Nepal Far West Exploratory GHT
Nepal

You will be met on arrival at Kathmandu airport and driven back to the hotel.  Please provide travel plans on booking and we will arrange the pick-up and transfer.

This morning your leader will give the trek briefing and check your gear. We will collect your passports from you so that we can apply for the trekking permits. The rest of the day is free to explore Kathmandu and to pack your bags. You can leave a bag at the hotel with items not needed on trek.

We take the flight to Nepalgunj in western Nepal. There are good views of the Himalayan mountains from the right side of the plane. Nepalgunj is the largest city in the Terai with a hot and humid climate.

Important note: there is a safety risk to consider when flying on airlines in Nepal. For information about the aviation risk in Nepal read the relevant sections “Threat and Risk Assessment” and “Internal flights in Nepal”. Please get in touch with us if you would like to discuss this further.

After an early morning start, we take a flight to Simikot the main airport of the Far West of Nepal. After landing at the short takeoff runway we stay in Simikot for one night while the gear is arranged and sorted out for the trek.

We start the trek by leaving Simikot along the road. After 15 minutes we turn off onto a trail to the right then descend and walk around a ridge. We keep following the trail for about 1 ½ hours down to the Karnali river where we have lunch. It takes about 4 hours to lunch and a further 3 hours after lunch to get to Dojam Khola where we camp at the Gompa (monastery).

After breakfast, we visit the Gompa and then leave Dojam Khola where we soon start following the new jeep track. After a while the jeep track turns into a trail following the Chuwa Khola river. We walk through forest and contour around various river gullies and ridges. We cross the Chuwa Khola river twice before arriving at our camp in the forest at a place called Syamboyak. This is near the junction with the Tumling Khola.

Staying on the west side of the valley (left bank) we progress through the forest as we ascend in altitude. Along the way, we cross a number of ridges and gullies as we follow the main river. After about 2 hours the valley starts to widen and open up. We stay on the west side of the valley as we cross a tributary river on a bridge. Soon after start climbing several ridge lines and after 4 ½ hours arrive at the lunch spot in a grassy meadow by the river. If we are lucky we will see Nepal's national bird the brightly coloured Danphe birds and Griffon Vultures soaring overhead. After lunch, it takes about 2 hours to arrive at our camp. It is a good place to camp in a grassy area.

After leaving camp, we cross a side valley and follow a steep trail around two ridges. After about an hour we arrive at another camp that we used for our November 2022 trek. There is an easier trail to follow until a kharka and shortly after we climb up over a rocky shoulder and then descend into a wide valley. After passing through the rocky landslide to our left we arrive at our camp. As it is a shorter day of around 4 ½ hours of walking we have lunch after arriving at camp.

At Gurukpa the valley splits and we follow the west side of the valley along the Nying Khola. This is a wonderful day's walk on a less challenging trail than we have followed for the last few days. Along the way, we cross over several landslides on the left side of the valley. We will stop to enjoy the views, especially of the deep blue river. After about 4 1/2 to 5 hours of walking, we arrive at the lovely camp at Sumna near the riverside. The other side of the valley is fed by the glaciers in Tibet flowing down from the Chang La.

From Sumna, we follow a good trail sometimes rocky and sometimes on grass that crosses a few landslides to our left. After about an hour we climb up a large rocky area on the left from the first side valley. Following the valley easy walking crossing a few rock spills from the left. Following the valley, after about an hour we climb up a large rocky spill on the left from the first side valley. On the top of the rock we head left up the valley a little bit and then straight to cross the river via rocks, then head down back into the main valley. From there, we have various features to navigate such as small streams and the bends of the main river.

Before we reach the second valley we have a few streams to cross by hopping over rocks. After we cross the main side river which is a larger and a more tricky rock hop. From there we head up the side valley on a good dirt trail with zig zags and it is a good route to make the walking easier. After 45 minutes to 1 hour we enter the side valley and the steepness eases off. It is a further 45 minutes to camp on a grassy meadow with great views. The landscape starts to open up and with the scenery, we feel we are in a remote region of Tibet.

We leave camp on the right-hand side of the valley and follow a trail ascending steadily. We climb up and over a large ridge of grass and rock and then descend back down to the river in the valley. We follow the river while ascending gradually and after 1 ¾ hours the valley opens up. We continue along the valley on a good trail while following the river.  Further up we reach a point in the valley where the trail heads steeply up on a good zig-zag path with cairns marking the route. Look out for herds of Blue Sheep on the grassy slopes. At the top of the ridge, it is a 10-minute walk to the Nying La High Camp at an altitude of 5,150m.

From High Camp, we descend a short way in order to cross the river on an easy rock step. Then from here, we keep ascending on a switchback trail to the shoulder of the moraine in the main valley. We continue ascending and after about an hour we can see the snow patch of the pass, not that far away. After about 2 ½ hours from camp, we walked up the last slope to gain the pass. At the summit, there is a rock cairn and old prayer flags.

From the top, we do not descend into the obvious valley below instead we climb up to a cairn on the right-hand shoulder. This is a much easier route rather than the steep rock valley directly below. At the top of the shoulder, there are superb panoramic views in all directions. We descend on a path with switchbacks down to the shoulder into the hanging valley.

Sometimes there are patches of snow that we traverse across. At the top of the side valley, we can see our camp not too far away in the main valley (350m below and 500m along the main valley). In places, it is a steep and tricky trail down to the valley which takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour. There are some steep loose steeps on the trail but mostly it is a well-established trail. At the base of the slope, it is an easy 20 minutes to camp.

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From camp, we descend gradually following the valley floor. Soon we cross a steep rocky section over a landslide. Overall it is a pretty good trail interspersed with a few sections crossing landslides and a bushy brambly section to bash through. We continue to wander down the valley and after 4 hours we stop for lunch. After an hour we arrive at the start of Nying Pedi, this is a large flat area stretching for over a kilometre where we can choose to camp.

Today we continue our journey down the valley near the valley side. Sometimes we are on grass and other times on the rocky edge as the wet boggy valley floor would make walking difficult. In the past, at the end of the valley, we have met yak herders with many yaks from Halji in Limi Valley. It takes 2 hours to walk to the end of the valley and then up to a moraine shoulder onto a new path. The trail continues fairly flat along the moraine before heading down to a grassy meadow. From here the trail is good but steeper, rockier, and has more switchbacks before reaching the river. We stay on the right following the river you head up and around a rocky path carved out of a cliff, before dropping down to a grassy plain. Once across the grassy plain, we head for the sandy hills where we descend a steep sandy section with deep sand. After a few zig-zags on the trail, we arrive at a grassy meadow for lunch.

After lunch, we head off on a trail through bush to come around to the right to avoid the boggy centre and up on a short steep path to a plateau. It takes about ½ hour to traverse the plateau and a further 10 minutes to descend to a bridge and up to camp at Trakste.

We head off from camp, by crossing a dry streambed which is easy to cross. Then we follow a good trail up and around various ridges for 1 hour where we meet the jeep road. Walking partly on the jeep road but mainly on shortcuts to cut out the switchbacks. We walk around the big circular outcrop and then have a rest at a shelter with a blue tin roof. It takes about 2 hours from camp and there are incredible views. 

From here we take a short cut trail to the main jeep track. It is a long steady uphill to the top of the pass on the jeep road where there is a cairn and prayer flags. This takes about ½ hour from the shelter.  From the pass, we climb and descend across a number of small ridges until we finally can see the river valley where we will camp next to a new bridge (this means no cold river crossing). We arrive at camp two hours from the pass.

Today we walk up to a viewpoint of the sacred mountain of Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar. This is about a 7 1/2 hours round trip but it is well worth the effort. Mount Kailash is a holy mountain for Buddhists, Bon, Jains, and Hindus. Lake Manasarovar is known as the source of the four major Asian rivers. These are the Indus, the Sutlej, the Brahmaputra, and the Karnali which is a tributary of the Ganges.

From camp, we cross over on the bridge and walk to the shoulder generally gaining height until we reach the second river. We descend on a rocky trail to a bridge then back up to the shoulder. Then we have a long undulating climb up to a rock cairn on a ridge line taking about 1 hour from camp. From here we descend to the main valley and pick up the jeep track. We pass the red fuel tank and follow the track as we slowly gain height rising to a shoulder. It is then flattish and then we cross another shoulder heading for the skyline. After about 3.5 hours from camp, we head for the jeep track on the right. Once on it, we head around to the right and we saw a blue sign in Chinese and English saying we were in Chinese territory and to return immediately. We continue for a further 10-15 minutes for fantastic views of Mount Kailash and Lake Mansarovar. It takes about 4 hours from camp to the viewpoint and about 3 1/2 hours to return to camp. 

We follow Limi valley and to Halji village and the ancient Gompa of Halji. Halji is the biggest and most important village in Limi Valley.

In the morning, we will visit Halji Gompa and see its three prayer rooms. This monastery is a place of great beauty and it exudes a sense of peace and tranquility. The visit to Halji Gompa is one of the highlights of the trip. You can read more about its architecture in this article Halji Monastery - A Hidden Heritage in North-West Nepal

After lunch, we leave Halji and follow the Limi Khola River to the West. We start following the jeep track and after about 45 minutes we descend and cross to the left-hand bank of the river on a stone wooden pole bridge. After another 45 minutes down the valley, we pass a classic suspension bridge and cross the river shortly after on another classic stone and wooden pole bridge. We follow the river for 10 minutes to a clearing. From here we climb up to gain the jeep track and then soon after turn off to the right on a path and zig zag onto the top jeep track which leads to a stupa. There is a gradual climb up to another stupa and then we follow a flat trail into our camp near Til village. If you have time in the afternoon you can walk to the village and visit the Gompa.

After Til, we leave the barley fields and farmland behind we enter a more rocky and steeper valley trail now following the Humla-Karnali River. We start on the jeep track and follow it to the flag on the ridge. We walk through a series of hill traverses while gaining height to cross ridges. This is followed by the most significant height gain to the main ridge. This takes 4 hours of walking from camp to the top with prayer flags. This is a good place to eat your packed lunch. We descend on a steep rocky path with switchbacks before traversing a series of ridges and gullies. It takes three hours to the last ridge before a flattish traverse to meet the new jeep track.

On the way, we will hopefully visit a sacred meditation cave, Cha-sa Nam-ka Dzong. This is the meditation cave of Lotsawa Rinchen Sangpo, a well-known interpreter of Buddhist scriptures. This is an ancient caravan route from Tibet into the Limi Valley and we continue our upper valley traverse to arrive at our camp in Manapeme. Interestingly the camp gets its name from the Mani Mantra engraved on a large rock.

Today we walk on the jeep track road gradually gaining height to a high shoulder. After 3 hours of gentle climbs and traverses along the valley at around 4,000m, we can see Hilsa and the Chinese border down in the valley. After the prayer flags, we start to descend into the valley, and then steep switchbacks to drop the 400m to the river. After crossing the suspension bridge and a short walk to a guest house where we stay. It takes 4 hours to walk from our camp to Hilsa.

We will have an early start as it is a long day and to avoid the heat of the day. We leave Hilsa and pick up the old path on a ridge to cut off the swicthbacks of the jeep road. It takes about 45 minutes to walk up to the ridge to gain the top section of the jeep track. We follow the road and ascend up the valley side walking around ridges and sweeping sections to get to another road section of switchbacks. Again we take short cuts between the bends of the jeep track and then gain the last section trail to the Nara La pass. It takes 4 ½ hours to the pass from Hilsa.

We will have lunch on the pass next to large rock cairn with prayer flags. We descend on a steep trail to pick up the jeep track on the other side. Again we follow the road and take short cuts on the bends as we descend down into the valley. After about 45 minutes there is a steeper section through a kharka where we regain the jeep track. We then turn left on the main jeep road and follow for about 1 ½ hours to reach the small town of Yari. There is a red roof school and small gompa to the right of the road, and Yari is just 20 minutess pass that point. It takes about 2 ½ to 3 hours of walking from the pass to Yari. We camp in the courtyard of a teahouse lodge although use their dining room for meals.

Today we drive by jeeps from Yari to Simikot. After 2 hours we stop off at the Gompa for a break and then it is another 2 hours to Kemi where we stop for lunch. It takes another 2 hours to reach Simikot where we check into the Sun Valley Resort.

We have an early start for an early 1-hour long flight to Nepalganj in the lowland of the Terai. It is hot and humid as we are just a few miles away from the Indian border. If all goes well after a short break we board our flight to Kathmandu, with hot showers and cold beers.

Transfer to Kathmandu airport for the flight back home. End of trip.