Watch the magic unfold on the Great Himalayan Trail!!
As a first-off precaution, we would like to mention that this 43-day Kanchenjunga & Makalu Base Camp Trek is designed for hardcore trekkers exhibiting superior strength and climbing skills. For a more relaxed version of this trek, suited for the lesser prepared, please look into our other trekking itineraries to find your best fit. This itinerary focuses on herding trekkers over the Great Himalayan Trail (“GHT”).
The Great Himalayan Trail is more than a line on a map It is a way to enjoy the beauty of the Himalaya while helping the people who live there. For most of the trek, we will traverse across the GHT and follow it from the Kanchenjunga Base Camp to the Makalu Base Camp.
We pass adjacent to the Tibetan border and get a little glimpse into the flowing cultural and geographical differences between the two countries. Some key elevations to remember are that of Mount Kanchenjunga (8,586m) and Mount Makalu (8,481m). By the end of this journey, you would have conquered the third and fifth-highest peaks in the world. As mentioned before, this trek is not for the faint of heart, and upon completion, you will be one of the handfuls of trekkers that conquer the GHT.
We begin our journey with little peeks into what truly awaits us. In the area around Kanchenjunga, we are privy to a panoramic view of several summits including Tent Peak, Nepal Peak, and Cross Peak. From the first Base Camp, we can see Mount Kanchenjunga in all its majestic glory. From the North Base Camp, locally known as Pangpema, we head to Ghunsa. The sights at Ghunsa are indeed a treasure to safeguard. We then overcome the Nango La (4,820m) and descend into the Yangma Valley and to Olangchunngola, a small hamlet known for yak farming.
We further ascend to a height of 5,160m and ford the Lumba Sumba to reach Chyantang. Known for the Lhomi, an indigenous culture influenced by both Buddhist and Shaman traditions, we can experience a taste of what this sparse population practices. From the town of Chyantang, we head on towards Mount Makalu having shared our journey so far with other trekkers from the Kanchenjunga Base Camp.
Our second leg of the journey culminates in conquering the Makalu Base Camp, following which we descend into the Barun Valley. After a walk through the valley floor, we depart again at Shipton La Pass (4,125m) and Tumlingtar airstrip to catch our flight back to Kathmandu.