24-Day Great Himalaya Trail, Api Saipal Section Trek | FarWest Nepal

Your adventure kicks off the moment you land in Kathmandu. A Firante Treks representative will be waiting at the airport to warmly welcome you and transfer you smoothly to your hotel.

Take this first day easy, rest up, shake off the jet lag, and get everything ready for the trek ahead. In the evening, join us for a relaxed pre-trek briefing where we’ll walk through the route, review your gear, sort out permits, and answer all your questions. It’s the perfect chance to meet your guide and connect with your fellow trekkers over a cup of tea.

An early-morning flight takes you from Kathmandu to Nepalganj, a busy lowland city in the western Terai near the Indian border. The contrast from Kathmandu is immediate: hotter, flatter, louder.

Nepalganj is essentially a transit point for the far west. You’ll check into your hotel, sort any final gear, and rest up for an early start the next morning. Flights to Simikot are weather-dependent and typically leave early, so an early night is a good idea.

Flight:55 min

An early morning flight from Nepalganj carries you up into the mountains and lands in Simikot — the headquarters of Humla district and your gateway into Nepal’s far west. The flight itself is an experience, with the Himalayan ranges appearing through the window as you approach.

Simikot sits at 2,910m — high enough that your body needs time to adjust before the trek begins in earnest. Today is an acclimatization day. Rest, explore the town at a slow pace, and let the altitude do its work quietly.

Simikot is a fascinating place to spend a day — a remote mountain town that feels completely apart from the rest of Nepal. Traditional stone houses, local markets, and the wide open views of the Humla valley all around you. Talk to your guide, check your gear, eat well, and sleep early. Tomorrow the jeep leaves for Yari.

Flight: 45 min

Your GHT journey begins the moment you climb into the jeep at Simikot. The road drops into the Karnali River gorge, passing the small stone settlement of Lagna before entering Thakuri village territory through Dharapori, Chauganphaya, Danadaphaya, and Majgaun. You will cross Hepka Khola and catch your first real highlight — the thundering Chaynchara Waterfall pouring into the gorge below.

From here the route follows the Karnali through Kermi, Tuling, Yalbang, and Muchu — traditional villages where locals tend their fields and greet passing jeeps with easy warmth. By the time you reach Yari at 3,730m, the valley has opened into a wide mountain plateau and the trek is ready to begin.

Your first day on foot begins from Yari — a wide open plateau where buckwheat fields glow red and brown in season, and ancient stone walls line the edges of the valley. With a massive glacier peak sitting directly ahead on the horizon, it is the kind of view that makes you stop before you have even started walking.

The trail climbs steadily through open terrain. You will pass local porters carrying enormous doko baskets — the people who make this trek possible, moving loads through this landscape day after day with quiet strength.

After around 5 hours you arrive at Jyakthong at 3,822m. Camp here under open sky. The temperature drops once the sun sets, so layer up and rest well — the days ahead get harder.

Today, the landscape changes completely. The trail pushes deeper into the mountains, and by midday, you are walking along a milky blue glacial river, ice-cold, powerful, cutting through towering rock walls that rise straight up on both sides.

As you climb higher, the terrain opens into raw glacial moraine — loose rock, grey and brown, with the glacier itself visible above. By the time you arrive, the mountains are right there, enormous, snowy, filling the entire sky.

Glacier Camp at 4,810m is the highest you have slept so far. It is cold, exposed, and completely magnificent. Get into your sleeping bag early. Tomorrow is the hardest day of the entire trek.

This is the day everything comes together and the day that tests you the most.

You begin the long push to Chimalaya Pass at 5,322m, the highest point of the entire trek. The ground is rocky, dry, and demanding. Every step above 5,000m costs more than it looks. But when you reach the pass and stand there with prayer flags snapping in the wind and snow peaks surrounding you in every direction, that feeling cannot be described to someone who has not stood there.

But the day is not over. From Chimalaya, you continue to Thado Dunga Pass at 5,218m, a second crossing above 5,000m on the same day. The descent to Thado Dunga camp at 4,573m is steep and demands full concentration.

By the time you reach camp, you will be tired in a way that feels honest and earned. Eat well. You deserve it.

A short day, and the body is grateful for it. Three hours of gentle walking through high alpine terrain gives your legs and lungs the chance to recover from yesterday’s double pass crossing. These shorter days are doing real work, letting your body adapt before the next challenge.

Arrive at Kalanga at 4,245m and take the afternoon slowly.

One of the most rewarding days on the entire route. The trail moves through wide open ridgelines with long views in every direction — and on a clear morning, Mt. Api (7,132m) and Mt. Saipal (7,031m) appear on the horizon, standing together above everything else.

Sunlight comes through in long rays, the smoke from a distant camp the only sign of human life in an otherwise completely wild landscape. Let the mountains do their work. Camp at Dhaulachaur at 3,624m.

A gentle 4-hour walk that leads to one of the most beautiful spots on the entire trek. Nilgatti Taal is a high alpine lake sitting quietly in a bowl of green grass and rocky ridges at 3,722m. The water is deep blue — perfectly still on calm days, reflecting the hills and sky above it.

A sacred stone sits at the water’s edge decorated with offerings and cloth flags — a reminder that these mountains carry meaning far beyond trekking. Camp right beside the lake. On a clear evening this is the kind of place that stays with you long after you are home.

Leaving the lake behind, the trail climbs to Nilgatti Pass at 4,920m. The ascent takes you up through rocky terrain with views opening wide as you gain height — ridge after ridge of Himalayan country spreading out in every direction.

Even on a hard day this route gives you moments you do not expect — a rainbow arching over the mountain behind your tent. The descent to Dhanshera at 3,760m is long but steady.

Dhanshera Pass at 4,314m, then a long descent into the broad valley below. By this point the rhythm of climb, cross, descend feels almost natural — which is its own kind of achievement. Camp at Dubai Base at 4,015m.

Dubai Bhanjyang at 4,567m brings open ridge walking with long views and clear sky when the weather holds. A moderate day by this trek’s standards. Camp at Thadeu at 3,900m.

The last major high pass of the trek. Pathar Rashi Bhanjyang at 4,669m demands a serious climb — but crossing it means the hardest part is now behind you.

The descent to Chhetti at 2,890m is a big drop in elevation. The air gets warmer, the terrain gets greener, and something shifts. You can see the valley below opening up, sunlight pouring through the trees, the first campfire smoke of lower country rising in the distance.

The route enters village country — one of the most culturally rich days of the entire trek. Walking through Gajir, Tothi, Kasaut, Patha, Thumti, and Sabbad, each small community going about its life completely outside the world of trekking tourism. Local ward offices with Nepal flags flying, children watching from doorways, women carrying loads on their backs. Real far-western communities and their warmth is genuine.

After the village trail of yesterday, the route climbs again. Khiratoli Pass at 3,274m brings you back into open high country. The contrast between yesterday’s village life and today’s open ridgeline makes both feel sharper and more meaningful.

A sustained climb through forest and open ground to Fulltiban at 3,840m. By Day 17 the team has found its rhythm completely — the walking feels natural, the silences are comfortable, and the shared effort of weeks in the mountains has built something between people that is hard to explain but easy to feel.

Cross Chimatela Pass and descend to camp at Chaimatela at 3,780m. Pass views, valley descent, another honest day completed deep in the far-west.

Steady walking along the high route toward the trek’s final section. Camp at Phapu at 3,723m.

The landscape begins its slow transition — greener, lower, the high alpine world gradually releasing its hold. Lower Thaisain at 3,140m feels like a threshold between the mountains and the valley world below.

Through Sina village on the way — warm, unhurried, genuinely welcoming. Reaching Sunshera at 1,815m, the altitude drops away and breathing suddenly feels easy in a way it has not for weeks.

The trek is over. The road begins. Darchula at 638m sits on the banks of the Mahakali River — warm, busy, and completely different from everything you have been living for the past three weeks. Seven hours of road and a full change of world.

Winding through the hills of far-western Nepal toward Dadeldhura. Terraced fields, small towns, the everyday life of a part of Nepal that most people never see even from a road.

The transition back to the capital is always a complicated feeling. The noise, the traffic, the restaurants — everything feels slightly new after what you have just been through. You have walked somewhere most people will never go, and that stays with you quietly — not as something to say out loud, but as a small permanent shift in how big you know the world to be.

Flight: 1 hour