Annapurna South (7219 mt) from ABC
The information provided here is based on my travel in October 2024. Things might change in future. Please check the current status of the routes and rates etc before you go. Also, this information is valid for Indians only. Western tourists might have other requirements in terms of permits and their costs etc. All prices quoted are in Nepalese Rupee unless otherwise stated.
25th October 2024
I have just come back from a trek to Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) in Nepal. We organised the trek on our own without the help of any agency or any group. We were three of us who went there. The main research was done by Aditi, my ex-colleague, who accompanied me with her son Aditya. Our 3-member team had a porter Sanjay BK of Ghandruk village (I am not sure it should be called a village any more because it looks more like a small town full of hotels and very narrow lanes).
I am starting off with a day by day break up of the trek so that it is easy for you to plan your journey. After that I will give some advice about what all mistakes we made so that you don't make those mistakes. After that I will give a detailed day by day experience of the trek. Some other information like what to take etc will also be given.
Itinerary
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| The ABC route with all the stops and time taken to walk. The average walking time between two points is mentioned in hours. It is quite accurate for most of us (unless you are very fast or slower than me). |
Day 1 (14th October 2024) - Board Mithila Express from Howrah to Raxaul. Train started at around 4 pm
Day 2 - Reach Ruxaul in the morning at around 8 am. Take a toto from the station to the Indo-Nepal border. Take another toto to Birganj bus stand. On the way do the currency conversion on the Nepal side and buy a local SIM card. Rate was Rs 1.6 NC (Nepali currency) for Re 1 IC (Indian currency). SIM card was Rs 400 for seven days with unlimited data. Board bus from Birganj bus stand that started at around 10 am. We reached Pokhara's Prithivi bus stand near China Pool at 8 pm. We checked into hotel A-1 on 9th Street in the Lake Side Area which is about ten minutes by taxi.
Day 3 - Get the permit from the permit office (it was walkable from the hotel). You need to fill up the form with two photographs. Two copies of a self attested identity proof. I gave voter ID card. Aadhaar is also accepted. You have to show them the original also. They will issue a permit with your photograph on it. This is a very important document to be kept with you at all times.
Take a taxi from the hotel to Banglung bus stand and board a bus to Ghandruk. We reached Ghandruk by afternoon (3/4 hour journey). The bus goes via Nayapool and Birethanti etc. We were dropped on the road about 1 km outside the Ghandruk town and the bus went to some other nearby village. Therefore, make sure before boarding the bus that it is actually going to the Ghandruk Bus Park (that is what they call a bus terminus). We never knew this and had to trek this distance with our full load.
We checked into hotel Cloud 9 @ Rs 1200 per head per day. We organised a porter Sanjay BK who is from Ghandruk and offered to go with us carrying our luggage. He is not a professional porter and later we found out he did not even know the way. But he was very nice and never ditched us in any way or try to scam us etc. He is a little cracked in the head but a nice guy.
Day 4 - We walked from Ghandruk to Chhomrong via Jhinu. More than half of this trail is over jeepable road. There is another route to Jhinu but we took the more straight forward route. We lunched at Jhinu (Rs 800 per head for daal bhaat and sabzi) and reached Chhomrong's hotel New Destination in the afternoon. This is the last hotel in the town and well below the Buddhist Gompa there. Before the Gompa, there is a checkpost to register yourself and show your permit. The gentleman there can speak a little broken Bengali.
Day 5 - Today we walked from Chhomrong to Dovan and stayed at hotel Destination ABC. On the way came Lower Sinuwa, Upper Sinuwa and Bamboo where we had our lunch. The Dovan hotel was also the last hotel of the village.
Day 6 - Today we walked from Dovan to Machhapuchhare Base Camp (MBC) via Himlaya and Deurali where we had our lunch. Here the owner took payment in IC and even exchanged some IC into NC. But he accepts only 100 rupee Indian notes. Not 50 or 200 or 500. Only 100. We wanted to stay in Deurali but had to push forward as there was no room in the limited hotels there.
Day 7 - Today we walked only two hours to reach ABC. Stayed at Hotel Sunrise. Just at the mid-point there is a beautiful small lake on the right hand side where one can see the reflection of the mountains.
Day 8 - Today we walked down from ABC right upto Lower Sinuwa's Hotel Preeti. We walked for 12 hours. Morning 8 am to 8 pm, the last two hours being in the dark with a torch. Lunch was taken at Himalaya where they accepted Rs 200 notes from India. We should have ideally stayed back in Bamboo but we had no bookings.
Day 7 - Today we walked from Lower Sinuwa to Jhinu. Crossed the birdge to Samran and took a reserved Sumo to Ghandruk. There is no shared jeep available for Ghandruk. Only Pokhara jeeps are available on share provided there are enough passengers. It cost us Rs 2500 for the short but very rough journey. In Ghandruk we stayed at Nice View Hotel which is just near the bus park. The rate was Rs 1000 per head per day (shared bathroom). This is a very nice hotel and recommended for its convenient location and excellent view of the mountains from the rooms.
Day 8 - We took a morning 8 am bus from Ghandruk to Pokhara. Reached Banglung bus park at 11 am. Took a taxi to the same hotel in Pokhara.
Day 9 - The hotel owner was going to the bus stand side on his motorcycle. We asked him to book the evening AC bus ticket for us. We reached the bus terminus at 6.15 pm. Bus started at 6.45 pm. Reached Birganj at before 5 am. Extremely loud movie was played in the bus for 3 hours. We took a tonga from the bus stand to Nepal gate and another toto from the Indian side as the border on both sides were closed so early in the morning.
Spent 4/5 hours in the waiting room of the station. Had breakfast at the Food Plaza outside the station. Boarded the Mithila Express at 10 am.
Day 10 (24th October 2024) - We reached Howrah at around 4 am. Took a taxi and came home.
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| List of hotels with their phone numbers on the trail as in October '24 |
Our Learnings - Don't Make These Mistakes
1. Do a proper calculation of all the money that will be needed for the entire trip includng all the bus/taxi fares, hotel costs, guide costs etc and convert all your Indian currency to Nepali currency from the border itself in one go. Don't try to change it at the Pokhara Lake Side money changers or elsewhere. They don't entertain IC. Even if they do the rate is much less than at the border. Money changers operate on both sides of the border at Ruxaul/Birganj. I got Rs 1.6 for Re 1 at the border and Rs 1.5 in Pokhara. Most of us are not used to carrying so much of cash any more. But it is quite safe here. We saw only a few restaurants on the trail where they accept credit cards. We did not try them as we were unsure of the exchange rate we might get. Also these restaurants looked very expensive.
2. Carry only Rs 100 IC notes and preferably crisp new notes. Hardly anyone in the mountains accept any Indian currency. Some do but they generally insist on crisp Rs 100 notes.
3. Near the bus stand in Birganj you will be mobbed by touts who will put you in a Deluxe bus. Avoid it. Deluxe buses are ordinary local buses. Go to the office of any of the bus operators and buy an AC bus ticket. It is slightly more expensive but it saves you from all the dust of the road journey. Also the AC buses are much faster as they don't stop on the way as frequently. Deluxe buses stop every now and then. In an AC bus you avoid the dust of the road which is substantial.
4. Do not travel between Dussera (Nepalis call it Dassain) and Kali Puja/Diwali unless you are going with an organised trek operator who takes care of the hotel bookings. This is the peak holiday season for Nepalis and a huge number of young Nepalis trek these days, putting tremendous pressure on the limited hotel rooms in all these destinations on the trail. So if you are forced to travel during this period try to book the hotels well in advance. Otherwise you might be stranded and may have to sleep in either the kitchen or in the godowns etc.
I asked the check-post official in Chhomrong. He said on an average every day some 500 trekkers go towards ABC. Presumably the same number comes back. Therefore on any given day you pass some 1000 tourists. Plus their porters and guides. It is an endless stream of tourists on either side. And they are from every corner of the world. We met many other Bengalis, Bangladeshis, Chinese, Taiwanese, Koreans and Western tourists, not to speak of the Nepali trekkers, who were possibly most numerous. We didn't meet very many Indians from other parts of our country. The best trekking season is apparently after Diwali or in April/May.
5. We bought NCell SIM from the border that worked fine for seven days but NCell did not work in the higher points of the trail (for calling). The hoteliers there were using some other SIM cards. I think T-Cell or something.
And after 7 days when you recharge (I did it at Ghandruk on the way back) with Rs 110, you get only voice call facility within Nepal or to India. For data you have to buy it online through the phone. I could not understand how that works. Therefore, from Ghandruk to Birganj I didn't have access to data except when in the hotels where they give you free wi-fi as part of the package.
When you are walking in the trail there is no data in your phone anywhere but the hotel wifis are fairly good.
6. We chose the package system during our stay at the hotels. This means they charge you a fixed rate per head per day. This gets you a bed (usually a dormitory with multiple beds in a small room), food (very basic dinner and breakfast and two cups of tea), charging your devices and wifi. If you take a-la-carte then everything becomes chargeable and they are quite expensive. The package rates varied from Rs 1000 to Rs 3500 per head per day. At ABC only one device is allowed to be charged free under the package system. The hotels in the lower villages are not so strict about use of electricity.
7. Porter's food is charged at a lower rate - generally Rs 500-700. His stay is free. He is also given free wifi and you could share it from him secretly.
8. If you are in a group of 5 or so, you could perhaps book a taxi from Pokhara to Samrang (on this side of Jhinu) and walk to Jhinu for the night. We started from Ghandruk but while coming back we booked a taxi upto Ghandruk.
9. If you can, please carry a camping stove and basic utensils to cook your own food/coffee on the way. The saving is substantial.
10. Just before reaching MBC where there is a board mentioning this is MBC, there is a steep stair case going directly to MBC and a left lane that goes straight to ABC. You can take that route also to reach some of the higher hotels of MBC. In case it is very foggy and raining you might miss those hotels. So better to take the stair case to reach the first hotel of MBC. This stair case is fairly obvious and you cannot miss it.
