Api Himal Base Camp Trek

Welcome to Nepal. You land at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (1,400 m), where our representative meets you in the arrivals hall and drives you to your hotel in Thamel.

Your guide joins you for the briefing. The far west needs a thorough one: the flight to Dhangadhi, the long drive to Darchula, ten nights of camping with no resupply, and the practical reality that nothing can be bought or hired once the group leaves the road.

We check your kit carefully against the list for exactly that reason. Anything missing can be sorted in Thamel this afternoon. The rest of the day is yours. Overnight in Kathmandu.

An hour's flight west across the entire length of the country, with the Himalaya running along the right-hand windows for most of it — Ganesh, Manaslu, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri in turn, then the far-western ranges.

Dhangadhi (109 m) is a working city on the Terai plain near the Indian border, flat, hot and green, and about as far from mountain Nepal in character as the country gets.

The afternoon is spent on logistics: the crew buys the fresh food and fuel for the trek, and your guide confirms the vehicle and the road conditions north for tomorrow.

It is not a tourist town, but the bazaar in the evening is worth an hour. An early night — tomorrow is a long day on the road. Overnight at Dhangadhi.

The long day. The road runs north from the Terai into the hills, following the Mahakali river which forms the border with India for the whole of its length here.

It is ten to twelve hours of driving on a road that is paved in stretches and rough in others, climbing through sal forest into terraced middle-hill country. The Indian side is visible across the river for most of the way, often with a better road on it.

Darchula (940 m) is the district headquarters, a border town where a suspension bridge crosses to Dharchula on the Indian side and people move back and forth daily.

This is the last place with shops, an ATM and mobile signal worth relying on. The crew finalises loads tonight. Overnight at Darchula.

A short drive east and then the first walking of the trek.

A jeep carries the group up a rough road to Latinath (1,500 m), where the porters load and the walking begins. The trail follows the Chamaliya river east into the hills, through terraced fields of rice and millet with villages of stone and slate houses on the slopes above.

This is ordinary far-western farming country and there is no trekking traffic at all. Children walking home from school and people carrying loads to market are the company on the path.

Seti (1,700 m) is a village on the river with room to camp beside it. The first night in the tents is a warm one at this altitude.

Around 4 hours of walking after the drive. Overnight camping at Seti.

A steady day up the valley, gaining height gently and moving from farmland into forest.

The trail climbs above the Chamaliya on the north bank, crossing side streams on log and cable bridges and traversing forested slopes. The crops change as the altitude rises — rice gives way to millet, then buckwheat and potato.

The forest through this section is oak and pine with dense undergrowth, and in spring it is loud with birds. In wet conditions expect leeches on the lower stretches.

Makarigad (2,100 m) is a small settlement with flat ground for the camp beside the river. There is no shop and no lodge; the crew's supplies are what there is.

Around 6 hours. Overnight camping at Makarigad.

A shorter day to the last village on the route.

The valley narrows and the trail climbs through mixed forest with the river loud below, crossing avalanche debris in one or two places where the winter snow has come off the slopes above.

Ghusa (2,300 m) is the last permanent settlement in the valley: a compact village of stone houses with slate roofs, stone-walled fields of potato and buckwheat, and stock kept in the ground floor of each house through the winter.

This is a good place to spend the afternoon. The village sees a handful of outsiders a year and your guide's introductions open doors; the local dialect, dress and household organisation are all noticeably different from central Nepal.

Around 4–5 hours. Overnight camping at Ghusa.

The biggest climbing day so far, out of the forest and into the alpine zone.

The trail leaves Ghusa and climbs steeply north-east, through the last of the oak and rhododendron and into birch and juniper. The gradient is unrelenting for most of the morning.

Above about 2,900 m the trees give out and the country opens into grazing ground and herb meadow — this belt is famous locally for medicinal plants, and in early summer villagers camp up here collecting them.

The first proper mountain views arrive with the open ground: Api (7,132 m) and Nampa (6,755 m) at the head of the valley, snow-covered and much closer than expected.

Dhauli Odar (3,100 m) is a rock shelter and flat pasture used by herders. Around 6 hours. Overnight camping at Dhauli Odar.

The day the trek arrives, climbing a thousand metres to the foot of the mountain.

The trail follows the valley north over open pasture and then moraine, with the walls closing in and the glacier system at the head of the valley becoming the dominant feature. The going is rough underfoot but the gradient is manageable, and the group moves slowly at this height.

Api Base Camp (4,100 m) sits on flat ground below the south face of Api (7,132 m), the highest mountain in the far west and one that has been climbed only a handful of times. Nampa (6,755 m) stands beside it.

The scale takes some adjusting to, mostly because there is nothing else here — no lodges, no expedition, no other party, and no sign that anyone was here recently.

Around 5–6 hours. Overnight camping at Api Base Camp.

A full day at the base camp, which is what the whole approach has been for.

The morning walk climbs the moraine ridge west of the camp towards 4,500 m for the fuller panorama — Api's south and west faces, the glacier below them, Nampa to the east, and the ridgelines running north into the Indian border country.

Blue sheep are common on these slopes and the snow leopard that prey on them are present, though seeing one would be extraordinary luck. What you will see is a great many herb meadows, marmots, and Himalayan griffon working the thermals.

The afternoon is rest, and there is a particular quality to it here: no aircraft, no other groups, no phone signal, and a 7,000 m mountain in front of the tent.

Your guide uses the day to check the group before the descent. Overnight camping at Api Base Camp.

A long descent, covering two days of the ascent in one.

The route retraces the moraine and pasture to Dhauli Odar and then drops steeply through the treeline into forest. Losing 1,800 m in a day is hard on the knees and poles make a real difference on the steep forest section.

Walking down gives you the herb meadows and the forest properly — on the way up most people are watching their feet and their breathing.

Ghusa (2,300 m) in the late afternoon, back among houses, woodsmoke and fields.

Around 7 hours. Overnight camping at Ghusa.

A steady day back down the Chamaliya valley, through the villages and forest of the approach.

The trail loses height gradually along the river, and after the alpine zone the warmth and the smells of the lower valley are immediately noticeable — woodsmoke, cut grass, and the animals in the fields.

This is a good day for the villages. Coming down, with the trek behind you and no altitude to manage, there is time to stop for tea and let your guide translate, which is where most of the value of a far-western trek actually sits.

Seti (1,700 m) in the afternoon, at the same camp used on the way in.

Around 6 hours. Overnight camping at Seti.

The last walking of the trek, and back to the road.

A short morning's walk down the valley to Latinath (1,500 m), where the jeep is waiting. Three hours or so, mostly easy going on the river trail.

This is where the porters and cook crew finish and where tips are given. On a fully camped trek in a region with no infrastructure, the crew has carried everything the group ate and slept in for ten days, and the farewell is a substantial one.

The drive back to Darchula (940 m) takes a couple of hours on the rough hill road.

A hotel, a hot shower and mobile signal for the first time in over a week. Overnight at Darchula.

The long drive south back to the plains, retracing the Mahakali road.

Ten to twelve hours on the road again, dropping out of the hills through sal forest into the flat green of the Terai. It is a long day, but the valley scenery on the upper section is genuinely good and the road is quiet.

The Indian border runs alongside for much of the way, and the traffic across the bridges — people, goods, animals — is a reminder of how much daily life in the far west happens on both sides of the river.

Dhangadhi (109 m) in the evening. Overnight at Dhangadhi.

An hour in the air back across the country, with the whole Nepali Himalaya out of the windows on a clear day.

It is a good flight for putting the trek in context: the ranges pass one after another — Api and the far-western peaks first, then Dolpo, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu and Ganesh — and you can see quite how far west you have been.

Transfer to your hotel in Kathmandu (1,400 m), with the rest of the day free.

The evening is usually spent on a long shower, a large meal and a walk through Thamel, which after two weeks in the far west feels extremely busy. Overnight in Kathmandu.

Your last day in Nepal. If your flight leaves later there is time for Boudhanath, Pashupatinath or the old town at Bhaktapur with your guide.

Our representative collects you from your hotel and transfers you to Tribhuvan International Airport around three hours before departure.

Very few people, Nepali or foreign, ever see the far west, and fewer still stand below Api. If the emptiness suited you, the Humla Limi valley and the Badimalika pilgrimage route are the two other far-western trips worth taking, and both are just as quiet. Safe travels.