Trek To Kanchenjunga Base Camp – The Series (Part 3)

Sekethum To Amjilossa-The Trek To Kanchenjunga Base Camp

Our next stop was Sekethum. We seem to be adding a few more kilometres each day to our walk. Milan, our porter, in the red shorts, still has enough energy to get in a game of soccer before sunset.

The meal tonight will be the national dish of Nepal. Dal Bhat, lentils, rice, a vegetable and maybe a spicy pickle. It”s actually the most efficient meal to cook up here. Using the least amount of fuel. Thanks in part to pressure cookers. The Buddhist family we were staying with that night has 10 children. So fuel must be used sparingly.

Hari’s inspirational flute to get us going for another long day. Hari and Milan with their joy of life seem to make the trekking easier and keep it fun.

There were several bridges we came across that were in ill repair. Can’t figure out exactly what happened to this one but I sure didn’t want to lose my balance.

We continuously traversed up and down the valley crossing the great Tamur river many times. This is also river rafting country. But that adventure will have to wait. I just wanted to make it through this one first and this rickety ledge.

Amjilossa, and the porters from another camping group took a deserved break. The sun’s rays are even more precious as you climb higher. Everyone staying out to catch the warmth and dry their clothes until the shadow drops and as Hari would say, we lose our down jacket.

We were trekking further north and getting closer to the China and Indian borders. It’s no surprise that the local culture and people were becoming more Tibetan Buddhist.

Some of these yak men were carrying bags of cardamom down to Taplejung to sell. The spice is a good cash crop here.

A tea break at a local yak farm. These are actually a cross between a yak and a domestic cow, sometimes called a dzo. A pure yak cannot survive for long at these lower elevations of approximately 2500 meters. One thing they all produce though, fuel for the stove.

An ever changing landscape. This time we were in a high altitude bamboo forest. Home to the endangered Red Panda. It was my dream to see one in the wild. But no luck.

On the trek our first sighting of the Himalaya.