Bhola Kaji Niroula As the saying goes “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things”, When I came to know of our hiking to Ghale Gaun I was very excited. Though I had heard a lot about Ghale Gaun, I’d never had a chance to visit the place. I was grateful to Deerwalk CAC for organizing the hike. As our destination was far, we started early at 5:30 am from office and picked other hikers from ringroad. Despite our early departure from Kathmandu, we got stuck in traffic jam for about half an hour and we utilized that time by having some breakfast. We even caught Duduo, when suddenly a wild Duduo appeared there. After clearing through the jam, we reached Beshisahar, the starting point of our hike, at around 12:30 pm. We managed a place for HiAce parking and had our lunch in Beshisahar. As soon as we finished our lunch, we got ready for our hike by changing our outfit, packing redbull and snickers and wearing raincoat as we were expecting rainfall. After everyone got ready for the hike, we took group pictures. Dipak dai, our guide for this hike was showing the way and encouraging us to walk continuously. He would point at the toppest hill we could see to guide us on where we were actually going to. As we started walking, the trail was too steep and difficult to walk. Kanchan, who was hiking for the first time, started to feel difficult but Roshan Ghale dai, who was going to the place of his ancestors, encouraged her throughout the hike. After sometime as we entered into the jungle, we encountered numerous leeches. We were all prepared for the rain but certainly not for the leeches. Leeches started to attack and everyone was finding a way to avoid them or get rid of them. The hiking trail was not like the normal ones we witness day to day, and we even had the pleasure to walk through some small waterfalls. Due to the downpour, the steepness of the trail and of course the leeches, everyone was finding it difficult to walk. After walking for about two and a half hours we crossed the hill and reached Baglungpani. In Baglungpani, we took selfies, wefies and had some snickers. We waited until all the participants arrived there and resumed the hike again. The trail was plain from here and we all walked together: cracking joke and taking pictures . As we saw the 5 KM milestone mark, we got excited and started to walk faster. But soon we realized that 5 KM is not a short distance for walk under those extreme conditions. Rain started to pour and sun was heading on its way to set. We lit the torch light and carried on with our hike. Again, there was a steep way and an abundance of leeches ahead, but with the yearning to reach our destination soon, we continued to walk. At one point, we thought we had lost the track as we were not able to locate any sign of neither villages nor the road. The first sight of a village nearby gave us all a sigh of relief. Overcoming all the hurdles, we reached Ghale gaun (the place of Roshan Ghale dai’s ancestors) at 8:00 pm. Since Ghale gaun welcomes every visitor at their home, we enjoyed nice hospitality in our home stay. Next day, We roamed around gaun, chiya bari and ghanpokhara. After having a heavy breakfast, the villagers gave us a farewell with garlands. And we headed toward Beshisahar, by van as many hikers were not willing to walk out of the fear of leech. At Beshisahar, we had our lunch and finally returned back to Kathmandu. At last, thank you all the hikers for the great company. Whenever you are going for a hike, be prepared for adventures and don’t forget to pack all the necessary items. If hiking time is in raining season, always carry good quality raincoat and put “sancho” or some similar form of leech preventive ointments on legs and hands. Believe me, it is the most effective method to prevent leeches. Ghale gaun is great place, so whenever you are thinking of a hike, do consider Ghale gaun. You won’t be disappointed. 

Kesina Baral Filled with the passion to get close with the nature, thirteen of my colleagues including me along with our incredibly helpful Dipak dai started at the early dawn of 16th April for the hike from, Besi-sahar to GhaleGaun. Delayed by traffic at couple of places, we reached Besi-sahar at around 1pm. After the lunch we donned our raincoats, got our umbrellas out and followed the lead of Dipak dai to GhaleGaun. Having never gone on a hike before, I was extremely enthusiastic but walking for about an hour made me realize hiking was not going to be as easy with the rain and leeches at every step ready to stick on us. The trail we followed was about 23km long which had steeper shortcuts, little brooks and canals most of the time. We walked for about 6hrs and when we reached Ghale Gaun, it was a moment of absolute bliss. We all had completed what we had set out for! We were famished, tired and thirsty but the first thing we all did was get all the leeches out, I for one didn’t even put my bag down. I had never seen a real leech in my life and seeing them on my friends freaked me out so much that I couldn’t get even one out by myself. Bless the soul of Parakram dai who got all of them off of me, there were 29 of them (I counted the marks) and I had the least on me so you can imagine how badly bit everyone else was. Once satisfied that there were no more leeches on us, we gathered for dinner. The food was delicious and our fatigue made it even more scrumptious. With our tummies full and warm bed ready for us, we turned in for the night. Due to our unusual timing of hike we couldn’t see the mountain range from Ghale Gaun but it was differently aesthetic to see the cloud slowly engulf the hilltops. Weary by our previous day’s endeavor, we chose to ride back in local jeep to Besi-sahar, where we had lunch and rode back to Kathmandu.