuing on to Siding, the departure point for our adventure, on foot.
To call Siding a village is both generous and misleading. Perched above impossibly steep terraced hills, it comprises of little more than two tea-houses, both of which are devoid of customers at this time of year. We head for one, arriving in time for lunch.
