Mardi Himal Base-Camp Trek Itinerary – Nepal

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Mardi Himal Base Camp, 4500 m
Kaski District

ABOUT:
Destination: Mardi Himal Base Camp
District: Kaski
Altitude: 4500m
Month: Mid October
Days: 3 to 4
Difficulty: 3/5
Budget: NPR 8k to 10k (From Pokhara & back to Pokhara)

 

THINGS TO CARRY:

*Main Gears Required:
-Trekking bag (50 to 60 liters)
-Trekking pole (1 or 2)
-Trekking Shoes or shoes with good grip
-Heavy wind-proof jacket & light wind-proof jacket
-Slippers
-Leggings or flexible pants
-Full sleeves t-shirts
-Gloves, Woolen Cap, Scarf, Sun-hat
-Rain Coat
-Torch
-Power Bank
-First Aid
*To Avoid Altitude Sickness:
-Garlic
-Ginger
-Gram Flour
*To Avoid Leeches:
-Salt

BUDGET ALLOCATION:
-Taxi from Pokhara to Dhampus: NPR 3500 (for entire group)
-Lunch/ Break-fast/ Dinner: NPR 400 below Middle Camp & NPR 500 above Middle Camp
-Lodge room: NPR 500 for a single room with multiple beddings.
-Mobile Charge: NPR 200
-Power Bank Charge: NPR 1000
-Hot Water per liter: NPR 100
-Jeep from Sidhing to Pokhara: NPR 8000 (for entire group)

The Mardi Himal Base Camp itinerary is simple and it can be accomplished in 3 days if you are an average trekker. I completed my trek in 60 hours. I’ll provide you the details as per my experience in this blog.

Before going into detailed information, below find the compressed itinerary about the Mardi Himal Base Camp. This can be a perfect guide for you. The itinerary begins from Pokhara and ends at Pokhara.

DAY 1: Take a taxi from Pokhara to Dhampus not later than 5:30 am. There are local buses available as well but not before 7 am, which can cause delay.
After around 2 hours of ride, you reach Dhampus. Begin your trek from there. After 6 to 7 hours of hike through the forest, you reach Forest Camp. This is the first night stay of your trek.

DAY 2: Begin your trek early in the morning not later than 7 am if you decide to take your breakfast there. If you skip breakfast at Forest Camp, you can start your trek not later than 6 am and have the breakfast in Low Camp which is 2 hours trek from Forest Camp.
From Low Camp, you will reach Middle Camp in another 2 hours. After that in another 1 hour you will reach Badal Danda. Then, after another 2 hours you are in High Camp. This is where you stay on your 2^nd day of trek.

DAY 3: To see the view you need to begin the trek super early in the morning. Start your trek at 3 am to 3:30 am in the morning. You can leave your luggage in High Camp and simply walk without any loads. You need to carry torch. After 3 hours you reach view point. Most people return from here as they see the same view from the base camp too. The base camp is after another 6 hours.
After you return from base camp to high camp, you can choose from two ways. Either return the same way you came, or take another way through Sidhing. From High Camp, it will require you 7 to 8 hours to reach Sidhing. From there you can take a local bus or reserve a Jeep to return Pokhara in 2 to 2.5 hours ride.

DETAILED ITINERARY:
There are several things one has to keep in mind while going on a trip that includes climbing hills for days. In Mardi Himal Base Camp trek, one has to have detailed information about the place, route, lodges, difficulties, equipment, gears, food, etc. that cannot be missed.

Mardi Himal Base Camp lies in Kaski district of Nepal. It is surrounded by Annapurna Himal & Machhapuchre. The base camp lies at 4500m altitude. The trek begins from Dhampus and ends at Sidhing.

It was Tika ko din, Dashami (8^th Oct.) when I took a bus from Ithari to Narayangarh as there was no direct bus to Pokhara on that day. From Narayangarh, I took a bus to pokhara and reached there on 9^th Oct. That day I enjoyed exploring Begnas Tal.

The next day was the day when the trip finally began. I took a taxi from Birauta, Pokhara and reached Dhampus at 7:30 am in the morning.

At Dhampus, I ate saatu mixed with milk tea. Carry saatu (gram flour) along with you as it can be a good source of energy. The trek began from Dhampus. The day was sunny (10^th Oct.) and the beautiful view of Annapurna and Machhapuchhre were easily visible. The route had a lot of trees and shades. As I’m scared of leeches, I was constantly checking my trekking shoes. I found one leech on my trekking pole and some on the ground, but gladly, none could stick on my skin.

Talking about leeches, the best thing is carrying salt. Sprinkle little salt inside your shoes which shall repel leeches. This time of the year is actually leech free but you should not take risk. Some of my friends got leeches on their feet that also made some painful scars.

The best part about the Mardi trek is the route and the directions. There are marks on either trees or stones on the way to the base camp from both routes (Dhampus and Sidhing). The mark includes sky blue line followed by white line. The white line is visible even in the dark.

On my way up to Forest Camp, I ate a packet of wai-wai, an apple, a snicker, few almonds, little bhatmas, and a cup of tea. I skipped lunch and I don’t know why my appetite was lost!

I reached Forest Camp at 4 pm in the evening. The room was already booked at Mardi Guest House. I had dinner there. The room was cosy. Well, the guest house was entirely packed. There are around 10 other guest houses too. Food contained rice, daal, chips, bhatmas achaar, soyabean aalu. It was NPR 400 per plate. The room was NPR 500 with three beds. Next day, early in the morning, after all the morning chores, took my breakfast for another NPR 400 in the same hotel which contained puffed bread, milk coffee, boiled egg, chana–aalu. Filling a bottle of 1 liter was NPR 100.

The day-2 trek began at 7 am in the morning after heavy breakfast and carrying same old load. The day-2 trek was quite difficult as the slope was more and the ground was mostly covered with stones. But as I had already walked for a day, I was adapted to carrying the load and walking. The day-2 trek was insanely beautiful. It had a lot of variations. It was forest mostly.

The ground was moist yet, there was no sign of leeches on the 2^nd day. I reached Low Camp in 3 hours.

There I didn’t take a break. Continued my trek then I reached Middle Camp where the view was astonishing. I was kind of hungry but I still had to cross Badal Danda to reach High Camp. At Badal Danda, I ate fried rice for NPR 430. The rice was stiff yet spicy so could eat. My appetite was lost but I managed to eat 50% of the fried rice.

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From Badal Danda, the trek continued. There were a lot of Horses on the way. The poor creatures are the only source of transportation there. They carry heavy stuffs like gas cylinder up in High Camp. It started raining and my raincoat came handy. It was nearly 4 pm when I made it to High Camp. My speed is more than this but I had to wait for my friends, therefore, it became late.

After reaching the High Camp, I went the lodge where the booking was made for the five of us – Double View Hotel. Unfortunately, because of many people, the lodge was packed as well. There was space available only in the dining room. More than 15 people stayed there along with me and my team. Dinner had rice, daal, soyabean aalu, bhatmas sadeko, salad, prawn chips, papad, and chilly fro NPR 500. It was wonderful in the evening as there was musical session. A famous band from Pokhara was there and they began singing and playing instruments. What else? I joined them and enjoyed and made it to bed at 10 pm.

Day-3 was weird yet amazing. My entire adventure lies on this day! It is funny, but I almost died lol.

I woke up at 2:45 am in the morning after less than 5 hours of sleep. After being fresh, consumed saatu mixed in hot water. It was super cold, had to wear heavy wind proof jacket along with gloves and woolen cap. The luggage was left behind as we were to return back to the same place while returning. It was dark and cold. Carrying a torch, the trek began at 3:40 am. The route was very difficult. This has to be the most difficult one out of all. There were several people on the way and you could see a route forming with the lights carried by people. Some of them were returning back as they suffered from altitude sickness. Some of them returned back because of fear. I was sucking ginger all the time to make myself warm. After 4 hours, I made it to view point. From view point, one can see Machhapuchhre, Annapurna, and Dhaulagiri. There I consumed ginger tea for NPR 250! This has to be the most expensive tea I ever consumed in my life!

After spending one hour there, I trekked further to reach base camp after 2 hours. The base camp had only one tea shop. That was the final destination of my trip! I consumed another cup of tea for NPR 150 & Rara soup for NPR 250.

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After spending another 1 hour there, I returned back. While returning, I took another route as the route I used for climbing from High Camp to Base Camp was tough. This made me return back to High Camp by 12:45 pm. There I waited for all my friends as I was the only one who returned back fastest. I had lunch which was just like dinner a day before for another NPR 500. The stay for five people only required NPR 500.

While returning back, I took the other route as recommended by everyone. It was High Camp to Sidhing. The estimated time to trek was 4.5 hours but it was a lie! None of the trekkers could complete that route with that least time. My friends were already tired and could not walk faster. As I had an important task in Pokhara the next day, I had to reach Pokhara that night. Therefore, I was focused and continued walking without taking any rest. From High Camp, I returned at 2:30 pm and reached Sidhing at 9:30 pm. Then took a Jeep back to Pokhara and reached Pokhara at 1:00 am in the morning. This is how my trek was completed.

I had carried power bank, it helped me keep my phone charged throughout my trip and save some money! I had carried a lot of foods like noodles, biscuits, bhatmas, coconut, almonds, chocolate bars, saatu, apples, etc. which helped me skip certain meals as well. You see, the budget can be varying depending upon how much you wish to spend. Moreover, as I’m a vegetarian I skipped meat in entire trip making my cost very less.

Most Important Things:
-If you are returning from High Camp through Sidhing, make sure you start as early as possible, not later than 12:00 pm. Else, you might find it difficult to walk in dark through the forest.
-Carry torch & power bank.
-You will not get any Jeep or local bus services after 4:00 pm in the evening which is a new rule.

The route was somehow dirtied by the trekkers. There were a lot of plastics and non-decomposes on the way to Base Camp. If you are planning to explore this place, please take your wastes back with you or do not carry such wastes! Be a good citizen.

Happy & safe trekking!
Aleena Rayamajhi
10/16/2019