As a yoga teacher and also a professional working in the Nepali tourism sector, I get opportunities to work with yogis from around the world. I travel around Nepal and I also get to trek to the magnificence of the mountains as a yoga teacher/leader. Every time I do it, I love and enjoy it as if it’s my very first time. Here is an account of my yoga trekking adventure to Mardi Himal.

Leading yogis on a trek to the Mardi Himal region is definitely an awesome experience that I recently had. I was leading an awesome group on the Mardi Himal Yoga Trek as their yoga teacher. As I met them on the first day, I could see their excitement, about going to the mountains and doing yoga there. They were as excited as any other traveler to the mountains. The truth is that Nepalese mountain magnificence is ever and equally exciting to first-timers and repeat visitors. So the excitement of the group was my fuel to go for an awesome trip to the mountains.

Great Day but Disappointing Weather

The next day, when we started the trek, it was an uphill trail step through a beautiful lush forest only to emerge at a beautiful village for a cultural walking experience. We were expecting some spectacular Himalayan views from Dhampus but the mountains chose to hide behind clouds. So, not much luck for the mountains. But the walk through villages with green surroundings and the lush forest was definitely the day maker. We reached a beautiful place called Pitam Deurali to spend our overnight. This was the first mountain stopover on our yoga trekking adventure to Mardi Himal.

Pitam Deurali again could have provided us with a magnificent view but a little bad weather kept us from it. We were having a lovely yoga session on the rooftop of the teahouse we were staying in and lo, and it started raining to make us rush down leaving our practice incomplete! What great timing!

It rained throughout the night and gave us hope for clear weather the next morning. But all we could see was a brief glimpse of Annapurna South and it was cloudy again. We did our yoga on the verandah as the rooftop was all wet.

Our walk for the day was all through a lush forest of rhododendron and several other trees. The destination for the day was Rest Camp where we enjoyed another session of verandah yoga in the evening. Post-dinner time at the dining hall of the tea house was purely musical. Singing, dancing, and laughing joined by another group too were good enough to prepare us to sleep at the elevation of 2,600 meters above sea level.

Sky cleared up and we saw the mountains

The next morning was a spectacular one as Mt. Fishtail and Mardi Himal were standing tall right in front of us. Our morning yoga session was all on my feet. We did not use our yoga mat. Instead, to enjoy the view, we did some standing yoga postures after good subtle and dynamic warm-up stretching. And we headed towards Badal Danda for an overnight stay. But along the way, when we reached Low Camp, the group started discussing the possibility of trekking to High Camp instead of staying at Badal Danda.

After a discussion for a while about the possibility of skipping Badal Danda camp, we finally decided to trek to the High Camp to stay overnight. We made a contact at a tea house at High Camp to ask if rooms are available for the day and the owner said he would try to manage but we still had a suspicion about our accommodation arrangements at the High Camp. Anyway, we were trekking to High Camp to stay overnight.

Thankfully, when we reached the High Camp, they had two rooms for the guests and we had to adjust in the dining hall. That was perfectly fine for us as our guests got rooms to sleep but when the owner told us that he had to request a group of Nepalese, who were already staying in those rooms, to move to the dining hall, we felt a bit bad. But it was such a nice group of Nepalese youngsters that they agreed to move to the dining hall to accommodate our guests. We could not have been more thankful to them.

Early Morning Hike to the Mardi Himal Base Camp

The next morning was early morning to hike to the Mardi Himal base camp. We started the adventure at 04:30 in the morning with flashlights and marched ahead towards the Base camp aiming for the sunrise from View Point. As we traversed the narrow trail up the grassy hill, the dawn slowly started breaking and the Mt. Fishtail ridge was visible. We could see the colorful sky over the mountain ridge as the sign of sun hues broke the darkness. Almost halfway through to the View Point, we were suddenly exposed to the majestic view of Annapurna South, Annapurna I, and Hiunchuli that kept accompanying us throughout. We reached the viewpoint just a few minutes after the sun came into full exposure.

It was such an overwhelming moment to be at View Point to enjoy breathtaking views of the snowcapped mountains. After a wonderful time at View Point, another spectacular part was hiking to the Mardi Himal Base Camp to be at the elevation of 4,500 meters above sea level.

Simply the stunning point to be on earth, Mardi Himal Base Camp boasts a fascinating view of gigantic mountains and an unforgettable experience. We enjoyed the moment of being there to the fullest before heading back down to High Camp and further down to Low Camp for an overnight stay. We had another reinvigorating yoga session at Low Camp on a foggy afternoon.

The early morning view the next day was yet another spectacular one of Mt. Fishtail with sunrise. And of course, we did a refreshing morning yoga session. It was our last day of the trekking part and we traversed the downhill trail through the forest to Sidding to have our lunch.

Four-wheel Drive Experience

Later, an adventurous four-wheel drive was awaiting us. The jeep ride back to Pokhara was probably the most adventurous part of the journey. As the jeep would wheeze past the narrow jeep track, we could feel all the bumps but the view of the surroundings made it easier for us to divert our attention from the bump and the adventure. We could see beautiful waterfalls, villages, village life, and greenery around. Eventually, we reached Pokhara to bring the trekking part to an end.

The yoga trekking adventure to Mardi Himal this time was an experience with a foggy forest walk and an overwhelming final, highlight day view on the hike to the base camp. The slight disappointment due to bad weather for the first few days was all gone on the Base Camp hiking day when the mountains were all in their full exposure in front of us.  It was such a memorable trip to cherish.

Let us know if you want to know more about a trekking adventure to Mardi Himal.