We began preparing for the New Year's celebration in early March. We considered many different things before deciding to go on a trek. Once more, we couldn't decide among various trekking options like Kapuche Glacier Lake, Mardi Himal, and Ghorepani-Poonhill. We ultimately finalized Khumai Danda, which we had not previously heard about.
Khumai Danda (or Dada meaning hill) is a brand-new name in Nepali trekking. It grew in popularity mostly as a result of Ghumante's vlog about it. For people who wish to have a moderate walk and have a limited amount of time, it is the best trek that falls under Great Machhapuchchhre Trail in Kaski district, and lies towards north of Pokhara.
My wife, my twin children, and I caught an early-morning flight to Pokhara on April 13. After arriving at the recently constructed Pokhara International Airport (ICAO- VNPR), we then took a drive towards Lakeside. There is one more airport (ICAO- VNPK) in Pokhara that offers flights to Jomsom and a few adventurous flights. At White Rabbit restaurant in Lakeside, we had our breakfast. We then got a taxi to Hari Chowk. After that, we travelled to Ghachowk on a four-wheeler as scheduled. We began our trip over the arid Ghachowk road with our bags strapped to us.
We finally arrived at Ghamtara, which only consists of a few houses, after 45 minutes of walk from Ghachwok. We bought some local food from a nearby household. After leaving the rocky road behind, we began our actual trek from Ghamtara itself, the final location where someone could park their two- or four-wheeled vehicle and start their walk.
We then arrived in Hilekharka (2076m) after over four hours of walk, where we had dinner and spent the night at Green Cottage. Having pancakes and tea for breakfast, we set out on our hike. It took us around 6 hours to reach Khumai Danda (3245m), having some short breaks, and snacks in between. We went through several locations, including Chichimne, Deurali, Tubu, and Tourist Camp. We were hoping to see the iconic mountains of the area, like Machhapuchchhre (Fish Tail), Annapurna, Mardi, etc. We hardly saw anything the whole day because of the hazy weather. Finally we reached our destination situated on the top of the hill. After check in at the (?) Cottage, we were offered accommodation in an A-Frame tent that was basically designed for two people. Since it was our first time using a tent and the kids were enthusiastic as well, we accepted it easily. We ordered some food and drinks for us because we were starving. There, food was incredibly expensive because it had to be carried by men or mules. We discovered that it was five times as expensive as it actually was.
We wanted to explore the surroundings but couldn't see due to poor visibility and cold weather. We just roam around and spend time with the kids with the expectations to see mountains. But we failed. The rest of the time was spent warming up inside the tent itself, and planning for the following day. We then decide to go for a hike up to Korchan early in the morning to view sunrise over the mountains. Korchan (3700m) is the famous hill from where mountains can be seen in 360°.
Due to a scarcity of water, Khumai Danda was struggling with the hygiene and sanitation. There was no water at all, not even for cleaning or cooking. Consequently, it was possible to envision the remaining aspects related to water. Although the proprietors of the cottage had made some provision for the water, they were insufficient. Similarly, there were only couple of hotels to cater growing number of tourists.
People were travelling without making the appropriate hotel reservations. At Khumai Dada, there were only three accommodation units, each of which could hold about 50 people. There were more than 150 people in each. The trekkers were there to celebrate the Nepali new year 2080 BS (14 April 2023) in a new destination, like us. The majority of those who travelled there were Free Independent Travelers who reached there without having any bookings. At 9:30 pm, we discovered the staff members looking for available spaces to accommodate a few girls who showed there without prior communication.
We skipped dinner and went to bed without any food once I noticed how grubby the kitchen was. Additionally, the restrooms were also dirty. They were so inadequate and filthy that people were unable to utilize them. Similar to this, the service quality and staff conduct did not meet expectations. As a result, at 6:30 in the morning, despite the fact that our package was on MAP, we left the camp and headed for Pokhara. The lodging facilities on the hills were producing copious amounts of plastic rubbish. Because of debris, plastic bottles, and chocolate wrappers, the trail has become exceedingly unclean.
As the trail descends down all the way, we reached Ghamtara in 6 hours, and drove back to Pokhara in a reserved vehicle. We didn't encounter any foreigners during our journey. There was a large number of domestic tourists. In Nepal, travelling and trekking trend tends to go up, in recent years. Even the senior citizens were seen doing trek, which was unusual earlier. We were so hungry and craving Daal Bhat, we directly headed to Pokhara Thakali Kitchen for lunch, with our backpacks. We then went to Hotel Barahi for our stay, ending a three-day trek with lots of experiences and memories.
Our 12-year-old children completed this walk with ease and adapted to the surroundings. Kudos to them.
