One of the best ways to test your physical fitness and explore at the same time without digging too deep of a hole in your pocket is going on a trekking trip. And this is exactly what I did recently.
While roaming on the North part of Pokhara lakeside, I ran into this very unconventional but, yet tacky office called “The Nature’s Preserve”. Just by reading the name it triggered my desire to know what the company exactly represents. There a met a very welcoming and friendly gentleman by the name of Roshan Gurung.
My first question to him was about the name itself, “The Nature’s Preserve”. In this world of artificial beauty, that name sparked some sort of excitement and curiosity for me and I wanted to know what services his company has to offer to bring humans close to the nature as the name suggests. Roshan also known as Kalu (which he stated he prefers to be called) explained that he offers summer retreats packages and short, beautiful treks in and around Pokhara. After talking for a while, he was successful to convenience me for a trek to Tarahill and Sikles form Pokhara. He referred and suggested will be become one of the best short treks of my lifetime. I was convinced and so I asked him to book me for the trek. We decided to leave for the trek in 5 days from that day. I was to meet him at 11 AM at his office.
Day 1:
I met Kalu exactly at 11:00 AM on the agreed date. We had Bruch together and after that a Jeep came to pick us up. Our Destination for that Day was Bhurjung Khola (River) which was about 40 mins away from Pokhara city. He had camp site build on the bay of the river. It was just beautiful with his organic vegetables garden surrounding the camp site. Dinner was served with vegetables grown right there next to the camp site. With locally grown delicious food for dinner, Kalu showed short length documentary about Sikles and Tara Hill. The night at the camp site was just amazing.
Day 2:
Early morning at the camp site had a surprise waiting for me. The day before was cloudy hence was hiding the beautiful Mt. Fishtail from my sight. First thing that came to my vision when exiting my tent was the magnificent Mount Fishtail. The reason it is called Mt. Fishtail is because of the Fish tail shape on the top. That view just made my day. Even though that Mt. can be seen from the city as well, being able to see it from the camp site was completely different. It had different aroma, may be because I was in the middle of nature, far away from the city crowd.
After breakfast looking at ever beautiful Mt. Fishtail and the scent of local nature, we made our trip to Ghale Kharke. This is from where we were to start our walk. It took us 45 minutes off road drive to reach Ghale Kharke from Bhurjung Khola.
Our plan was to reach the top of Tara hill the same day. After walking for 4 hours resting in-between, we reach the top of Tara Hill. I was told that in the morning i will be able see around 7 mountain ranges from Mt. Annapurna South to Mt. Manaslu. Tara hill top is situated at around 3000 meters from the sea level. I was able to experience why it was called “Tara (Star) hill” first hand that night. I felt as if I was among stars. Billions of stars seem to be just starring at me up close and I was in awe. I had never felt so overwhelmed by the existence of stars in our universe. There was no limitation on my excitement. Kalu was true to his word, the experience will stay with me for the rest of my life. Camp fire, hand picked food cooked on the camp fire and the company of billions of stars in the milky way galaxy, I could have asked for any more. The night was perfect to its core. Satisfaction 100% 😊
Day 3:
As Kalu had stated, early morning I was able to see the Mountains ranges of Annapurna, Lamjung Himal, Mt. Fishtail and Manaslu. The view was breathtaking. We had our breakfast, spent few moments appreciating the nature at its best and started our journey to Sikles Village. This village is centuries old that fell on the shadow Mount of Annapura II and was occupied by Gurungs. Gurungs (One of the many castes in Nepal) have occupied this land from long time and it is supposed to be second largest Gurung Village in Nepal.
It took us total of 5 hours walk to reach Sikles village. When we reached the village, we were greeted by the villagers with garlands. People were very friendly and welcoming. I can tell Kalu has good relationship with villagers. After taking shower and eating homemade food, I took the liberty of roaming Skiles, it was gorgeous. Night was spent well with local dance ceremony and bonfire.
Day 4:
Early Morning Kalu gave me and few other trek members some tips on trekking. I think he was trying to sell us his next trek trip to PoonHill, situated at an altitude of around 3200 meters. 😊
After eating our breakfast, we started our journey to another village called Tangting. It was straight across from Sikles. Even though it seemed right there, it took us good 4 hours to get to Tangting. It was a good walk down the jungle path. I got lucky and saw deer and porcupine along the way. My luck was really on my side as I was able to gather some of the porcupine’s quill on our path as well.
After reaching Tangting, we rested a little bit and roamed the Village and headed back to Pokhara. It took us close to 90 minutes to reach back to Pokhara, lakeside.
My trek from Pokhara to Tara hill to Skiles, Tangting and back to Pokhara had come to an end. Even though my trek had ended, the experience I gathered will last forever.
Thank you Kalu, for an amazing company and tour of the nature. Your really captured the trek and the experience in the name. It was really “The Nature’s Preserve”, I had experienced during my time trekking.
Trek Summary:
Day 1: Jeep from Lakeside Pokhara to Bhurjung Khola (30 mins drive)
Day 2: Jeep from Bhurjung Khola to GhaleKharka (40 mins Drive)
Ghalekharka to Tara Hilltop 3000 meters (5 hrs walk)
Day 3: Tara Hilltop to Sikles 2000 meters (5 Hrs walk)
Day 4: Sikles to Tanting 1980 meters (4 hrs walk)
Tanting to Pokhara, Lakeside (90 minutes’ Drive)