Trekking to the base of the world’s tallest mountain Everest is a dream adventure to the trekkers from all around the world.
High in the priority list of trekkers, the Everest Base Camp (EBC) is one of the most visited regions in the Himalaya. The two-week trek starts and finishes at Lukla, an airstrip to the south of the region also known as the ‘Gateway to Everest’. Most trekkers fly to Lukla to begin the trek.
Everest Base Camp is popular all around the world. The might Mount Everest situated in Everest region is the popular destination of everyone for mountaineering and trekking. Lots of people visit Everest every year for observing stunning beauty of Everest. Everybody has unique experience to share about the time they spent in the Everest Region.
Attractions of the Everest Base Camp Trek
The main attraction which attracts people is the base camp because trekker’s main aim is to be and step on here. Besides the base camp, there are much more other highlights in this trek. The features of the EBC trek have been indicated here:
Exiting Scenic Flight to Lukla
Flying to Lukla from Kathmandu with a small aircraft is an adventure experience to all. The flight from Kathmandu to Lukla takes about a half an hour scenic mountain fight. A short runway with a clip drops downwards and a small hill at the end may make little scary to the people. Flying to Lukla and start the trek is not one and only the way to the base camp but it is a common and popular entry.
Sagarmatha National Park
Sagarmatha Nationa Park is a natural world heritage site of UNESCO. The national park was established in 1979 and the area of this national park is 1148 square kilometres. The mammals; Himalayan Thar, Himalayan Pikka, wolf, jackal, with endangered animals like snow leopard and musk deer are here in this national park. More than 200 spaces of the birds including Himalayan eagle can be seen around here. Pine, rhododendron, oak, and more with several bamboo bushes are here to hide to the faunas of this national park.
Namche Bazaar
Namche Bazaar is a beautiful village on the way to the Everest Base camp which is like a small mountain city. The view of Kongde Ri, Thamserku, Kusum Kangaroo, Lhotse, Amadablam, Everest, and other high mountains are great to see from the national park army base. There are some coffee shops with bakeries, bars, equipment shops to hang around during a free day when trekkers take an acclimatization day rest. Acclimatization day is not really a rest day, trekkers hike up to the Everest view hotel for attitude practice before going to the higher elevation and enjoy the views. Weekly markets every Friday to mid- Saturday for the public held here where hikers also may visit.
Everest View Hotel
Everest view hotel is on a hill station from where can be seen panoramic Everest Himalaya. This is one of the viewpoints to see the Everest massif and elevation practice. Everest view hotel is running by the Japanese management is like a mountain 5-star hotel. It takes about 2 hours to reach here from Namche bazaar passing one of the highest airport (Syangboche airport). The hike starts after breakfast in Namche than back again by lunchtime.
Tengboche Monastery
Trekking to the base cap is not only an adventure journey; it is a spiritual journey. Mani walls, Mani stones, colourful prayer flags, Stupas, and other Buddhist monuments make the journey sacred and the Tengboche monastery is the main monastery for getting a blessing with the monks before heading to the base camp. The monastery is more than 100 years old with religious aspects. The Tengboche hill itself is a viewpoint to see mountains; Surrounding with forest all around and open space at the middle offers an incredible view of the Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, Amadablam, Thamserku, and more mountain and green hills.
Everest Base Camp
This is the most important and desired destination to the trekkers that’s why they walk about a week not caring any other difficulties facing on the way up. Everest base camp 5364m) stands on the glacier with the ice underneath. The main climbing season to Mt. Everest is in spring so this place will like a high mountain city with colourful tents. Khumbu icefall which the climbers cross to go camping 1 is very close to here. Mt. Everest can’t see from here but other huge snowcapped mountains can be seen. Hikers may forget all the difficult moments before reaching base camp once they arrive here. This is about 5 – 6 hours hiking journey to go and come back from Gorakshep where the lodges for camp are.
Kalapatthar
Kalapatthar (5550 m) is even a dream destination than the base camp for some trekkers because of the view which it offers. 360 degree panoramic Everest Himalaya with valley and glacier lower is really worth to see. The Everest stand just in front of Kalapatthar and Pumori looks it has been attached with this hill. Hike to the Kalapathar is not an easy walk but after reaching the top, may realize that why I pay for this with an amazing view.
Beside of these highlights, valleys, rivers, waterfalls, glacial lakes, monuments of the climbers, Sherpa culture, local lifestyle, traditional villages and much more attractions are here on this trek.
Everest Base Camp trek reviews
According to the trekkers who’ve been all the way to Everest Base Camp it was a good experience for all of them that they will never forget. The EBC trekking is simply good to vanish and connect with lots of people from different culture and tradition. They love to walk all the way through the sub tropical alpine forest whole day surrounded by breathtaking mountain peaks. People are found sharing their experience about the warm hospitality of the locals in restaurants and lodges. They were so much impressed with the culture and tradition of the Sherpas and Tibetans.
Most of the places are remote and the so called business hubs Lukla and Namche Bazaar have no facilities of ATMs. So, reviewers suggest bringing cash while travelling. There is free wifi in Lukla and Namche Bazzar so that they can share their feelings and their beautiful shots of the journey over internet. Buying gears and equipments in between journey is so costly so we must buy all the gears we need in Kathmandu to save money and get good quality of gears. Everest Base Camp is not suitable during winter though since the trip becomes extra challenging both physically and mentally.
The routes are dangerous during snowfall and it’s almost impossible to walk. Bring chocolate and any treats that feels good to eat while going high altitude. Tang will be good to flavor water because water can get pretty boring and you have to avoid dehydration at altitude. Flavored water will help to show interest over water and will make your journey healthy. Also water purification tablets or any water purifier is good to carry in pocket to avoid any diseases caused from impure water found on the way. Weather is unpredictable so we should be prepared for worst case in each day of hiking. We should carry the lightweight clothes that come in use while temperature decreases. Food especially meat is not quite hygienic above Namche Bazaar because meats are carried by Sherpa and trekked for days and it is not guaranteed to be fresh. Most importantly discharging is the major issue due to low temperature so batteries should be kept close to your body or within sleeping bags. Charging batteries is way too expensive and cost $5 per hour.
