Trekkers’ team embarks on Great Himalayan Trail

Phunglin (Taplejung), Sept 14: A team of trekkers including two foreign nationals has started trekking the Great Himalayan Trail (GHT), one of the popular trails of Nepal. The four-member team of trekkers is led by Maria Andre from Slovenia.The team started the trekking from Taplejung district for Ghunsa, said local people.

The Great Himalayan Trail is a trekking route that goes through various mountainous areas within Nepal covering a distance of around 1,700 kilometres and passes through eight mountains. It is becoming one of the best, ambitious and challenging treks for tourists at home and abroad. It expands from Taplejung district to Darchula district. Earlier, Andre successfully scaled eight mountains including Mount Everest.

Andre, who in 1991 successfully climbed Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, has reached Nepal to trek the GHT. They plan to complete the trekking within 115 to 120 days, said Ensuhang Rai from Solukhumbu district who is a guide to the team of trekkers. It costs an estimated amount of from Rs 5 to Rs 6 million for a four-member team of trekkers, he added.

The team will go from Lumbasubba mountain to the Makalu Base Camp of Sankhuwasabha district through the Kanchenjunga Base Camp to Olanchung Gola as part of the GHT, said tourism entrepreneur Tenzing Nupu. It requires around 150 days completing trekking on the Nepali trails under the GHT, said a guide Santosh Tamang. The trekkers’ team has headed for Hangdewa-Mitlung-Sinwa-Chhiruwa from Phunglin.

A week earlier, the local people bade a farewell to a team of three foreign tourists who embarked on a trek to the GHT. The team of trekkers includes two Germany nationals and one Australian. Amir Maden, mayor of Phunglin Municipality, bade a farewell to the team and wished for a successful trip amid a function. This trekking trail was the only one route used by tourists heading to Kanchenjunga before the construction of a road network.

Tourists using the route from Phunglin to Lelepa would use Mitlung as a first camp, Chhiruwa as second and Lelepa as third. The approximately 4,500 km long GHT spans from Kanchenjunga of Taplejung in the east to Darchula in the west. High mobility of tourists in Taplejung lately has encouraged tourism, hotel and transport entrepreneurs, said a hotel entrepreneur Bimal Bhandari.