What are the main features of trekking in Nepal? You know most of the countries in the world have had tourism industry as their main occupation. Tourism industry not only sums up city tours and sightseeing tours but also hiking, trekking, and mountaineering.
Are you thinking about trekking in Nepal? If so, you might have thought “What are the main features of trekking in Nepal?” This blog is seriously dedicated about informing you about the main features of trekking.
The most striking features of trekking are physical fitness, patience, knowledge of hiking, good knowledge at camping, and long holidays.
There have been many more things that are helpful in determining the main features of trekking in Nepal. Why not take a short look at each of these headings one by one.
Advantages and disadvantages of trekking in Nepal
There are several advantages and disadvantages of trekking in Nepal as well as around the world. Advantages of trekking refer to the conditions that give us physical, mental, social, and financial benefits.
Maybe you cannot avoid the first and foremost circumstances of trekking in the Himalayas or in easy or moderate trails. Nevertheless, trekking in Nepal is meant for giving you plenty of advantages. We can list out the major advantages of trekking in Nepal as given below:
- Improvement in physical health due to continuous training for trekking in the Himalayas and a balance diet.
- Reduce in mental stress as you become concentrated in preparing trekking packages of your choice.
- Improvement in cardiovascular strength due to the regular physical activities for trekking.
- Make their trips in a small, medium, or larger groups that help you have social benefits.
- Improvement in trekking rails which are useful for doing strenuous trekking.
- An opportunity for cultural understanding as trekking in Nepal takes you to various destinations just below the Great Himalayas.
- Opportunity for spiritual cleanliness as you don’t think worldly pleasures and blessings during trekking trips.
Along with advantages, there are several disadvantages of trekking in Nepal. the main trekking disadvantages are mention below:
- Time spent indoors and while in trekking trips is not same.
- You might miss your family, friends, and colleagues who wouldn’t be with you anymore.
- While trekking, you might lose the balance due to uneven nature of trails.
- Your physiological protection mechanisms might reduce.
- Encroachment in culture and nature of trekking destinations of Nepal.
- Adaptability problem due to new phenomenon.
- Chance for undermining the beautiful trekking destinations of Nepal.
Despite disadvantages, joy supported by adventure is one of the main features of trekking in Nepal. Trekking habit helps you win over various diseases if any. It focuses on your physical fitness, psychological readiness, experience of trekking in the Himalayas, etc.
Why trekking in Nepal?
Perhaps, “Why trekking in Nepal?” is the first question that comes to your mind before planning a trip in the Himalayan country.
Nepal hosts hundreds of destinations not only for tour lovers but also for adventure lovers. Due to the variation in landscapes, it has the lowland Terai to the Himalayan Region.
The presence of 8 of 14 8,000ers in the world plus hundreds of trekking peaks above 6,000m, Nepal trekking gives you the amazing views of the Himalayas.
Moreover, by walking a few hours from the crowded cities, you can reach away to the tranquil landscapes. You can then rejoice the Himalayas, lush valleys, green forests, glacial lakes, icefalls, rivers and rivulets.
Time spent in the Mother Nature boosts your recreational strength and creative aspect so that you can achieve far better results after resuming the duties.
Similarly, typical culture and tradition helps you forget the daily activities. You get the firsthand knowledge and experience of various festivals, feasts, and celebrations. The cultural richness of Nepal is a must-have experience once in a lifetime.
This blog intends to respond to your question: Why Trekking in Nepal?” Thus, let’s take a quick look at the top reasons for trekking in Nepal.
Richness of Biodiversity
Nepal is divided into three physical regions: Terai, Mountain, and Himalayan accordingly. Here, you can find the world’s lowest land to the highest peak Mt. Everest (8,848.86m).
The topographical variation has supported a large variety of flora and fauna. From the tropical to the alpine forests are home to different species of butterflies, birds, and animals.
While trekking in Nepal in any region, you come to see glimpses of thousands of fauna that accommodate in thousands of plant species.
From the sal trees to the medicinal herbs of the alpine regions are found here. Likewise, from red panda and snow leopard to the Royal Bengal tiger and one-horned rhino contribute in richness of biodiversity of Nepal.
Just within a few miles and few hours, you can witness the wonderful butterfly, bird, and animal species in different forest types.
Cultural Varieties
Due to the variation in topography, Nepal is home to people having large cultural varieties. More than 125 ethnic communities are living in the country. They have different religions, languages, cultures, and traditions but they are equally maintaining socio-cultural harmony.
No matter, which trekking destinations of Nepal you reach, you find unique cultures and traditions. From the Tharu Cultural Heritage Trail of the Terai to the Sherpa Culture of the Everest Region, from the Newari cultures of the Kathmandu Valley to Tamang Cultural Heritage of Langtang and the Limbu Cultural Heritage of the Eastern Nepal; all these destinations have played a vital role in making Nepal a Land of Cultural Varieties.
Throughout the year, you can experience cultural celebrations made with different traditional songs and dances.
From Holy festival of the Terai people to Tiji Festival of Mustang, Dumji and Mani Rimdu Festival of the Khumbu Region give you different cultural experiences. You can even participate in most of the cultural celebrations plus sing their traditional songs and perform their cultural dance,
In addition, the Shamanic cultural practices found in all three physical regions give you a distinct experience while trekking in Nepal.
Adventure Activities during the Nepal Trekking
Because you get to do a lot of adventure activities besides trekking and hiking, your question: “Why Trekking in Nepal?”
The country is naturally gifted with the Himalayas and snowy trekking peaks; you can do easy, moderate, and challenging trekking. What you have to do is know your level of feat, skills, and readiness to experience Nepal’s best trekking packages.
You can try out mountain flights, skiing, paragliding, sky diving, hot air ballooning, zip flying, boating, white water rafting, kayaking, fishing, swimming, and what not!
Moreover, you can try out the bungee jumping from the world’s second highest bungee jumping site. Kushma Bungee Jump located close to the Lake City Pokhara, is the second highest bungee jumping site in the world.
White water rafting in Nepal is one of the most loved adventure activities. The presence of around 6,000 rivers and rivulets, you can not only experience rafting in the Trishuli, Bhotekoshi, Karnali, Narayani Rivers but also do kayaking and canoeing.
Jungle safari in Chitwan National Park, Bardia National Park, Koshi Tappu Wild Life Reserve, etc. has also attracted thousands of international tourists. Don’t take it as an offense but if you love hunting, Dhor Patan Hunting Reserve fulfills your desire. The reserve is opened for international hunters with the necessary procedure and permits.
Excellent Viewpoints of Nepal Trekking
Excellent viewpoints are one of the answers to the question: “Why Trekking in Nepal?” Most of the Nepal trekking destinations and their stopovers provide you the most exciting vistas of the Lower to the Great Himalayas.
Many of the places across the nation are famous as the excellent viewpoints for their eye-catching panoramas. Trekking to the Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, Langtang, Everest, Makalu, and Kanchenjunga Regions is the best chance for witnessing the alluring views of themselves and other mountains looming around them. Some of these viewpoints are popular for sunrise and sunset views of the Himalayas, valleys, glacial lakes, and green forests.
Kalapatthar Viewpoint (5,643m), Gokyo Ri Viewpoint (5,753m), Khopra Ridge (3,660m), Poon Hill (3,210m), Nagarkot Sunrise Viewpoint, etc. are some of the excellent viewpoints of Nepal. Likewise, Pikey Peak (4,065m) serves as the best viewpoint of Mt. Everest, Mount Numbur, and Mount Lhotse. This viewpoint is recommended by Sir Edmund Hillary, the one in two of the 1953 Everest Expedition.
Correspondingly, Tengboche Monastery (3,867m) is the best vantage point of the Khumbu Region. From this viewpoint, you see Mount Ama Dablam (6,812m), which is said to be the most beautiful mountain in the world.
Typical Nepali Local Food During the Nepal Trekking
Dal-bhat-tarkari-achar is the typical Nepali food that is found across the country except in some remote areas. This food item includes rice, lentil soup, green vegetables, pickle either of tomatoes or some other vegetables, and sometimes accompanied by meat items.
While trekking in the Himalayas, this cuisine gives you a long-lasting stamina and energy to traverse through the hardest trails as well. “Dal-bhat power 24-hour” is a famous saying among the Nepalese people.
Another typical Nepali food is thakali khana which includes rice, lentil soup, vegetables, and pickle of fermented vegetables. This food item is the daily meals of Thakali ethnic community living around Thakkhola of Manang-Mustang Region. This is popular not only in the country but in the countries where Nepali people have migrated.
Nowadays, home stay services are introduce in Nepal in almost every community. Home stay trekking is famous for typical food items and unique hospitality. Due to varieties of ethnic communities, you can taste a typical food item of the respective ethnic community.
Trekking in Nepal vs trekking in other countries
The main features and objectives of trekking all over the world are same. However, trekking in Nepal is quite different from trekking in other countries. There might be several factors responsible for this difference between trekking in Nepal and other countries.
In this section, we are going to discuss on some of the factors of “How is trekking in Nepal different from trekking in other countries?”
Nepal Trekking difficulty level
Trekking difficulty level is categorize into 3 or 4 types or even more based on a few factors. Trekking difficulty is measured on the bases of itinerary, cost, trail condition, availability of food and accommodation services, altitude gain or acute mountain sickness, remoteness, seasons, etc.
In Nepal, you can choose any of the trekking levels: easy, moderate, challenging, and strenuous accordingly. Moderate or easy trekking is suitable for the beginner trekkers and family trekking packages as well. On the contrary, challenging and strenuous trekking is suitable for the experienced trekkers or daredevils who prefer more adventure to trekking in Nepal.
Contrarily, trekking in other countries doesn’t have options for different types of trekking experiences. It is so because most of the trekking destinations of Nepal are developed around the 8,000ers. Except in China and Pakistan, there are no mountains higher than 8,000m.
Himalayan Ranges and their views while trekking in Himalaya
Trekking in Nepal is different from trekking in other countries on the basis of Himalayan Ranges and their views. From most of the sections of trekking trails, you can see many of the Great Himalayas.
Within a few miles’ difference, you can witness the gorgeous mountains and trekking peaks wrapped by the white snow in Nepal. There are various vantage points recognize and recommend for eye-catching vistas of the Himalayas.
But you don’t easily see these Great Himalayas and their 360 degree panoramas while trekking in other countries. It doesn’t mean that trekking destinations of other countries are less beautiful than Nepal’s trekking destinations.
Remoteness during Nepal treks
Except Dolpo Trek, Manaslu Trek, Upper Mustang Trek, Makalu base camp Trek, and Kanchenjunga base camp Trek, Nepal trekking destinations are not as remote as in other countries. Even the restricted area trekking regions of Nepal, you find human settlement areas as high as Gorakshep (5,164m) in the Everest Region.
Similarly, Dho Tarap (3,900m) of Upper Dolpo Region and some of them in Manaslu Circuit Trek have had people living over to the land of their type.
To some parts of the trekking trails of Nepal, there might be remoteness of trekking routes. However, most of the destinations of Trekking in Nepal are accessible and full of success in trekking.
Best Seasons for trekking in Nepal
Nepal has had trekking routes and destinations from easy to strenuous ones. The best time to trek in Nepal is either spring (March-May) or autumn (September-November). Besides, trekking in Nepal in either winter or summer is not recommended or considered the best time.
Spring and autumn trekking in Nepal is the best time to explore the natural and cultural beauties of the nation. But trekking in Nepal in the summer and winter might give you some challenges as well.
The heavy rainfall of summer and snowfall of winter might not be as supportive for the wonderful views as in spring and autumn! Why not you try to choose the best seasons of trekking in Nepal?
Conclusion: Main Features of Trekking in Nepal
This blog is entitled “What are the main features of trekking in Nepal?” We have tried our best to mention ifs and buts of trekking including hiking. Trekking in Nepal is better than doing it in any other countries in the world.
It’s your choice which destinations to book for trekking in Nepal or other countries in the world? Likewise, you must know the features of trekking in Nepal and other countries as well.