One other Nepalese peak, Annapurna, has joined Everest as a symbol of extreme adventure. Superlatives fall short of capturing the allure of this beautiful massif’s tempting pathways, breathtaking landscape, and interesting culture.
It seems to sense that avid hikers and mountaineers would be drawn to these captivating peaks. When he wrote: Escape from the shell of your tiny concerns and follow for a while those strange trails of the spirit that go nowhere and everywhere in his 1947 anthology “The Mountain Top,” Frank Smith encapsulated the allure of hiking. You will then understand beauty. Such is Annapurna’s’ character.
They are surrounded by flaming devils at sunset and shimmer in the moonlight at night. Storms can swallow the rampart, yet they can also be mirrored as a vision of earthly tranquility in the cold waters of a lake.
Nepal Everest Holidays welcomes you to join us on one of the region’s two iconic hikes, the Annapurna Circuit or the Annapurna Sanctuary.
The circuit offers an incredible variety of scenery, including terraced slopes, dense rainforest, steamy bamboo clusters and canopies of cloud forest, gloomy creepy forests, and lonely alpine glades. Beautiful farmhouses dot the countryside, and ladies in vibrantly colored saris wash their clothes by the river. A Hindu god may catch your eye elsewhere and grin encouragingly.
The ground is bare further up. Fairy-tale citadels are supported by strangely eroded towers, which cast shadows over medieval settlements and hermit caves. Buddhist monks sing dramatic chants in monasteries draped in colorful prayer flags that cling to precipitous rock faces while being somewhat entranced by the fragrant juniper incense. The higher walls, where an amazing variety of flora conceals countless birds, are guarded by Himalayan Thar and Snow Leopard. One of the world’s genuinely fantastic hikes is still the Annapurna Circuit.
Imagine an almost full ring of high peaks, six of which rise beyond 7000 meters, and one, the mysterious Annapurna, which grazes 8000 meters, as you embark on the Annapurna Sanctuary Trek
Imagine this enormous amphitheater surrounded by glaciers, covered with snowfields, and supported by towering rock walls that rise from a basin of ancient moraines and raging streams. If you like, imagine a silver moon illuminating the picture, a dawn highlighting the mountaintops, and mist building into clouds that gradually fill the basin. And one of the most charismatic summits is the most recent one to be overtaken by it all:
Machhapuchhre, the recognizable “fishtail” mountain, is the protector of the Annapurna Sanctuary and the world’s greatest seducer. There are stunning sights everywhere you look. If there is a heaven on earth, it is now, it is now, it is now, said renowned poet and climber Wilfred Noyce in the epilogue to his book about Machhapuchhre’s effort.
