You will be immersed at the foot of the highest mountain range in the world. Contrasting with your daily panorama of Everest in the Himalayas, you will be immersed in a lush jungle up to the frozen lakes at over 3500m where barking deer, Bengal foxes, monkeys and other black bears will leave you traces of their presence. You will be introduced to survival techniques by an endearing local community full of resources with incredible ancestral know-how. Wild orchids, the red panda, the leopard… will be the main topic of conversation in the evening by the fire. Between Buddhism and shamanism, your hosts will show you their version of the world and reveal all the beauty of their nature. You can bring back in your luggage their spices, ginger, honey, chili pepper, organic cumin of course!

Start Date

October 6, 2024

End Date

October 17, 2024

What is included

- A survival trainer from Denis Tribaudeau's team and his travel expenses from France - A Nepalese guide - All accommodation, meals, transfers, permits, guides rations, (mentioned in the program) - Visit with French-speaking guide to Bhaktapur and entrance to the site - Environmental and tourist taxes. - 24​/​7 assistance. - Insurance including helicopter rescue Not included: - International flights, repatriation flight insurance - Airport taxes and excess baggage. - Personal expenses, tips and meals not mentioned. - Visas (30€​/​person)

Itinerary

Day 1 Welcome at the airport and transfer to the hotel in Bodnath. Dinner and overnight at the hotel. Day 2 Breakfast at the hotel. Departure from Kathmandu by jeep at 5am. We take the road that goes east of the Kathmandu Valley and turns south at Dhulikel. The Himalayan range appears on your left from the balcony road that descends towards the Sun Khosi valley. Pleasant journey in this valley with lush vegetation: mango trees, banana trees border the wheat fields and rice fields. It is a hot region at only 500m altitude. We leave the main road and take the one that goes up towards Solu, a Sherpa region south of the Everest region. We rise through the pines then the fir forests to reach Phplu then Junebesi 2700m by a track. Installation in lodge. Dinner and night in lodge Day 3 Breakfast at the lodge. 3 hour walk along a beautiful track along the Junebesi River. We cross beautiful Sherpa villages with thick stone walls and stained or colored wooden windows. Then climb 30 minutes to reach the monastic city of TubtenChöling. The Grand Lama, TulsiRimpoche found refuge in this valley after fleeing Tibet invaded by China in the early sixties. Since then, hundreds of nuns and monks have joined him. More than the majority are from Tibet. Their small individual dwellings now cover the mountainside around the monastery. You will have the privilege of sharing a little of their daily life. In the kitchens, the nuns and monks on duty prepare meals for three hundred people. Huge cauldrons smoke on the fire, hands are busy preparing momos or Tibetan bread. The result is a famous and balanced Tibetan meal that you will share with high-ranking nuns and monks in the steward's room. In the afternoon you will visit the monastery grounds founded by Tulsi Rinpoche. Excursion in the mountains around the monastery and preparation for the expedition. At the time of the ceremony you will join the main hall of the monastery to attend the Buddhist ceremony where sacred trumpets, cymbals and conches accompany the melodious singing of the nuns and monks. Dinner and overnight at the guest house of the monastery. Day 4 Breakfast. Forest walk in a remote area. Only shepherds and their herds of yaks sometimes venture into this area in summer. Training in primitive survival techniques. Setting up a bivouac in the forest, gathering, collecting wood and water. Night bivouac in the middle of the jungle. Day 5 Survival activities: you will have to set up your routine and find your place among the collared bears and leopards that populate these mountains. You will do orientation with and without a compass, you will find your way thanks to the sun or the moon and you will move to find the best spot to set up your camp. Setting up a bivouac in the forest, gathering, collecting wood and water. Night bivouac. Day 6 Depending on the snow cover, you will have the possibility of climbing to 3500m or more. Here you are on the roof of the sky. All your efforts will cost you and you will progress slowly. Saving energy will be your obsession. In this environment, making a fire with two pieces of wood and preparing your meal with only your meager reserves and the day's gleaning will be an exploit. We will also discuss altitude sickness and acclimatization to better understand life on the summits. Setting up a bivouac, gathering, collecting wood and water. Night bivouac Day 7 You're in the deep end! By a path used by villagers in summer to reach the lakes, you will join the historic trail of expeditions to Everest. What could be better than feeling like the first climbers of the highest mountain in the world! Survival will now be your daily life and you will have found a rhythm to continue the experience. Making a good bivouac with a fire and drinking water, eating wild plants and preparing a good herbal tea will fill you with happiness. Setting up a bivouac, gathering, collecting wood and water (source). Night bivouac Day 8 We will talk and insist on group psychology so that nothing is neglected in the life of your team. You will feel the fatigue and the end of the trek. All you have to do is plan the installation of a bivouac in the forest, and all this will come naturally to you. Your trainer and your local guides will still be able to show you all their know-how to hold the last hours in good conditions. Night bivouac Day 9 In the morning you will be up early and you will start the walk to reach civilization and the Sherpa villages by the ridges of Trakshindo. Installation in lodge. Dinner and night in lodge (FINALLY LUXURY) Day 10 Breakfast We enter a thick forest of conifers and rhododendrons invaded by lichen. We have to stay grouped for fear of bears. Sometimes a clearing allows us to see the valleys below and in the distance the Himalayan chain. The trail now runs on a ridge above the trees. View of Everest and the snow-capped peaks. After reaching a very old stupa we join