Rara Lake Trekking - 13 Days

As soon you arrive in Kathmandu, a representative will pick you up and transfer you to a hotel. We’ll discuss the tour later. In the evening, you’ll be served special dinner which introduces Nepali food culture.

We fly this first section of the trip.

We fly to Jumla and trek to Charya Chaur, a beautiful meadow set amongst pine trees.

The path becomes steeper as we ascend to the Danphya Langa Pass where we will get views of Patrasi Himal (6,860m) and Jagdula Himal (5,785m). We weave our way down through forests of spruce, birches, walnuts, bamboo and rhododendrons, periodically emerging into idyllic clearings and hanging valleys. We may even spot the Nepali national bird, the colourful Himalayan monal. We then head down to cross the Sinja Khola (river) and follow it downstream through potato and wheat fields before camping by the Lah Gad stream just below the village of Bumri and its adjacent marijuana fields.

We ascend past Bumri, go over a ridge into a side valley, drop to cross a stream and then climb to Bhara, a Tibetan style village amidst wheat fields. From here we climb to a perfect camping place near Bulbhule with a bubbling spring and shady pines.

We continue to gently ascend to an assortment of chortens, cairns and prayer flags at Ghurchi Lagna, a 3,450m pass. From here there are views of the Mugu Karnali Khola and distant snowy peaks on the Tibetan border. The trail now follows the trade route to Mugu through the Mandu Valley dropping precipitously through spruce forests to 2,900m. Here we take an inconspicuous left fork, then walk through the pine forests before descending to the Jhyari Khola at 2,400m and on to Dhotu. We then ascend to the Thakuri village of Jhyari set amongst a picturesque grove of cedars. We continue to climb through cedar forests until we reach a large meadow on a ridge (3,050m) with our first views of Rara Lake. We will now take about 2 hours to descend and walk round the lake to the campsite.

We have 2 days to explore this stunningly beautiful area. With no (domesticated) grazing animals allowed in the park the woods have reverted to their natural state and are alive with birds and rhesus and langur monkeys. We might also spot red panda, red bear, musk deer, Himalayan tahr, serow, goral and wild boar. At the lake we will see otters and the lake itself is an important site for migratory waterfowl. One day includes making an obligatory circumvention of the lake, a path (13km) has conveniently been built. Explore the now deserted villages of Rara and Chapra with their overgrown temples.

unfortunately we must leave this paradise and move on. We follow the Nisa Khola before ascending up a hill through pine, spruce and rhododendron forests. We then cross a meadow to reach a ridge at 3,660m and from here we can look back for a last view of Rara Lake. The track then skirts the head of the valley to the crest at Ghurchi Mara (3,720). There is now a choice of 2 routes, one short and steep, the other, which we will follow is longer but more engaging. We descend into the Ghatta Valley toward Gorosingha, where there are several camp sites in a lovely grassy valley.

We follow the Ghatta Khola downstream past Botan and then track the Sinja Khola through a more densely populated area to the historic village of Sinja. (5 hours).

We cross the Sinja Khola and trek up the Dhobi Khola across a series of log bridges and through forests of pines, birches and oaks interspersed with scattered houses and barley and corn fields. From Chala Chaur, a meadow at 2,900m, the path climbs steeply to Jaljala Chaur, a huge meadow full of grazing horses. (6 hours).

We continue to climb through another meadow just below the ridge at 3,510m. We contour round the head of the valley and eventually rejoin our journey in at Charya Chaur. We then proceed back down to Jumla. (4 hours).

We fly back via Nepalgunj to Kathmandu.

Today, our tour comes to an end. A representative will help you with your final departure.