BIRETHANTI - Welcome to ACAP

Birethanti is where you enter Annapurna Conservation Area. So you will need to register at the ACAP office just across the bridge. Thanti is a common suffix used in place names by Magars and translates to rest shed. So basically, villages with the 'thanti' suffix developed around a place which was once little more than a rest house. If you are on your way to Ghorepani from here, you will be walking through area which has traditionally been settled by Magars. However, if you have Ghandruk in mind, you will walk through Gurung country. Both the ethnic groups have a tall reputation as fearless warriors in the British and Indian Army regiments. Birethanti however is dominated by Thakalis, who in times past were renowned for their eateries along the trade routes.