Helambu treks begin from Sundarijal or Melamchi Pul; the area offers a range of cultures with the main three ethnic peoples living in are the Tamangs, Bhotias and Yolmus. The Yolmo people of the Helambu region are not often referred to as “Sherpas”, however, neither their languages, customs, nor does clan structure resemble the Solu-Khumbu Sherpas of Everest. They are thought to be more akin to Langtang Bhotias, and may also have originated from the Kyirong area of Tibet, just over the border.
Their religion and monasteries show their rich Buddhist culture. At lower elevations along the edges of the park, other mid hill tribes and castes reside including Bramins, Chhetries, Newars and some Gurung.
This area happens to be within and always been referred as the Langtang region as most of the trek to Langtang and adventurous traverse joins at Helambu, Langtang area was declared a National Park in 1976 and remains the second largest Park in Nepal, covering 1710 sq.km. Mountainous terrain south of Nepal-Tibet (China) border.
Helambu area is regarded as one of the most beautiful regions in the foot hills of the Jugal Himalaya, which is just a few days away from the Kathmandu Valley rim situated directly north east of Kathmandu in the Central Himalayan Region.
“Nepal: Back on Top of the World”
On arrival at Kathmandu Tribhuvan International Airport you will be received by our staff and will escort you to the Hotel, where our staff and guide will give you a brief orientation of the Hotel, Kathmandu, Trekking, do’s and don’t and other related information that you might require while in Nepal.
After your first night in Kathmandu, you will be well informed on arrival about the time for your half day guided sightseeing tour in Kathmandu at places of interest. Sometime, depending upon your flight arrival if it’s late in the night we will do this tour in the afternoon instead of morning to give you a nice rest before the sight seeing tour.
A few hours drive at the eastern suburb of the Kathmandu Valley passes through the famed places of Bouddhanath renowned for its enormous Buddhist Chaityas or Stupa all seeing. After Bouddhanath the drive diverts to the dirt road for an hour towards Sundarijal (meaning beautiful water), a lovely spot with cool patch of forest with monkeys and fresh streams, a picnic spot for most of the Kathmandu people who wants to escape for a day from the busy crowded metropolitan life in the city.
From here the trek begins with a climb up to the rim of the Kathmandu Valley, through terraces of rice and millet, and then trough a delightful forest of rhododendron. The trail continues to a climb, eventually reaching a high ridge offering excellent views of the Ganesh and Langtang Himal. We camp at Chisopani so that we can take advantage of the sunrise over eastern Himalaya from our camp site.
Chisopani Danda a scenic spot at the top of the hilltop, with 4-6 teahouses or Lodge and an Army Camp nearby, apart from the mountain scenery, a lovely view of the surrounding landscapes and valleys down below can be seen from our camping spot.
This is really a trek of ridges and this morning we descend one ridge to the friendly village of Patibhanjyang, before ascending another ridge, and crossing a high forested crest, to our overnight camp at Gulbhanjyang. En route there are wide vistas over the terraced valleys of Helambu. Hindu shrines and Buddhist mani walls and small chortens point to the cultural mix that goes to make up this fascinating part of the world.
After enjoying the stay at Gulbhanjyang, walk lead to a climb steeply up to the Thodang Danda., from here onwards the country becomes wilder, the path winds up gradually passing through patch of forest and farm areas and scattered rural hamlets then eventually reaching the village of Kutumsang one of the main village of Helambu at 2,445 m,
From Kutumsang the route leads to a long ascent through enchanting forest, emerging finally on the Panghu Danda (ridge) at an altitude of 3,300 meteres. The ridge crest is thickly forested with rhododendron and pine the dominant species around this area. Between the patches of trees, there are secluded pastures and associated temporary shelters (goths), and we pass several small valleys which allows to glimpse the terraced farmland which here lies thousands of feet below us. There are two trail from here that leads to Melamchigaon, our route leads the scenic route adding more heights to our adventure towards Tharepati ridge which is about 2-3 hours walk uphill, Tharepati at 3,505m will be our highest point of this trek and its worth the climb for the grand views of the snow capped peaks, ranging from Langtang, Ganesh Himal, Manaslu to Annapurna in the far west and the Jugal mountain range to the north east.
The trail from here also branches off, for another one and half day walk to the popular pilgrimage holy place of Gosainkund towards west.
Our trek continues downhill from Tharepati towards Melamchigaon for another 3-4 hours through the beautiful forest of oaks and rhododendron till Melamchigaon is reached for the overnight.
The walk from Melamchigaon is gradual for an hour and half with the last hour climb to Tarkegyang. Tarkegyang, is the main village of Helambu region, the place is also renowned for its famed green apples and the wood carving on furniture and for other household products. We will have ample time visiting this lovely village, where its windows and furniture have nice traditional carving. The homes of the inhabitants are amazingly clean with polished wooden floors.
A well deserved rest day free from the hassle of packing, today local visit around the village and its Monastery, and energetic short hike around on top of the nearby hills for more great view of the snow capped peaks and landscapes.
After a lovely morning we head towards another important village of the area to Sermathang, the walk leads on the gradual winding path offering excellent views of the surrounding landscapes all the way to our overnight stop at Sermathang after a good four hours walks.
The last day of the trek is more or less down hill all the way to Melamchi Pul Bazaar, road head for the drive to Kathmandu. The trek passes through mid hills villages of Kakani and Thimbu before heading towards the subtropical region back to the rice paddy fields. On arriving at Melamchi Pul which is a busy bazaar, where people from the rural villages from the hills comes here for the marketing and to catch a bus to Kathmandu city. Here we will have our last camp of this wonderful trek away from the main busy bazaar of Melamchi.
A short scenic drive of an hour brings back to Kathmandu through the town of Banepa and Bhaktapur.
A free day in Kathmandu, please inform our staff if you would like to go on another short tour in and around Kathmandu Valley or for scenic mountain flight.
Today as per your international flight time, keep the confirmed air ticket, and your passport handy. Our staff will take you to the airport for your final departure from this amazing country, Nepal.
Facilitating trips for people from all over the world, our staff members are knowledgeable adventurers and travellers, we can introduce you to exciting travel experience all over Nepal and some other countries.