Ramaroshan Lakes 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 eleven-day plan, the flight and long drive to Achham, the mix of homestays and camping, and what to expect from a district that has never had trekking groups.

We check your kit against the list, though for a mid-altitude trek it is short. Anything missing can be bought or hired 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 — Ganesh, Manaslu, Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and then the far-western ranges in turn.

Dhangadhi (109 m) is a working city on the Terai plain near the Indian border: flat, hot, green and entirely untouristed.

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

The bazaar in the evening is worth an hour. An early night — tomorrow is a long day on the road. Overnight at Dhangadhi.

A long day on the road, north from the plains into the far-western hills.

The route climbs out of the Terai through sal forest and then into terraced middle-hill country, following river valleys and crossing ridges. It is eight to ten hours on a road that is paved in stretches and rough in others.

This is a part of Nepal that very few travellers of any kind see, and the drive is a good introduction to it: villages of stone and slate, terraced hillsides worked entirely by hand, and market towns that serve a district rather than a tourist trail.

Mangalsen (1,400 m) is the district headquarters of Achham, on a ridge with a hospital, a bank and the last reliable shops on the route.

Overnight at Mangalsen.

A short drive east on a rough road, and then the first walking of the trek.

The jeep takes the group as far as the track allows and the porters load at the roadhead. The trail climbs east through terraced fields of millet and maize, past villages of stone and slate houses on every workable shelf.

Above the farmland the path enters oak forest and the gradient steepens. This is a working route used by herders taking stock up to the summer pastures rather than a trekking trail, so it is clear but rough.

Kuina Kharka (2,300 m) is a grazing clearing with water and flat ground for the tents, and the first camp of the trek.

Around 5 hours of walking. Overnight camping at Kuina Kharka.

Up through the rhododendron belt and out onto the meadows.

The trail continues climbing through oak and then rhododendron forest, thick with moss and loud with birds. In April and May the flowering here runs for hours of walking, red and pink overhead, and it is the finest section of the approach.

The trees thin around 2,800 m and the country opens abruptly into grassland with the lakes scattered across it.

Ramaroshan (3,000 m) is a basin of open meadow and small lakes, counted in local tradition as twelve lakes and eighteen meadows. There are shrines at several of the pools and stone shelters built for the pilgrimage.

The camp is beside the water. Around 5 hours. Overnight camping at Ramaroshan.

A full day in the basin, which is what the approach was for.

The morning is a circuit of the lakes with your guide, who can name them and explain the traditions attached to each — the association with Rama and the goddess Roshan, the shrines, and the festivals that bring pilgrims up from the districts below.

The afternoon walk climbs the ridge on the northern side of the basin to around 3,200 m, the high point of the trek, for the long view: the far-western hills rolling away south, and on a clear day the Saipal range and the peaks of Bajura and Bajhang on the northern horizon.

Herders are usually camped on the meadows in season with buffalo and goats, and an hour spent with them, translated, is generally the most interesting part of the day.

Overnight camping at Ramaroshan.

Off the meadows and down a different line from the way up.

The trail leaves the basin on its southern side and drops through rhododendron and oak forest towards the villages below. Taking a different route down means a different set of settlements and a fuller picture of the district than an out-and-back would give.

The forest here is dense and steep, and the path is a village trail rather than a graded one. Poles help.

Dhamali (2,100 m) is a hillside village of stone houses and terraced fields. Tonight is a homestay, and the group will very likely be the first foreign visitors the household has hosted.

Around 5 hours. Overnight in a village homestay at Dhamali.

The last walking day, west along the hillsides back to the district town.

The trail contours and descends through a string of villages, dropping to cross streams and climbing back onto the shoulder each time. This is ordinary far-western farming country at close quarters: schools, tea shops, water mills and a great deal of hand labour on the terraces.

It is a good final day for conversation. With the trek behind you and the pace easy, stopping for tea and letting your guide translate is where most of the value of a trek in Achham actually sits.

Mangalsen (1,400 m) in the afternoon, with a guesthouse, hot water and mobile signal.

This is where the porters and cook crew finish and where tips are given. Around 6 hours. Overnight at Mangalsen.

The long drive south, retracing the road out of the hills to the plains.

Eight to ten hours again, dropping through terraced country and sal forest into the flat green of the Terai, with the temperature climbing the whole way. It is a long day, but the hill scenery on the upper half is genuinely good and the road is quiet.

There is time on this drive to take in how much of Nepal looks like this — productive, populated middle-hill country a long way from any trekking route — and how little of it visitors ever see.

Dhangadhi (109 m) in the evening. A hotel, a shower and a proper meal. 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.

The ranges pass one after another — the far-western peaks first, then Dolpo, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu and Ganesh — which gives a useful sense of 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 usually goes on a long shower, a large meal and a walk through Thamel, which after a week in Achham 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.

Achham is one of the least visited districts in a country that is otherwise well travelled, and Ramaroshan is a place that almost nobody outside the far west has heard of. If that suited you, the Badimalika pilgrimage route and the Api Himal base camp trek are the two other far-western trips worth taking. Safe travels.