I had walked a section of Royal Trek for two times but my latest trek that I did recently in the same area packed me with the lifetime memories. Royal Trek is named after Prince Charles, who is a member of the British royal family and had done trekking on this area around 3 decade ago with a jumbo team of around 90 members. Thus the name royal was derived from the British royal family. We trekked this area with few friends of ours who represented different media houses of Nepal. Thus, we can say it was a journalist trek on the Royal Trekking area. Royal Trek is a 4 days trek, but due to our own constraints we didn’t made it to the end. We trekked a section of the trekking route on Nov 3 and 4, 07. At the end of the day I could get that this two days pie of the trek had gave us something that we will memorized throughout our lifetime.
We started our trek from the Kaseri, a village of Arva village development Committee (VDC) in Kaski district of Mid Nepal. Then we crossed Vijaypur stream and struggled with an uphill footpath. It was the time for rice harvesting and the whole scenario looked magnetic as it had turned the rice farms into gold mines. The hard light of the sun and uphill road on that day were making our journey tougher. So, we stopped in a village and bought some oranges to energies our body. As soon as the droplets of the orange went into our stomach, it gave us the fusion of energy, motivation to continue the journey and of course shield us from the hard rays of the sun. As we arrived at Kalikasthan of Kalika VDC, two local roosters and some broilers were bought for curry and barbeque. Our main destination was Thulakot, a historic fort in the hilltop. It was about evening when we arrived at the hiltop and Ram dai leaded us in installing the tents that were already brought here by bus.
Our hunger could be reflected when Eight Kg of Chicken meat were prepared on the fire of barbeque which got finished at a glimpse. We too had taken dried meat which was tasty with the brew. After barbeque, we took our dinner that was cooked by our friend Raman. It was cold in the campaign site and to heat up our self we had our jackets on and we sat in a circle around the campfire. These moments were really unforgettable and some of our friends were passing their night for the first time inside the tents. Though Nepal is a mountainous country, very few people know the importance of trekking and campaign and we regard our self to be lucky to fall on the few. Some Dutch were also camping around Thulakot.
Morning was superb due to striking sunrise however mountains remained covered by the clouds and fogs. After breakfast, we discussed with locals and they said that the villagers were curious about tourism but they needed more ideas and help from the government and respective organizations. They thought road construction was a major threat for Royal Trek so my friend Amrit Bhadgaonle (Kantipur) suggested the villagers to find the alternative routes around the existing route.
The main attraction of this area is breathtaking Annapurna Mountain Range. Most of the 9 lakes situated on the Pokhara valley could be observed from this region. The lights and bricks of the Valley, beautiful villages and Madi River are some of the attraction seen from this region. As there is not any tourist standard hotels within this route so tent campaigning is only alternatives for the night stay. However in some areas; trekkers could stay as paying guests. The actual Royal Trek goes through Vijaypur- Kalikasthan- Thulakot- Majhthana- Saurya Bhanjayang- Satdobato- Jamirey- Lipyani Bhanjayang- Sayklung Kot- Ramkot- Thumki- Mohoriya- Chisapani- Talbesi- Sundari Danda- Begnas Lake- Prithvi Highway. The route is suitable for those people who love to trek in low altitude. The area is located at the altitude of around 2,000 m from the sea level. The best season to trek here is in the mid of February to first week of June and from September to early December.
Please Click on the Following thumbnails to view the associate photographs. By: Rupnarayan Dhakal |
