मौरिस हर्जोग पदमार्ग
Myagdi, November 8.
Tourist arrivals have significantly increased at the Annapurna Base Camp (ABC), Panchakunda Lake, and the Maurice Herzog Trail, situated at an altitude of 8,091 meters, to celebrate the Dashain and Tihar holidays following favorable weather conditions.
According to Tej Gurung, an activist promoting the Maurice Herzog Trail, around 200 domestic, Indian, and third-country tourists have been visiting the base camp daily since Dashain. “As the trails remain safe and unaffected by the monsoon-related disasters of last September, youths and employed individuals have chosen the Annapurna Base Camp to spend their holidays,” he said. “Restaurants and campsites along the trail are fully packed.”
Situated at an altitude of 4,050 meters above sea level, the base camp has increasingly developed as a new premier tourist destination, bringing great enthusiasm to tourism entrepreneurs in Beni, Bhurung-Tatopani, and Narchyang.
Reflecting on her family trip to the base camp, Manita Rayamajhi, a professor at Myagdi Multiple Campus who recently returned to Beni, described the trek as short, adventurous, and scenic, noting that the journey can be completed within two to three days.
To ensure convenience for visitors, temporary tea and snack shops, as well as lodges offering food and accommodation facilities, have been established at various points along the trail from Humkhola to the base camp. Shelters have also been constructed at Sandhikharka, Bhusukhet Mela, and the Panchakunda Lake premises.
Essential tourism infrastructure, including drinking water facilities and restrooms, has been developed at Humkhola, Phutfute Waterfall, Gufa Phat, Bhusukhet, and Panchakunda. Furthermore, the trails and suspension bridges have been maintained using budgets allocated by the federal, provincial, and rural municipal governments.
Statues of the pioneering climbers Maurice Herzog, Louis Lachenal, and their Nepali porter companion Sonam Wangchuk Sherpa have been placed at the base camp alongside an open-air museum. Additionally, a tourist information center was established last week at Bansabot, the gateway to the trail. Ward Chair of Annapurna Rural Municipality-4, Lok Bahadur Fagami, noted that the trail was named in honor of the first climber, Maurice Herzog.
Referred to as Nepal’s “senior-most mountain,” the base camp of Annapurna I can be reached via the Maurice Herzog Trail by driving 20 kilometers from Narchyang (passing Dobhan and Chhotepa) to Humkhola, followed by a two-day trek along a 21-kilometer footpath. Natural highlights along the trail—such as the Phutfute Waterfall, Panchakunda Lake near the base camp, and breathtaking Himalayan vistas—make the journey even more thrilling for travelers.
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