About the Makalu section of the Great Himalaya Trail
Located between its famous neighbours the Kanchenjunga and Everest regions, Makalu is a rarely visited gem just waiting to be explored by the intrepid trekker. While there is an established trail to the Makalu Base Camp from the south, it is considered to be one of the tougher trekking routes in Nepal although it offers stunning scenery and is certainly not overrun with other trekkers. If you intend to trek from Kanchenjunga and over to Everest you should be prepared for the extremely wild trail in from Kanchenjunga to the upper Barun Valley and then for some serious mountaineering to get over the Sherpani Col, the West Col and the Amphu Labtsa passes.
With the Makalu Barun National Park and Makalu Conservation Area together covering 3160 sq km, this region has Nepal’s largest protected area. Hence, it has very special wilderness values with over 3000 species of flowering plants, including orchids and a whopping 25 species of rhododendrons! In the higher areas you will trek in incredible mountain scenery with such stunning, immense glaciers and peaks that you will wonder why so few people venture in here. A visit to Makalu is also a great opportunity to meet and learn about the ethnic groups living here, including Rai, Limbu, Sherpa and Lhomi peoples, as their villages and way of life has been relatively undisturbed by outside influences.
The Makalu region is renowned for getting lots of rain and snow, so trekking here is best done in mid October and November, as monsoon is extremely wet and the high passes are closed from December through to about March.
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