Guerrilla 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 fifteen-day plan, the mix of camping and village homestays, and some background on the districts you will be walking through — the insurgency, the peace agreement, and how Rukum and Rolpa have changed since.

We check your kit, though the list for a mid-altitude trek is modest. Anything missing can be bought or hired in Thamel. The rest of the day is yours. Overnight in Kathmandu.

After breakfast we leave the Kathmandu valley on the Prithvi Highway, following the Trishuli river west through gorge country with terraced hillsides above and whitewater below.

The drive to Pokhara (822 m) covers roughly 200 km and takes most of the day with a lunch stop at a riverside restaurant.

Pokhara arrives in the late afternoon on the shore of Phewa Lake, with the Annapurna massif standing behind it.

The crew makes the final load sort here, and this is the last night with reliable hot water for two weeks. Overnight in Pokhara.

An early start west through Beni, at the confluence of the Kali Gandaki and the Myagdi Khola, and up a rough hill road to the roadhead at Darbang (1,110 m). Four to five hours in the vehicle.

The walking starts here. The trail crosses the Myagdi Khola and climbs gently through terraced fields of millet and maize, past Magar villages with slate roofs.

This is working farmland rather than trekking country, and the traffic on the path is people going about their day rather than groups with daypacks.

Dharapani (1,560 m) is strung along the hillside above the river. Around 3 hours of walking. Overnight camping at Dharapani.

A steady day through the middle hills with more up and down than the map suggests.

The trail contours above the Myagdi Khola through Sibang and Phalai Gaon, dropping to cross side streams on suspension bridges and climbing back onto the shoulder each time.

The villages here are Magar. The fields are worked by hand, water mills grind the millet, and the pace of the day is set by the animals and the weather.

Muri (1,850 m) is a substantial village of stone houses on a shelf, with a school and a couple of shops. From the fields above it the Dhaulagiri outliers come into view.

Around 6 hours. Overnight camping at Muri.

West towards the pass, leaving the Myagdi valley behind.

The trail turns away from the river and climbs south-west through farmland and into forest, on a route that has connected the Myagdi and Dhorpatan valleys for a very long time. Traders, herders and porters use it; trekkers do not.

The forest is oak with rhododendron above, and in April and May the flowering runs for hours of walking.

Lumsum (2,240 m) is a small settlement on the hillside with room for the camp and a view back east over the Myagdi valley.

Around 5–6 hours. Overnight camping at Lumsum.

The high point of the trek, and the doorway into the mid-west.

The climb from Lumsum is long and steady through rhododendron and fir forest, coming out above the treeline on open grass. The Jaljala pass (3,414 m) is a broad grassy saddle marked with cairns and prayer flags.

The view is the reward: Dhaulagiri (8,167 m), Churen Himal (7,371 m) and Gurja Himal (7,193 m) along the northern skyline, with the Dhorpatan grasslands opening west below.

The descent is gentle onto pasture and then into the valley floor. Dhorpatan (2,900 m) is a scattered settlement with a Tibetan refugee community established in the 1960s, a few shops, and the headquarters of the hunting reserve.

Around 8 hours. Overnight camping at Dhorpatan.

West out of the reserve and into Rukum, on trails that see no trekking traffic at all.

The route leaves the Dhorpatan grasslands and climbs over a shoulder before descending north-west through pine and rhododendron into the Pelma valley. It is a long day with a good deal of descent.

This is where the trek changes character. Behind you is the reserve and the Dhaulagiri skyline; ahead are the hill districts of the mid-west, which almost no visitor of any kind reaches.

Pelma (2,000 m) is a Kham Magar village of stone and slate houses on the valley side. The Kham Magar have their own language, distinct from Nepali, and a strong tradition of their own.

Around 7 hours. Overnight camping at Pelma.

A day of ridge and valley walking between two Kham Magar villages.

The trail climbs out of the Pelma valley, crosses a forested ridge and descends into the next drainage. The country here is steep and heavily farmed on every workable shelf, with buckwheat and potato at this altitude.

Maikot (2,100 m) is a large village with a reputation in the region for independence that goes back well before the insurgency. It was one of the places where the movement took hold early, and your guide can explain why the geography and the history fit together as they do.

Practically, this is a village where the group is a genuine novelty. Expect an audience, and expect tea.

Around 6 hours. Overnight in a village homestay at Maikot.

Into Rolpa and to the village at the centre of the whole story.

The trail crosses from Rukum into Rolpa over a forested ridge, descending through Kham Magar settlements and terraced fields. It is a moderate day with a long climb in the middle.

Thabang (2,200 m) sits on a broad shelf: a large village of slate-roofed houses, red flags, party offices and martyrs' memorials. It was the political heart of the Maoist insurgency from 1996 to 2006 and, before that, a centre of communist organising going back decades.

It is not a museum. It is a working farming village that happens to have been central to the most significant political event in modern Nepali history, and people there talk about it directly.

Around 6 hours. Overnight in a village homestay at Thabang.

A full day in the village, and the reason the trek is worth two weeks.

The morning goes on Thabang itself: the martyrs' memorial, the party office, the school, and the houses of families who lost members on both sides of the conflict. Your guide arranges the conversations, and they are what people remember about this trip.

There is also the ordinary business of the place to see — the fields, the mills, the weekly rhythm of a Kham Magar village — and a short walk up to the ridge above the settlement gives the layout of the valley and, on a clear day, the peaks to the north.

If you are here at the right time of year the village has its own festivals and dances, distinct from the Hindu calendar of the lowlands.

It is worth reading a little about the conflict before you come; the day is much richer if you arrive with questions. Overnight in a village homestay at Thabang.

South out of Thabang and up onto the Rolpa pastures.

The trail climbs steadily through forest and out onto open grazing ground. This is a different landscape from the Rukum valleys: broader, less steep, with grass rather than terraces on the upper slopes.

The Jaljala pasture here — a common Nepali place name, and not the same as the pass crossed on day six — is used through the summer by herders from the villages below, and there are shelters and stock pens on the ridge.

On a clear afternoon the northern view opens back to Dhaulagiri and Churen Himal, a useful last look at the mountains before the trek drops for good.

Around 5 hours. Overnight camping at Jaljala.

The last walking day, a long descent off the pastures to the valley floor.

The trail drops through forest and then farmland, losing 1,800 m over the course of the day. It is hard on the knees and poles are worth having out from the start.

The villages get larger and closer together as the altitude falls, the crops change from buckwheat to maize and then rice, and the first vehicles appear on the tracks.

Sulichaur (1,000 m) is a bazaar town on the valley floor with shops, a bus park and mobile signal — the end of the walking and, after two weeks, a considerable jolt.

This is where the porters and cook crew finish and tips are given. Around 7 hours. Overnight at Sulichaur.

A long day on the road out of the hills to the Terai.

The jeep follows the Rolpa valley south and then west through Dang, dropping steadily out of the middle hills into the plains. The road is rough for the first hours and improves as it goes.

It is a good day for watching the country change: hill farming to Terai agriculture, slate roofs to thatch and concrete, and the temperature climbing steadily the whole way down.

Nepalgunj (150 m) is a working border city near India — hot, flat and busy. Around 7–8 hours in total.

The evening is free and the bazaar is worth an hour. Overnight in Nepalgunj.

An hour in the air back to the capital, east along the line of the Himalaya.

On a clear day the whole range is out of the left-hand windows — the Dhaulagiri and Churen peaks you walked below, then Annapurna, Manaslu and Ganesh in turn — which puts the last two weeks in a useful perspective.

You arrive in Kathmandu (1,400 m) around midday and transfer to your hotel, with the rest of the day free.

A hot shower, a large lunch and a walk through Thamel are the usual order of business. This is also the evening for a final dinner with your guide. 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.

Rukum and Rolpa are among the least visited districts in Nepal, and very few outsiders have walked through Thabang. If this kind of trekking — people and recent history rather than altitude — is what you are after, the Ruby Valley and Mundum routes have a similar character closer to Kathmandu. Safe travels.