Kilimanjaro | The Lemosho Route with South Col

A South Col team will be attempting to climb Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa and one of the seven summits in the fall of 2021.

There are seven routes to the summit and the climb be done in as little as five days (with major altitude issues) upto 9 days.  We are planning to do a conservative eight day climb, most probably by the Lemosho route.

This is a longer, more remote route on Kilimanjaro and allows  for optimum acclimatisation time for the summit itself.As the highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kilimanjaro makes up one of the Seven Summits (i.e. highest mountains on each of the seven continents). The additional time on the mountain means that success rates for  the Lemosho route trekkers are relatively high.

Approx. 35,000 people attempt to climb Kilimanjaro every year. The chances of reaching the summit of Kilimanjaro is highly dependent on the number of days taken to trek the mountain.The more days, the higher the probability of success as your body has more time to adapt and acclimatize.Here are the success rate figures as published by the Kilimanjaro National Park. These numbers are admittedly quite old and success rates are most likely higher as route configurations have improved and the number of people taking 5 day treks has almost ended.

• All climbers, all routes 45% (we estimate this figure is closer to 65% today)
• All climbers, all 5 day routes 27%
• All climbers, all 6 day routes 44%
• All climbers, all 7 days routes 64%
• All climbers, all 8 day routes 85%

The details of the Lemosho Route are given below:

Bhutan to charge Indians Rs 1200 per day Sustainable Fee

Bhutan will now impose a “sustainable development fee” (SDF) on Indian, Bangladeshi and Maldivian tourists, making visits to the Himalayan nation more expensive. The decision has been taken to protect the ecology and environment  of the country, amid a spike in visitors from India.

So far, tourists from the three countries had been exempt from a levy that other foreign  nationals had to pay — $250 per person per day during the peak season, and $200 per person per day during the low season.

The low season is in the winter from December to February, and during the rains from June to August.

The new legislation, titled “The Tourism Levy and Exemption Bill of Bhutan 2020”, passed in Bhutan’s lower house on 4th February 2020, requires visitors from India, Bangladesh and the Maldives to pay a fee of 1,200 ngultrums (Rs 1200.17) per day, probably from July 2020 onwards.

Mardi Himal Trek | Nepal | March 23-30 2020

HIGHLIGHTS
The Mardi Himal is a relatively new route in the foothills of Annapurna and has developed into a full scale trekking route in the last few years. It now has a series of lodges at different camps and for a short five day trek rivals the traditional Ghandrung-Poon Hill loop. It has great views reaching almost to the bottom of the Fishtail Mountain Macchapucchare along with Annapurna South, Huinchuli and Gangapurna.

Suitability: A good choice for most  walkers, reasonable level of fitness required.

Walking times: average 5 to 7 hours walking per day

Altitude: up to 3550m at High Camp.

Terrain: for most of time following well-travelled trails, there will be daily ascent and descent on steps which are part of any Nepal trek.

 Remoteness: usually not too remote and often there is a reasonable level of infrastructure such as lodge accommodation and cell/ mobile phone reception and wifi reception every day at the lodges.

Kangchenjunga White House | Khambachen Nepal

Nupu Sherpa who runs the lodge

A South Col group trekked the Kangchenjunga North Base Camp in November 2019. One of the nicest lodges we stayed in was the Kangchenjunga White House run by Nupu Sherpa. The lodge has some very nice clean cottage rooms, a sunny and warm dining area and  is a good base to visit Jannu Base Camp and the surrounding valleys. We stayed for two nights which is also useful for acclimatisation but a third night maybe on the way back is also an option if you have days to spare.

Ghandrung - Ghorepani - Poon Hill Trek | Updates December 2019

A South Col team trekked the Annapurna foothills in the last week of December 2019. Our route was Pokhara-Kande- Australian Camp- Pothana- Tolka- Landrung-Ghandrung- Tadapani- Ghorepani- Poon Hill- Banthanti-Ulleri-Hillay-Birethanti-Pokhara.

Some useful updates from the trek.

• The road from Pokhara to Nayapul and Birethanti has now been pushed up beyond Ulleri to lower Banthanti. Though we did not see any jeeps on the road we were told by the locals that the road is ready and jeeps can be hired from Pokhara to drive up to Banthanti. We fear that the road will reach Ghorepani in the next one/two years thereby ending another beautful trek. Many would not want to continue to climb or descend the 3280 steps. 

Kangchenjunga North Base Camp Trek Pangpema | Route and Timings Part II

Jannu and Sobidonge at sunset from above Kangbachen

A South Col team trekked to Kangchenjunga North Base Camp Pangpema in November 2019.
For details of the first part of our journey do visit  https://sujoyrdas.blogspot.com/2019/12/kangchenjung-north-base-camp-pangpema.html
This is the second and final part.

November 16 2019 Ghunsa to Kangbachen 11.5 km
We left Ghunsa at 7.30 am on a cold morning with the temperatures well below zero Celsius. Ghunsa must be one of the coldest places in the Himalaya with an altitude of only 3415 metres primarily due to the limited sunshine hours just five and a half hours in November. The trail travelled north past the hospital and in around 45 minutes reached a log bench with prayer flags.  For most of the way the trail meandered through rhododendron forests which would be a riot of flowers in the spring season April - May. It then dropped to a landslide section in 15 minutes and then skirted the river. Looking up due east in about an hour and a half we could see the peak of Khabur above us. The trail then crossed a second landslide section in about 2 hours with a log bridge across a stream.

Kangchenjunga North Base Camp Pangpema Trek | Route and Timings Part I

A South Col Team trekked the North Pangpema Base Camp of Kangchenjunga in November 2019. The details of the trek with day wise itinerary and timings are below.

HIGHLIGHTS

• The start of both the north base camp trek and south base camp trek had rough jeepable roads for fair weather use. For our detailed post of these roads do visit  http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.com/2019/12/kangchenjunga-trek-nepal-north-and.html
• Lodges are available on the trek but these are basic below Ghunsa and also have few beds. In case you are a large group (8-10 persons) during season time April and October  you may be better off camping. Above Ghunsa the quality of the lodges improve dramatically and is some of them you can get attached toilets. There are also many more lodges.
• Phone connectivity is there in some of the locations – only Nepal Telecom not Ncell.
• There is no wifi available on the route excepting at Ghunsa Hospital.
• The trekking numbers are also  low – from the Kangchenjunga Conservation Area Project records for 2019 I found that the spring season March to May 2019 had 202 trekkers while the autumn season September until 20^th November 2019 had 634 trekkers out of which October alone had 407 trekkers. In comparison the Everest route has around 45,000-50,000 trekkers in a year!
• The approach from Kathmandu is usually through Bhadrapur airport a 45 min flight and then a long drive from Bhadrapur to Taplejung. There is an airport at Suketar but the thrice a week Nepal Airlines flight is not very regular and is often cancelled.
• There has been a lot of changes in the routes mentioned in the guide books some due to landslides and some new trails being developed and the guide books need updation e.g. Lelep often mentioned as a night stop is not required to be visited any more there is a direct trail now to Sekathum so do not follow the guide books blindly.

Kangchenjunga Trek Nepal | North and South | Road Construction

The Kangchenjunga group including Jannnu on the left and Kabru in front seen from a ridge above Ilam on the drive to Taplejung

A South Col team recently did the Kangchenjunga trek in Nepal in November 2019. A detailed day by day schedule and route will follow on this blog but in this post we deal with the roads now being used  on the approach to the Kangchenjunga trek.

We found that dirt track roads suitable for four wheel drive vehicles have been built on the approach to both treks north and south. These roads  are fair weather - hence it is doubtful if during heavy rain in the monsoon months they would be clear for traffic. However, we were informed by our jeep drivers that from middle October to middle May these roads are operating and can be used by trekkers to shorten their treks by 2-3 days. The journey, of course, like most Nepal dirt track roads is bone rattling but it does shorten 2 days walking into a four hour jeep journey.