We trekked in early September, which was the end of monsoon season and did encounter quite a few leeches at lower elevations. At the end of May you will have drier weather than we had because the monsoon won’t have started yet so there shouldn’t be too many leeches. But since it is close to monsoon season starting, there may be a few leeches. We didn’t have any issues with bed bugs, but that might have just been luck. I used a sony a6000 mirrorless camera with a kit lens.

I haven’t done Everest base camp so I’m not sure which would be worse for your knees. Annapurna Base Camp has a LOT of stairs and some steep sections in the last few days to base camp. I think coming down those wouldn’t be awesome for bad knees. I’m not sure what the terrain to Everest Base Camp is like but I do know that it is possible to take a helicopter at least part of the way for the return journey. So that would definitely save your knees (but not your budget!)

Our guide was for our whole group. He walked near the front or in the middle of the group.

Sorry lots of questions! Pictures look so good though and i like the cultural aspect to this trail.

I can’t speak to what it was like before, but I have heard that there has been some road construction in the last few years. On the ABC trek we walked a few hours on a gravel road on our first day and then the last two days were a mix of gravel roads and trails – in some places we took the roads because they were more direct and involved less climbing. But on the ABC trek at least if you want to avoid road walking you certainly can – either by taking the trails which still exist (often the roads were built in a different place than the old trail) or just by hiring a jeep to drive you. That’s also where a good guide can be helpful – the guide can work out a route for you that avoids the roads.

We did ABC in early season so it was definitely not busy because most of the tourists hadn’t arrived yet. But I would not describe a trek to ABC as solitude in nature for the most part. You are walking on trails that have many tourists on them (no matter what the season) and also you are walking through villages where people still live and farm. Except for the final few days past Chromrong in the Annapurna Sanctuary, it’s much more of a cultural experience than a wilderness experience. And for me that was a good thing. I really enjoyed seeing how the local people live.

Was the route busy? or did you feel solitude in nature alone?

Glad you enjoyed the posts and the trek Corinne. You are right: the mountains at ABC are such a gift after encountering cloudy weather lower down. And I don’t know if you will believe it but… we didn’t actually eat apple pie once on the trek! We were too full of Nepali tea and dal bhat I think! Namaste!