Annapurna Community Eco-Lodge Trek provides a unique and close-up insight into village life in this beautiful area of the Himalayas. Mohare hill (3,300 m), offers spectacular panoramic views of the Annapurnas, Dhaulagiri and Machhapuchhare (Fish Tail Mountain), some of the highest mountains of the world, and forms a highlight of this trip. Trekking in a pristine and unspoilt area, you are unlikely to meet many other trekkers. Instead, you will meet the local farmers, yak herders and village people in the communities where you will be treated more as a guest than a tourist.

Accommodation is in community lodges that have been bui lt to provide the local community with all the benefits. The lodges are clean and built to blend in with the village. In some of the villages, as an alternative to the community lodges, you may be put up by a family in their home. This is a great way to get a close insight on how the local people live, and experience the culture and life of the community.

This trek is a model of a public-private partnership for the sustainable development of the village communities that lie along this trail. The trek helps to support the community in a real sense, ensuring most of the economic benefit stays with the local people.

Where are you going? 

Day 1:

Starting from Pokhara, you are driven to Galeshwor, where you start you trek. Heading up to Bas Kharka, you pass scattered farmhouses, climbing through forest and then orange groves as you approach this attractive village. You will have time to explore this Magar village, visit the local school and healthpost, and in season, enjoy the sweet oranges that grow on the hillsides here. (825m; 3 hours).

Day 2:

You head up through the forest to a little village where you stop for lunch. Overlooking the valleys, this is a get place to meet some of the local people and admire the views. After lunch, it is a leisurely walk on to Nangi, the village where you will spend the night. Here you can visit the school, see how the villagers make paper from the locally grown plants, visit a medicinal plant nursery, and a number of other income-generating projects. (2,250m; 4-5 hours).

Day 3:

Today you climb through beautiful, pristine forest, with stunning views of the mountains. Up on the top of Mohare Hill, you can see the Himalayas stretching as far as the eye can see, with close-up views of Machhapuchhre (Fish Tail Mountain) and Dhaulagiri. Surrounded by forest, don’t be surprised to meet yaks grazing nearby. There is no village here, but here is the highest wireless internet relay station in Nepal, providing internet to the remote villages for schools and healthposts that use tele-medicine, linking up with hospitals in Kathmandu to provide better healthcare in the villages. (3,300m; 6-7 hours).

Day 4:

A fantastic ridge walk, with marvelous views in every direction, you descend through forest to the secluded lodge at Danda Karka. The mountains here seem so close, you feel could reach out and touch them. (2,800m; 2 hours).

Day 5:

Continuing down, you pass through changing scenery as you go down to Tikot, a village of narrow lanes and beautiful houses. Here you visit the school and experience the Mayar dance tradition where the men dress as women, while the women sing traditional songs. Staying with families in their home, you get a close-up glimpse of village life in this fascinating and bustling village. Sit and watch the women carrying huge mountains of grass to feed their buffalo; see the children clutching their books on their way to school; see the villagers working in their fields. (2,300m; 5-6 hours).

Day 6:

Too quickly the trek is close to ending. From Tikot you descend a steep path down to Tipling, with amazing sheer views down to the Kali Ghandaki river below. After about two hours’ descent, at Tipling you are transported back to Pokhara. (900m; 2 hours trek and 3-4 hours’ drive)

Accommodation used on the trip

Accommodation on this trek is in community lodges that have been built by the local people from the communities where you are staying. These are built in an environmentally-friendly way, from local materials and using local labor. The local villagers run the lodges and the purpose is to ensure that the whole community share the benefits from the income coming from tourism.

Most accommodation will be on a twin-share basis, though occasionally you might be accommodated on a multi-share basis (sometimes in homestay accommodation). You will need to be flexible!

“Trekking in a pristine and unspoilt area, you are unlikely to meet many other trekkers. Instead, you will meet the local farmers, yak herders and village people in the communities where you will be treated more as a guest than a tourist. “