Nepal Partners

Whenever a group of hikers gather around, the conversation soon turns to food and the Everest Base Camp trekkers are no different. One of the delights of this trek is the variety and abundance of food available particularly when you consider that nearly everything is physically carried in either by porter, yak or mule train. 

Having woken at 5am to the freezing cold, I reflected once more on Raju’s briefing the night before. For the first time since leaving Lukla, Raju warned that this was going to be a hard day. According to Raju, we’d already had seven easy days though with the challenging climbs, high altitudes and reduced oxygen, easy was not the description any of us would have chosen. If Raju was telling us to prepare for a hard day, we’d better take him seriously.

What is this divine feeling, is it happiness, is it wonder or is it perhaps spiritual? It remains intangible as I gaze upwards to the world’s highest peaks. While the feeling is indescribable, I sense a peacefulness on this most significant of days, having arrived at long last at Everest Base Camp and I was in complete awe of my surroundings. Welcome to my Everest Base Camp Trek Diary.

Hundreds of dove grey pigeons fluttered up, stirred into action by a uniformed man waving his arms and shooing at them only to settle the moment his back was turned. The pigeons resumed eating the grain being tossed to them by a tourist, these were the true city dwellers, capable of adaptation wherever they went. Cooing softly amongst themselves, they ignored the pilgrims prostrating themselves before the enormous white domed Boudhanath Stupa.