Annapurna Sanctuary Trek - Day 2 : Tikhedhunga - Ghorepani

However, trekking to the Annapurna Sanctuary in this direction (slower and longer) opens up to varied and beautiful landscapes and allows a more reflective approach to the Natural Park.
Here we are still at the bottom (starting from 1500 m) but we go up a lot (up to 2800 m) and pass through villages and cultivated terraces, following the course of the river.
We start immediately with the Ulleri staircase, a beautiful stretch that rises 400m in 1km. We will have to get used to it because it will often be like this until Deurali at 3000 meters (day 6) where, finally, the path will take on the typical Alpine shapes.
And the Ulleri staircase isn't even the hardest... For the laziest, this stage can also be covered by Jeep until about halfway then the roads end.
After the stairs, you begin to glimpse Annapurna between the roofs of the lodges.
After passing Ban Tanth, you finally enter the rhododendron forest (the largest in Nepal).
Who knows what beauty during flowering...
The route now stretches out, we are already at 2300 meters above sea level and it will take us 8 km to cover the remaining 500m of altitude difference.
In the middle of the woods, among flowers, waterfalls, monkeys, walking is a pleasure, but it's not like the stairs are finished...
Ghorepani (water-pani for horses-ghore) is the largest center in the area, there are schools, medical aid points, it is the access route to the Annapurna Conservation Area Park, which can only be entered with a permit. It is an obligatory stop for trekking, also because it allows an early morning ascent to the nearby Poon Hill.
We are in the area between DhaulaGiri and Annapurna. The valley between the two giants is the deepest valley in the world: it ranges from 1000m in the valley to 8000m in the giants, therefore a difference in altitude of 7000m.