Annapurna Circuit Day 14: Kalopani to Tatopani

If I had to give out nominations for the most frustrating day on the Annapurna trek, this would definitely be it!! Why? – Picture mud, A LOT OF IT. Picture a long uneventful road with collapsed bridges, landslides and jeeps. Picture rain, dense clouds and no sign of the Himalayas … then you’ll have a good image of what the trek from Kalopani to Ghansa was like. Luckily in the Himalayas no good or bad lasts for too long so by the time we reached Ghansa, it was like a whole new day!

Kalopani to Ghansa

Most days since the start of the trek, I was waking up to the sound of the Kali Gandaki river fearing it was pouring outside and dreading a day of hiking in the rain. Well, today was (finally) that day!

It was a freezing, cloudy, rainy morning! Perfect weather for a long 7-hour hike 😀 I was seriously dreading it. Not so much for the actual rain or the temperature falling even lower but the uneventfulness of the day ahead and how much harder that’d make it to keep on going.

We had a quick breakfast and I headed out with Nouh. After almost a week of hiking mostly by myself, I could use a buddy today and I was glad Nouh happened to be around (there was literally no one else in the guesthouse either and for the size of Kalopani, it was a pretty big guesthouse). The night before we had asked if the trail to Ghansa was open but unfortunately we were told to take the main road as the bridges along the trail could be damaged.

So at around 7 am wrapped around our raincoats, with hoods on and cameras put deep inside the backpacks, we headed towards Ghansa. Insanely cloudy, rainy, up to the knees in mud were the few hours that followed … Landslides, blown off bridges and huge stretches of the road covered entirely in silt were making the trek exhausting, dangerous and deeply frustrating. And the worst part was it was virtually impossible to tell if the mud we were stepping into was 2 cm of dirt that’ll just dirty up our boots or it’d be a proper pit that’ll devour our feet up and over the boots and will get us so stuck that falling face down would be pretty much inevitable.

Our boots were getting heavy. The mud that had stuck on them was so much, it was making every step harder and harder. We got stuck in the mud so many times that I swear I had never been more grateful for taking a trekking pole. It literally saved me countless times from going proper “tough mudder” 😀 ! I used it strategically to test how deep the mud was and if I could even take a step. A couple of hours into the trek, we looked exhausted, all covered in mud, with our faces looking as though we were so done 😀 And we were but there wasn’t exactly anywhere else to go but forward and on. So we kept going.

Occasionally, jeeps were passing us by and sure we probably could have hopped on but I swear they were going in soooo many directions wobbling their way as they were moving sometimes even slower than we were, that it didn’t even cross my mind that that would be a safer or more comfortable option to get to Tatopani. So we kept going yet again haha

Eventually, we got to Ghansa. Finally! It took us at least 3 hours to get there and on a normal day it really wasn’t meant to take that long so we were starting to get worried we might end up trekking in the dark. At least at that point, it was no longer raining and we could get the cameras out.

Quickly checked in at the ACAP check-in point in Ghansa and finally got on the trail. Can’t exactly describe the relief when the guys at the check-in point said the trail was open and it was safe to trek on. We were excited again (doesn’t usually take much to get us hyped but we sure needed the excitement to come back)!

We were starting to get hunry and having seen no other villages on the way to Ghansa, we asked around for information on whether there’s even anywhere to eat before we end the trek in Tatopani. I still had the gifted apples from yesterday that we could share but with all the energy the trek was using up, they weren’t gonna last us long. Luckily, we were told of a place called Kopchepani. It was supposedly the only place along the trek from Ghansa to Tatopani where we could get food. So that was the second goal for the day … food! And so we headed to Kopchepani.

Ghansa to Kopchepani (via Myagdi)

The sky had cleared. The views that were opening up to our left were so beautiful they were reminding me of my friend’s photos from Hawaii. Random, I know but it was just so much like it! You know what I mean, the layers of mountains staggered one next to the other, lush and green everywhere you turn your head to, little waterfalls dripping down the hills … just beautiful!

We passed by a little deserted village not far out from Ghansa. Chickens were running around but there was barely any sign of people. I was already feeling the difference from the lively and filled with amazing encounters trek I had the previous day and I was kinda hoping we’d meet more locals today. It was fascinating to see how noticeable the difference between the locals of the various regions was and I sure was looking forward to chatting a bit with the locals around this part of the trek. But where were they 😀

The trail was actually so nice. It was pretty flat so it was no longer a strenuous workout like the bit from Kalopani to Ghansa. We were enjoying it! We eventually even met a person 😀 He was a local bamboo bowls maker who was living in a tiny hut kinda in the middle of nowhere. Surprisingly or maybe not so much by that point, he spoke good enough English and we had a brief conversation. He said he spends literally all his time on the side of the trail making and selling his bamboo bowls, nowadays to the small number of trekkers who still decide to take the trail and not breeze through this section of the circuit on a jeep to Tatopani. This was all he ever did, make and sell bamboo bowls.

If you get to meet this lovely man, say Hi for me, will you?! 🙂

Shortly after, we headed down some stairs and found ourselves by the sign of a place called Saino Hotel & Cafe. There didn’t seem to be a “hotel” or a “cafe” but I thought we had already reached Kopchepani so this had to be our only option for food (later we realised this was actually the village just before Kopchepani called Myagdi)! There were a few local ladies and a table which looked like it could be for guests so I rushed to ask if they’d make us lunch if we have the same thing. Random? Not so much. Everywhere on the trek the food is prepared from scratch so naturally, if we all order the same food, 1st it’ll be quicker and 2nd we won’t be too much of a hassle for the lady preparing our food (usually just one). We got vegetable curry for 4 … calm down! We didn’t get 2 portions each although we could’ve easily managed that 😀 By the time we sat down, Max and Johannas, two German guys we had bumped into a few days ago, joined us for lunch, although it was more like half lunch, half a leeches check-up 😀

A few leeches had settled into my boots which drove the whole group crazy. Suddently the guys were taking off their trainers, leggings and socks, in a frantic search of the blood-sucking invaders. In Europe we wash our hands and stay up straight whilst waiting for our food to get ready, in Nepal, we clearly take off clothes and check for leeches 😀 Not a big deal!

Myagdi to Tatopani

As much as we were loving observing the local ladies as they were going about their little house jobs, some cleaning up beans, others doing the laundry, we finished the curries quickly and headed back on what was now a long set of stairs going down and then going back up until it eventually flatted out. The Germans starting speeding up, clearly unimpressed by the gorgeous views that had opened up which were obviously making me stop every few minutes to take a photo. How could I not though, just look how stunning it was!

It was just me and Nouh again. We trekked on, going past more deserted houses and beautiful sceneries until we got to a point we had to cross the river again … not again. We wanted to continue on the trail but what was showing up on Maps.me as the correct way now had a wall that was very clearly blocking it out for trekkers. We didn’t want to face the reality of having to go back on the main road after the terrific morning we had just had but it was either that or going over the wall hoping there actually was a way forward on the trail.

It was already 3:30 pm which for the clock we were living by, was late. We only had about 1.5h of light before getting dark and another 7 kilometres to go. We couldn’t risk it so with a grim on both our faces Nouh and I crossed the last wobbly bridge for the day just to find ourselves having to cross the river yet again just a few minutes later. This time though we didn’t see there was actually bridge until about 15 min of us trying to figure how exactly to cross the damn river. We made so many jumps back and forth trying to manoeuvre to avoid hopping right inside the river but there just wasn’t a way to cross. I was so close to falling in this time that if it wasn’t for Nouh I probably would’ve totally ended the day all soaked and grouchy. Turns out, on rainy days you’d better stick with a buddy 😀

There was an old lady giggling on the side of the river, clearly loving the entertainment we were putting on 😀 Luckily she didn’t get to see us go bum down, feet up inside the river. Eventually, she even pointed at the bridge haha could’ve done that earlier but hey, gotta appreciate the stories that came out of it!

Anyway, we headed back on the muddy, disgusting, uneventful road for the 7km to Tatopani. Luckily aside from the actual state of the road, the trek was flat so we could go fast to avoid having to take out the torches. Now … did I have time to empty half my backpack in search of a pack of biscuits I had been carrying since the start of the trek to give it to the most adorable three girls who shouted unanimously “Chocolate” when they saw us … mmm maybe not but it didn’t stop me from doing it anyway 😀 I probably pissed off Nouh having to put everything back inside my bag (whoooops!) but the girls looked so happy that, for a brief moment, it kinda made everything seem a little less important.

At about 4:30 pm we had arrived at Tatopani. And we could totally tell we were there. Souvenir shops, trekkers everywhere, disinterested locals trying to sell us stuff and seal a deal on one of their rooms, it was obvious that this place was trendy. I hadn’t seen this many trekkers in one place since Manang and it felt kinda nice but also super weird. Turned out Tatopani is quite the famous spot to visit if you wanted to soak in the local hot springs. It was the place people tend to pause at for a day to re-energise before moving onto Ghorepani the following day.

I was so exhausted that all I wanted was to take a hot shower, get some food and just read a little so I was pretty pleased that it didn’t take long before I got myself a room at the Dhaulagiri lodge. The place had such an amazing garden that I was sold on it as soon as I walked in. Ok, not entirely true … literally as soon as I walked in though and headed to speak to the guy running the place, I walked past an interesting curly-haired, European looking guy: “Finally someone hot on this trek” – was literally the first thing I thought the moment I saw him haha Not in a creepy kinda way though, I promise 😀

I was all covered in mud, looking horrendous, exhausted to even carry my backpack at that point so all I could really think about was how I’d take my boots off and have a nice hot shower … yet I was curious, “Wonder where that accent’s from hmmm“. By the time I sorted out my room and took a shower, the mystery guy (who also turned out to be my neighbour) had disappeared and it was time for dinner. The place was honestly so relaxing. I could hear the mosquitos that would later come to bite me (literally), the Kali Gandaki river was bustling just a few meters down from the guesthouse and the occasional conversations were all of trekkers chatting about the route for the following day. I could see why people spend an extra day in this place! It was cosy 🙂

I spent good couple of hours sipping on my tea, reading my book, jotting things down in my journal and secretly wondering whether the mystery guy would reappear all of a sudden. He didn’t … that evening any way! Round 9:30 pm which was the usual bedtime on most trekking days, it was time to go fight the mosquitos, I mean … go to bed 😀 Night night!!

Daily Costs

• Room – RS 200
• Veg Curry – RS 300
• Dal Bhat – RS 475
• Porridge – RS 200

Day 14 Tips

• Before heading out today, check with your host if the trail to Ghansa is open. If it’s not, sadly you’ll have to go on the main road.
• If you’re trekking on a rainy day, get your trekking pole out and use it! Otherwise, it’s impossible to tell how deep the mud is and you can seriously get stuck.
• Watch out for landslides and especially the jeeps that literally become uncontrollable on a muddy day.
• Have lunch at the Saino hotel & cafe in Myagdi because as it turned out there was nowhere to grab food in Kopchepani where we were originally headed for.
• As with any rainy day, check for leeches! These little bastards are experts at hiding so unless you actively check for them, you won’t see them until they’ve already dined on you 😀
• Enjoy it (despite all I said above 😀 ) and stay present! Namaste 🙂

Day 14 Gallery