Manaslu Region Trekking

This is one of the most challenging, remote, and spectacular treks that Nepal has to offer. There are the subtropical lowlands where tobacco and wheat are grown, and where the dress and appearance of people is more typically 'Nepali', but still far removed from the hustle and bustle and development of parts of east Nepal or the Annapurna circuit. There are the highlands (called Nupri), where the cultue, dress, speech, food - and even the products in the shops - tell a story of a centuries-long affinity with and descent from Tibet. There are frozen lakes and Tibetan monasteries, and in the lower reaches of the trek, that wonderfully syncretic mix that is Nepali culture and religion, for example, the Gurungs of the middle hills, who speak a completely different language from their namesakes just west in the Annapurna region and who practise religion on every part of the Hindu-buddhist spectrum. The thriving trade between Nupri and Tibet continues along the same ancient routes that criss-cross the path of the trek.

When you make your way up the very challenging trails along the near perpendicular Buri Gandaki Valley, the highlights of the landscape are the spectacular Manaslu (8,156 m), the seventh highest peak in the world and the sixth-highest in Nepal, as well as Himlung (7,126 m), Annapurna II ((7,937 m), Himalchuli (7,893 m), and Ngadi Chuli (7,879 m). The flora and fauna range from sal, oak, bamboo, and rhododendron forests to juniper and birch forests, and langur monekys to blue sheep and impeyan pheasants, Nepal's national bird.