We had heard about Mount Kanchenjunga and available trekking on its periphery both from Nepal as well as India side, with some research over Internet regarding Kanchenjunga Trek, we decide to choose to do it from side of Nepal. We arrive Nepal early morning via Turkish Air around 8 o’clock in Nepal and issued necessary permits for Kanchenjunga Trekking. It was our month long vacation on Nepal where we had allocates 23 days for trek. It lies entirely on extreme east section of Nepal with border to Tibet and Sikkim (India) that is easily accessible via short flight from Kathmandu from where we will walk for couple of weeks on restricted region of Nepal. Taplejung was small but really beautiful with ethnic people, Mongolian tribe. During our long trip we had encounter several beautiful as well as amazing places within Kanchenjunga Conservation Area. Here are list of those beautiful places along with snapshot that we had made while we were there.
Pangpema (Kanchenjunga North Base Camp)
Small stone huts for accommodation accompany one of the most amazing places as well as remotest part of Kanchenjunga, Pangpema so we decide to set our own tent that we had carried for our overnight stay in Kanchenjunga North Base Camp. Just next to Kanchenjunga Range which acts as wall and open blue sky as a roof we lies very cozily on lap of Kanchenjunga. As you can see on our picture here some other ladies are also setting a camp next to us in same large grassy plain of Kanchenjunga North Base Camp.
© Saugat Adhikari
Ghunsa
Biggest settlement on northern ridge of Kanchenjunga, Ghunsa was nice settlement of Sherpa with colorful houses and fences almost entirely made of wooden slabs. Accommodation was best so was the food, if you are lucky enough you will get chance to have some yak burgers on Ghunsa. Another interesting facts is landslide can change entire trail within a day as same might not exist on the way from Kanchenjunga North Base Camp to Ghunsa which you had trekked before. Big valley, large stone boulders are major attraction of Ghunsa.
© Saugat Adhikari
Mamangkhe
Another small but beautiful village of Mamangkhe was also entirely accompanied by Limbu people where few teahouses exist with small shops for basic utilities. Lush green vegetation, beautiful Limbu museum are major attraction of Mamangkhe, people are always happy with what they had. We found another trekking trail here as a Limbu Cultural Trail rather than month long trek on heart of Kanchenjunga. This is suitable for old aged people as well as those with short holiday instead of hustle bustle trek in other famous region of Nepal.
© Saugat Adhikari
Sele Le Pass
Although there is no such settlement on top of Sele Le Pass, area is awesome with its view of Mount Makalu, large rock boulders with different shapes which change on change is place as it looks one shape and when you can walk for a while same boulders changes dramatically and looks different. Because of its steep uphill trail to reach the summit it might takes a long for one to reach the top but view is rewarding. If you are for Kanchenjunga circuit trek in Taplejung then you must encounter with Sele Le Pass as it serves as bridge between Kanchenjunga North and Kanchenjunga South Base Camp.
© Saugat Adhikari
This article is written by Saugat Adhikari. He also manages a website that provides information about trekking in Kanchenjunga.
