From Village to Village

The Annapurna Circuit is a hiking trail that winds around the Annapurna massif in the Nepalese Himalayas, taking about eighteen days to complete. The special thing about the hike for me was that almost every night is spent in a small, remote village, making the tour not only a scenic but also a cultural experience. The closer we got to the 5400m pass, the more sparse and rugged the lifestyle was for the people and the more rustic their dwellings became. Up until a few years ago, any building material that was not available in the remote mountains had to be brought over the long distance by donkey or by the people’s own physical strength. Today, a large number of the villages are connected by a dusty road, which takes away some of the charm for the hiker, but greatly helps the locals. Despite the continuing encroachment of the outside world, this hike was one of the best I’ve experienced.

Near Menang (Nepal), March 2014