Trip details

- Hike to Jamacho starts from Machhapokhari, Gongabu. So, first take bus or taxi to go Gongabu.
- Buy some foods and enough water to complete the hike as there is not any water resources on the whole route.
- Then walk for about 10-15 minutes along Pasang Lahmu Highway to Phulbari Gate.
- Buy tickets from entry post at Phulbari gate.
- Then hike to Jamacho about 2.5-3 hours.

Highlights of Hike

- Magnificent view of Kathmandu Valley.
- Peaceful environment.
- Majestic view of Mountain Range ( Gaurisankar, Langtang, Ganesh Himal)
- Refreshment from Hustle and bustle life of city.
- View of Flora and fauna in their nature habitat.
- Chances to see Clouded Leopard, Chinese Pangolin, Leopard Cat and Asamese Monkey.

Trip Cost Details

- Tickets to enter in Shivapuri National Park will cost Rs. 56 per Nepalese Civilians. (No discount for students.)
- Additional cost is needed, if you wish to take foods and drinks.

Things You May Need

- Comfortable clothes and shoes for hiking.
- DSLR camera, if you love photography.
- Bag to carry foods and water.
- Raincoat or Umbrella if you are traveling in monsoon.
- Salt or Sancho ( Multipurpose herbal product) for leaches.
- Identity Card ( Citizenship, License) is compulsory to enter the National Park.

One day hiking to Jamacho

Nepal, the name everybody in the world remember for its Natural beauty, culture, rituals and biodiversity. It can be a best option for those who wants to explore the nature as it is very rich in natural resources within the length of 800 KM and breadth of  192 KM. Nepal covers 0.03% of land surface in world map but it consists of the lowlands starting from east to highest mountains up to the north. The elevation  increases from 52m to 8,848m which can be good subject to explorer. Nepal is paradise as many tourist said after traveling Nepal.
 Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal is rich in culture heritage, civilization and beautiful surrounding hills are not less rich than the valley itself.  There are many beautiful high hills around Kathmandu Valley, which contain numerous amount of Temples, Gumbas, Bihar and Monuments. Kathmandu Valley owns many heritage built in different period of Nepal history. There are many beautiful sites around the valley like, Nagarkot, Phulchoki, Chandragiri, Chisapani, Kakani etc. and by visiting these beautiful places people may feel relief from their busy life of the city. These places might be good things for exploring, hiking, cycling, sight seeing and friends gathering. The vibes that flows in those hills do not have any comparable existence
As inhabitant of the Kathmandu Valley, I have my busy life due to study and just like me, all the resident have same busy and rushy life due their own career. To get refreshed from everyday busy life, me and Wondervibes team planned to explore the surrounding of The Kathmandu Valley. As we already get the sense of avoidance from devils tasks from Champadevi hiking our next hiking took place on Jamacho Gumba which is situated at top of the Nagarjuna hills.
 Nagarjuna Hills is a part of Shivapuri National Park and it is very close and surrounding hills of Kathmandu Valley. Jamacho Gumba lies above 2000m from sea level and has 2079m of altitude located at northwest part of Kathmandu Valley.

We three members of Wondervibes were hanging inside the valley and talking about our next hiking destination as we have already decided to go for hike every Saturday. After a discussion we made a plan to go Jamacho for hiking.
On May 6, 2017, We three met at Machhapokhari around 10 am in the morning then we purchased some dry foods, fruits and bottles of water. Then, we took 15 minutes walk along Pasang Lahmu Highway to Phulbari gate where we bought tickets to enter the Nagarjuna hills. After entering in Nagarjuna forest at 10:15 AM we headed up-slope. The maximum part of the hiking route was paved with the stone. We were welcomed by the mellifluous voice of birds and insects as we entered Nagarjuna forest. We kept walking on the well structured endless staircase of paved stone. After walking about 1KM above from Phulbari there was another army check point and where we entered our names and contact number and we again started walking. After walking an enjoyable hiking route made of stone paved and red mud for about half and hour we reached at a beautiful and flat grassland. There were many antique looking scattered stones where we took rest some time and ate some of our foods taken with us. An elderly aged looking french couple were returning from Jamacho Gumba and we had some chat with them which is one of the good experience of this hike. After waving good bye to them we again stared our hike towards the destination which was already visible from the grassy flat ground. After walking the same beautiful staircase route for about an hour we reached our destination, Jamacho Gumba around 1:00 PM


In Jamacho Gumba, there was an attractive Stupa and couple of houses which was looking gorgeous and colorful because of the decoding Buddhist prayers flag all over the area. More than just a temple worshiping location we found Jamacho a fantastic place to see the majestic view of Kathmandu valley. After reaching Jamacho we took some rest, shared our remaining food sitting at the view tower and took some photos of fabulous scene of Kathmandu. Later on, while visiting around the gumba there was some mulberry trees and we enjoyed eating it. After a while we again hike down to the hill towards the same route and reached Machhapokhari. After reaching Machhapokhari we ate Momos as lunch came back to home.


In Jamacho Gumba hike overall we had lots of fun and enjoyment. As always we made the whole day full excitements and we will remember the day as one of the incredible moment of our lives.

Image Gallery
 
TITLE: 2017 May- Wondervibes, A Day hike to Jamacho 
ROUTE: Machhapokhari- Phulpari Gate- Jamacho DATE: May 6, 2017, Saturday 
HIKING TIME: 6-7 hours  
COORDINATOR: Prakash Malla 
PARTICIPANTS: Ashim Ojha, Mahesh Dhimal, Prakash Malla 
PHOTOS: Ashim Ojha and Mahesh Dhimal 
REPORTED BY: Ashim Ojha
CAPTIONS/EDITED BY: Prakash Malla

Nothing can stop the time ticking away as well as a bunch of teenagers who have made a plan for a trip. This is a travelogue of eight teenagers who planned a trip to a unknown land without the consent of their parents.

Me and some of my classmates had made a plan to go to Jiri Village during the mid-session vaccation of last year of our middle school. Though we made independent plan for the trip in the end we had to consult our Parents before leaving the house and getting their permission was the toughest part of our trip. We somehow convinced our parents that we will return safely to home and finally got the permission
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We hired a TATA-SUMO for रु.14000 for two days. My friend Sushil was the one to manage the vehicle. He picked me up from my home at 5:00 in the morning and then we set up the journey. By the time we picked up all my friends it was nearly half past Six O'Clock. After traveling for about 15 KM from Manthali we reached Khimti . We had light snacks there while we waited for our friend to join us. The engine again roared after resting for about 30 minutes and then we didn't stop before reaching Jiri.

We had a great time in the way too. We could see pine trees everywhere in the way to Jiri. We sang song , cracked jokes took photographs of the scenery and planned a lot about the journey onward. We reached Jiri Bazar at noon. One of my friend's uncle who was residing in Jiri had managed breakfast for us. We went to the hospital where he worked. The cook told us that the food will be ready in about 20 minutes . So we decided to be fresh by that time.

We all had been tired when we were inside the vehicle but as soon as we set our foot in the land the blood rushed all the way from our heart to our brains and our toes. We forget all about tiredness when we saw the beautiful views of the green mountains with white crown of snow surrounding the valley. Everywhere we looked , we could see the beautiful creation of nature. Even the cucumber and pumpkin vines attracted us to take photographs. We got down to the flowing river and washed our face and hands. Touching the cold water of the river gave an amazing sensation to my skin. Lying flat on the ground gave us the sensation of lying on heaven .

After enjoying the nature for a while we had breakfast and made our way upto the Jiri Bazar. We had to make plans for accommodation so I made a phone call to one of my friends who had been to Jiri before in order to ask him where had he stayed when he was here. He took the name of "Ramechhap Hotel" which was located in the farthermost corner of the Jiri Bazar. We rented a room with 6 beds for रु 1000 . We took all our luggage inside our room and rested for a while.

After a rest for about half an hour we came out of the room . We had seen a bicycle renting shop while we were searching for the hotel. So we went there and rented some bicycles. Abhinesh, Roshan, Susil, Rajiv and Rupesh went cycling and Om, Me and Anish went to a cafe instead. We ordered coffee and a Hubble-Bubble. We enjoyed the hot coffee in the slightly cold weather and played cards that were lying on the table of the cafe. We spent about 2 hours in the cafe waiting for our friends to return.

My friends said that they had a wonderful time cycling around Jiri . If you ever happen to visit Jiri, don't forget to rent the cycles and go cycling around Jiri. A small amount of money (रु 120 per hour) can give you unlimited amount of happiness .

At about 3 O'clock in the afternoon we decided to go to the hilltop called "Ramailo Dada" (Devanagari: रमाइलो डाँडा) from where we could see almost every part of the Jiri Valley. There were a lot of stairs to climb before we reached to the top of the hill. I actually forgot the count of the stair but it was a huge number. As we ascended from Jiri Bazar , we were once again surrounded by greenery. The green color of Nature always gives me a warm feeling and a positive vibe inside. The positive vibe was made stronger when we reached the Monastery . It was a very peaceful place. There was a hippy who had been living here since the past 3 years. He said that he could attain the peace which he had been seeking here in Jiri. We spent some time in the monastery and then ascended toward the top. It was a very long walk to the top . Though I was very tired, every time I looked around me and saw the beautiful mountain peaks some sort of energy rushed through me and then I walked towards the top hoping to see a more beautiful scenery.

The view from the hilltop was more beautiful than I had expected. We could see the base of the Jiri valley to the top of the mountains at one glance. When we reached the top we forgot everything and started to play with the nature. We rolled on the green ground and we ran here and there . We felt as if we were small children playing on nature's lap.

There was a cheese factory on the top of the next hill which could be seen from the top of the first hill. We made a plan of going to the cheese factory . We begun to ascend towards the cheese factory but the weather did not favor us. Afternoon time in Jiri was not as cold as it felt in the evening. None of us had put our jackets on and we couldn't handle the cold wind. So we canceled our plan and decided to get back to the hotel. We decided to take a different route to go back to the valley. We went across the ground and descended back via next route. Though it took us about and hour and half to reach to the top we reached back to the valley within 20 minutes . We ran down the hill without caring where the path led and it felt so amazing . The cold air hitting our face felt good.

After reaching back to the valley we went to our hotel and grabbed our jackets. We again came back to the bazar. The whole marketplace seemed so welcoming at nighttime due to the gathering of people. Everybody there was friendly with the visitors. We made many friends :) within some hours. We had a wonderful day in Jiri . We spent the whole night playing cards and cracking jokes. When we got to the bed it was already two o'clock. The next morning I woke up at around 5;30 . All of my friends except for the driver were fast asleep. I went up to the hotel and drank coffee. Though I was wearing a thick jacket I was still shivering because of the cold. I went out to the marketplace and ran for some meters so that the blood could flow all around my body and make me warm.

My friends got up at around 6;30 in the morning. We had a debate about whether or not should go to the Jireshowr Mahadev temple. We didn't know anything about the way to the temple so we were in dilemma about whether or not it would be a good decision to go the the temple. The majority was in favour of going there so we set off the drive towards the temple. The roadway led only halfway towards the temple and the rest was foot travel .

If we had canceled the plan of going to the Jireshowr Mahadev temple then we would have missed the most beautiful place in Jiri. It was like a Jiri inside Jiri . After we entered through the welcome door of the temple the world seem to have changed. The plastered staircases were covered in greenish tint because of the moisture. Very little sunlight entered the place and it was more than just amazing. There were tall trees in the rivulet. There was a waterfall in between the two temples and the important shrine was located in the other side of the waterfall. Playing with the water of the waterfall felt amazing. It was  a difficult climb to get to the shrine but we did it. I felt a great feeling of accomplishment when I reached the shrine.

After returning back from the Jireshowr Mahadev temple we had light snacks and decided to move back home. We bought some cheese and Churpi which were the main export of Jiri. All together the experience of Jiri was a lifetime memo.

Jiri is a very beautiful place. I encourage every single individual out there who is reading this article to put Jiri in your bucketlist. Not only for the international tourists but the Nepalese brothers and sisters should also plan a trip to Jiri. I promise that it will make you a prouder Nepali <3 .

Travel Advice:

- A four hour ride from Koteshowr Buspark to Manthali (Travel Fare: रु.500) (*For people coming from Kathmandu)
- A group can hire a Jeep at around रु.14000 to रु.15000 for two days to go to Jiri and come back
- A individual can go to Nayapul and then take a bus to Jiri from there.

Highlights of the Trip

 
- Mesmerizing view of 14 mountains altogether
- Experience of diversified climate within some hundred metes of altitude.
- Tremendous environment made of decorative looking pine trees and sound of various bird species.
- Good sight of green forests and snow decorated

Trip Cost Details 

- Morning and evening meal cost around रु.100 each time
- Room cost are cheap so you will spend only around रु.150 per night

Recommended Materials 

- Warm clothes
- DSLR with wide lens will be best if you love photography but good smartphone can be kept as an option if you are not interested in photography.

Peace Out ✌

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