We met our guide at the hotel lobby in the morning, then took a short walk to the lakeside. On the lakeside a raft was waiting for us to take us across the lake. We rafted through Phewa lake by passing fully around the Barahi temple in the middle.

Then we hiked up a forested trail filled with rare Himalayan flora. At the top we enjoyed the views of stunning white Buddhist stupa along with 360-degree views of Pokhara Valley, Phewa Lake and beautiful Annapurna massifs Hiunchuli, Machhapuchre and Dhaulagiri.

Then we hiked down to the dam side following the path through a thick forest filled with wildflowers, chestnut, oak and pine trees. The trail was quite steep downhill, but a very good walk. It took an hour for us to reach down the dam side. Once we reached down we drove to the Devis Falls, a well-known tourist spot where scenic waterfalls travel through caves and underground tunnels. We went down 250 steps, with water dropping from the cave top. After that, a little further drive to International Mountain Museum, which exhibited the history of mountaineering and people of the Himalayas.

Early morning sunrise view from Sarangkot with our team, followed by bungee and a zipline of 1.8km which takes about 90 seconds down to Hemza.  Lunch on the river beach and rafting down the Upper Seti River of almost 2 hours, which is a thrilling experience with ultimate fun. Overnight tented camp on a river beach with campfire and barbeque to end our lovely day.

An hour drive to Khade, starting point to Australian camp. We’ll go through beautiful farms and lush, dense forests up to the camp where we’ll witness majestic views of Annapurna Massif and Annapurna South and Fishtail facing us very closely. Then we walk down through Dhampus and finish our hike at Phedi. We drive for an hour to a restaurant where we’re served with hot Tibetan-style momo thupa near a Tibetan refugee camp.

This is the end of our familiarization trip to Pokhara.