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My first trip to the Himalayas
was in March 1987, when I did a month long trip in Nepal with
Australian Himalayan Expeditions (now World Expeditions ).
We did an eight day trek in the Everest region, walking from Lukla
up to Thyangboche Monastery via Namche Bazaar, an eight day trek
in the Annapurna region from Pokhara to Ghorepani, a few days
amongst the wildlife in Chitwan National Park and sightseeing
around the streets and temples of Kathmandu. Some photographs
from that trip are contained below. Click on the thumbnails to
see larger images:
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| Durbar Square - Kathmandu. We spent a day in the city before the trek looking around the temples, shops and markets. |
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| A view of the Himalayas on the flight from Kathmandu to Lukla. At the back right of the photo is Mt Everest and its cloud plume. The spectacular 45 minute flight went over the Nepalese foothills and provided good views of the eastern Himalayas. |
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| Namche Bazaar - Everest region. This is a major Sherpa village situated at 11000'. Across the valley is Mt Kwangde. From Lukla we walked for one and a half days up the Dudh Kosi valley to Namche. We spent a day visiting the nearby Sagarmartha National Park Visitors Centre and the Everest View Hotel, which was very run down when we were there.
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| Thyangboche Monastery - Everest region (13000'). This place was the highlight of the trip. We walked from Namche to Thyangboche in cloud and snow and didn't see any views. The next day we awoke to a perfect morning in a snow-covered landscape with huge peaks all around.
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| Mt Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse and Ama Dablam from Thyangboche Monastery. We spent the day here admiring the awesome scenery.
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| Sherpas at Lukla village waiting for the aircraft to arrive. The 45 minute flight from Kathmandu to Lukla saves about a week of walking, but the weather makes the service unreliable.
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| Aircraft at Lukla - Everest region. We only got stranded for one day. The airstrip is situated on a sloping ledge at about 9000' with a mountain at one end and a drop into a valley at the other. On take off the aircraft goes downhill and out over the valley.
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| Early morning elephant ride at Chitwan National Park. After the Everest Trek we spent a few days at Chitwan Jungle Lodge down on the plains close to the Indian border. We saw monkeys, rhinoceros, buffalo, deer and peacocks, but no tigers.
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| Rhododendron forest. Dhaulagiri and Kali Gandaki valley in the background - Annapurna region. Our next trek started from Pokhara and headed west along the foothills up to Ghorepani, where we visited Poon Hill. The rhododendron forests were in full bloom at the time and provided a great foreground for the mountain views.
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| A typical campsite. The most important thing is the toilet tent, which gets a lot of use by all the trekkers. |
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| Annapurna South from near Gandrung village. From Ghorepani we headed back to Pokhara via Gandrung and Dhampus. The agricultural terraces towering thousands of feet up the hillsides were a feature of this area, while Annapurna South and Machapuchare dominated the view.
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| Seti River near Pokhara. As we neared the end of the trek at Pokhara we followed the trail alongside the Seti River. The Annapurna Range formed a fantastic backdrop.
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Contact "alanlevy at pcug dot org dot au"
for more information.