Sikles To Virgin Ice Lake ‘Kafuche’ Trek

Travelling Nepal Tips team is always motivated in exploring undiscovered places and inspire other travelers to visit those places. So, after exploring Gurung community and home stay experinces in Ghale gaun and Bhujung, this time our team has explored  Sikles and sharing details and itinerary.

Sikles is a beautiful indigenous Gurung village located in Kaski District.This beautiful trek is a great preface to the beauty of the Annapurna range and the rich culture and their lifestyle of Gurung community. Sikles is one of the largest model trekking Gurung village in Nepal and offers an opportunity to learn about this unique traditional culture. This route is manage and conserved by the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) and the community to promote tourism. Sikles Village and Kaphuche trekking is a short and perfect destination from Pokhara towards Annapurna range of view including Lamjung Himal. It is roughly 5 hour bus ride from Pokhara. Sikles is located above Madi Khola (Madi river) at an altitude of 1,981m.

Travelling Facts :-

Destination : Sikles || Kafuche Ice Lake

District : Kaski

Level : Moderate

Duration : 4 Night 5 Days

Budget : Around 5K to 8K

Best Season : Anytime expect in the extreme rainy season

Itinerary :

Day 1 : Kathmandu – Pokhara – Sikles

Day 1 for this Sikles and Kafuche Ice Lake trek is about the motor travelling only. You need to Reach to Amar singh Chowk at Pokhara as early as you can and from there we need to reach to Kahu Khola where you can find the vehicle for Sikles.

Normally public buses are available until 2PM(In Summer) and only upto 1pm(In Winter) where the bus leaves after every one hour during a day. However, you can also find the Jeep but normally little costly than the public buses for sure. Sikles is another 4 hours drive depending on the the speed of the public bus and the condition of the road. Before reaching Sikles, you will be crossing many beautiful villages on the way. Taprang Village comes before Sikles where the public bus will stop for the tea and snacks. Similarly, we will be crossing other villages like Chipli Gaun and Khilang on the way which are also beautiful as Sikles but small settlement comparing to Sikles which also have homestay facilities with good accommodation.

Since, the first day will be engaged in the motor travel only, once we reached Sikles village there are small hotels and lodges with good facilities. If you prefer home stay rather than cozy hotel’s facilities you can find as well. If you have plan to go to Kafuche then its compulsory to take guide and we Travelling Nepal Tips team went with the owner of Namaste guest house ‘Dhan Gurung AKA Maila Dai’ who is the guide or key person to arrange guide, look down for needed things and arrange our settlement during this entire trek.

Some of hotel/lodge are listed below with their contact details which might be helpful to you as well.

Additional Information :-

Public Bus Fare : Rs.300 per head

Room charge per night : Rs 300 – Rs 500 (3 to 4 people capacity room)

Dal/Bhat Charges per time : Rs 350 with chicken

Local guide is compulsory from Sikles to Kafuche as the route is new to the travelers and guide charge is Rs 1500 per day, price may vary depending on local guide available.

Day 2 : Sikles – Hugu (Goth Ghar)

Early in the morning after taking some proper breakfast we can go for village tour and some photo session before we head towards Hugu (Goth Ghar).

Things to do in sikles:

• Hike up to Sikles park and Rising Dada which will takes around 30 mins for average hikers from where we can see the mesmerizing view of the Annapurna II, Lamjung Himal and other mountains as well.
• Explore and village tour and observe culture, village architecture and their tradition. People are very friendly and helpful in the same time.
• Visit village museum
• Climb view tower for the whole village view

Sikles to Hugu is about 6hrs of hike for the average hikers which is not much difficult route but little technical than other route we have traveled. Technical in the sense that Hugu is the only place where we can take settlement before making to the Kafuche Ice Lake. on the way to Hugu there is no any resting places or any village is found. Hardly you will find some villagers on the way. The path is too narrow and steep so our guide walk front with his Khukuri clearing the bushes and making the way clear. There might be wild animals threat as well  as per our guide. The way towards Hugu is more challenging but yet beautiful as it pass by the side of river that flows from Kafuche lake. Once we reach we found only a empty Goth Ghar (use by Shepard (Gothale) during the rainy season) and we need to make arrangements of everything including fooding and lodging in the same Goth Ghar.

On the way to the Hugu, we will be witnessing amazing waterfall which is on the half way to Hugu. We can take some rest and water break nearby waterfall area and enjoy the moments. The route in between Sikles to Hugu is greenery, forest way, river bank side walk and amazing overall.

You will see ACA sign arrows on the way with the estimated time, just ignore the time because if you follow that you will get frustrated. we reach Hugu in 6 hours information the sign board says 10 hours.  As soon as we reached the Hugu, our first duty will be to fill the water on the available water bottle and water drum which the Shepherd and other villagers have left for other travelers in that Goth Ghar. After then, We can enjoy our dinner which we need to prepared by our self and it’s really fun as well. Thankfully, There were proper sleeping bags and mats for the travelers which is very cozy and warm for which they charge Rs. 150 Per head (charge for using Goth Ghar, Sleeping Bag and Mats).

Day 3 : Hugu – Ice Lake – Sikles

We need to wake up early in the morning as possible we can,  keeping in the mind that on the 3rd day we need to explore the Ice lake ‘Kafuche’ and as well as we need to be back to the Sikles on the same day. Other wise our Itinerary need to be added one more day if you wish to stay again in the Hugu on the same day. Hugu to Ice Lake ‘Kafuche’ is about 3 hours of hike marching through the dense forest. Far from the distance, we can see the crystal clear blue water with ice block floating on the same water under the shadow of the Annapurna II, Lamjung himal, Annapurna IV and other mountain on the range.

Kafuche in local Gurung language means “Ka” means Ice or snow, “Fu” means breaking down and sliding down after the break and “Che” means landing on the plain land. This means this Ice Lake which is formed by the continuous avalanche from the  Annapurna II and Lamjung himal is named under the local Gurung Language as ‘Kafuche’ which is situated in the 2440M from the sea level because of which this lake is the Nepal Lowest Glacier lake as well. While we were exploring Kafuche ice lake we have witness number of small avalanche falling down straight to the lake with sliding noise of ice and the snow. After exploring the Kafuche ice lake, we need to be back to Hugu again and backpacking our belongings things we need to march towards the village again following the same route. Sikles to Kafuche is best experience and amazing feeling we have explored in our entire travel journey, it has it’s own uniqueness and variation in the nature as well.

P.S: Please note that returning same day to the Sikles is little tight Schedule so if you are slow Pacer/walker as well as you want relax journey then you can speed overnight in the Hugu itself and back to Sikles in the next fresh Morning.

Day 4 : Sikles to Pokhara (even to kathmandu)

Day 4 is simply exploring the village for the one last time, taking some photo with the local people and interacting with them. After having the meals, the hotel owner, bid proper local style farewell with Tika and Khada which made us feel the village hospitality and uniqueness one more time. Hotel owner helped in arranging us the bus service upto Pokhara or we can self just go to the bus stand and drive back to Pokhara.

P.S: we can also hike upto Tara hill top which is about 5 hours of hike from the Sikles village, if we still want to explore more of the Sikles village and the mountain view from the hill is really fascinating.

Day 5 : Pokhara to Kathmandu

Explore Pokhara, we guess we don’t need to suggest you or define Pokhara. Pokhara is one of the famous  stop after tiring walk or travel where you can treat yourself.

Our Youtube Video From the Sikles :

Note: Travelling Nepal Tips team just try to make your Travelling itinerary to this beautiful Gurung Village and upto Kafuche more easy and more accessible in trip. Hope this will help you in before hand arrangement so that even if you reach late while trekking and need some help from local while in emergency it might be helpful. Travelling Nepal Tips team don’t know them individually nor they know us. We just collected some of the contact number while we travel this trekking route.

Regards,
Happy Journey