
The Majestic Mardi
Mardi Himal trek is one among the popular trekking trails within the Annapurna region. You can discover some of the breathtaking glacial valley and the hidden landscape of the Annapurna. You will find the harsh and slippery to slogging ahead till the Mardi Himal Base Camp. It may be your best way to discover the dazzling scenarios.
The best part of this trek by far is the fact that when I went we honestly saw 2 or 3 groups along the route. We only met the other groups at the tea house, low camp and high camp. To me it felt like an intimate experience because we were relaxing with owners, tourists and with other Nepalese group along with fire and music. The environment of the lobby of homestay was out of the world.
The trek can be started from many points, one of the recommended could be drive to Dhampus from Pokhara, which is about one hour drive. Your trekking begins from Dhampus. At this day, you will hike trek uphill trail about 2 hours to Australian Base Camp 2060m.,easy Nepali flat(easy up and down trail) to Pothana 1950m.(40 minutes from Australian Camp) and to Deurali 2100m.(an hour from Pothana) also depending upon how good you can walk.
Ahead from Deurali, there are no any villages or settlement and only limited camps for the tourist. The second camp could be forest Camp 2600m.( 3-4 hours from Deurali), Low Camp 3050m. (2-3 hours from forest Camp) or if you are a good walker then you can make it to High Camp 3900m.(2-3 hours from low Camp) in a same day. Ascending upward through the rhododendron forest with amazing views would be your company to overcome your tiredness and hard effort.
High Camp itself is a Shangri-La with mesmerizing views of mountains, hills, valleys and rivers. The next morning before the sunrise, you could hike to the Mardi Himal Base Camp (4500m) to see a better view of mountains and glaciers. It is about 3 hours steep walk but totally worth it.
After enjoying panoramic view from Base Camp, you will have to come back to high camp again. Here, you might want to grab a lunch and descend to low Camp or you might want to spend one more day to relax and enjoy the nature. From the High Camp, You can descend directly to Sidhing village.(1700m.) or you can further continue other treks like Annapurna Base Camp or Poonhill Trek.
You could camp at Sidhing, there are some homestays to stay. The very next morning, you can hike about one and half hours to reach Ghalel Village to catch a jeep to Pokhara.
Accommodations, Meals, Physical Strength
Himalayan Glacier will book the best available teahouse during the trek but understand that the trail of Mardi Himal trek is not as frequented by tourist as the Annapurna and Everest regions. Therefore the guest house facilities will very basic. Also note that single rooms are readily available in Kathmandu and pokhara but it might be very difficult to find them during trek.
During the trek you can enjoy the authentic Nepalese food as well as the more common international cuisine like Tibetan, Continental, Italian, Indian etc.
Trust me this is an easy trek suitable for passionate walker who have the ability of walk for around 4,5 hours a day with 5,6 kilos day pack. According to my experience exercising and jogging regularly before weeks prior for the trip is good.
At last, I must thanks and mention to all of my freaking awesome and may be the world’s best team (Pagal Basti) to travel with from Bhaktapur, kathmandu and khokana . I would say all the bag packers that Mardi is worth trekking destination. Join the team to undergo the exotic adventure in one of the most beautiful trekking destinations in the world. The Mardi Himal Trek presents you the experience of surrounding yourself in the ravishing vicinity of the Annapurna Region.
Leave a Reply