Up the Nar Phu Valley - trekking 1

Namaste
The Nar Phu Valley is a remote area north of the Annapurna mountains and is accessed by a path along a narrow valley from the famous and popular Annapurna Circuit Trek.  We passed through a decorated gateway at the entrance to the valley.  We were to see lots of these during our travels in Manang.

The path went up the steep valley which carries the combined Nar and Phu rivers out of the high valley. We followed a well trodden path that started in broadleaf forest but as we climbed the vegetation turned to conifer and then became sparser and the landscape more barren.

There was so much of interest to see.
The steepness of the valley sides and their height. On both sides were mountain ridges.  The path in places had been carved into the rocky cliff. At all times we could hear the river below us.

Path carved into the rocky cliff

In one place the river had been bridged by a massive chunk of ice from a glacier which must have fallen from very high up the mountain, perhaps dislodged by the earthquake. However, despite the monsoon heat it had not completely melted away.  The river was flowing under it, and the ice was obvious.

Further up we came to a large waterfall - with the path (and us) actually going through behind the falling water.















The people who live in this remote valley have no road access and there is a 2 day minimum walk to get there. Mules are used to carry heavy supplies and we saw numerous mule-trains loaded with sacks of cement, rice and other heavy essentials on the path.






Eventually after many hours of walking we climbed up a steep slope and found ourselves on a small plateau with a few houses.  This was Meta and our lodgings for the night. In the distance across the deep gorge, eroded by the river, we could see a colourful Buddhist monastery - this would be our accommodation in a few nights time on our return. The photo shows how desolate the landscape is in that area.