17 Days
3840m
Strenuous
2-15 People
Sightseeing and Trekking
Hotel and teahouses on the trail
Upper Mustang Trekking Overview
The Upper Mustang Trail
This is an expedition into a world never known to us till now, a world of mystique and history as old as the mountains…we go into wild barren land in an isolated corner of Nepal, amidst loveliness which is exceptional, but yet so celestial, you get the feeling of being in different world. This is Upper Mustang for you, at its best. This venture is an addition of the Tibetan plateau, with conventional Tibetan traditions, Bon (pre-Buddhist) and Buddhist culture. This has been a prohibited area for over a decade, with spectacular landscapes, congenial locals, and the walled city of Loman-thang as it was over centuries ago, complemented with majestic views of gleaming snowcapped peaks standing high as if in protection to this ancient kingdom.
Some insights into this land:
Mustang is the ancient kingdom of Lo. Jomsom is the capital of this old realm that has now been condensed to a district, but the unique Tibetan style district lies north of Kagbeni and is usually referred to as Upper Mustang. Mustang has an average elevation of 13,000ft and is located to the north of the mountain giants of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna and is therefore north of the main Himalayan range and physically part of the highlands of Tibet. This is a rolling high valley, parched and dry, characterized by shabby canyons, colorful stratified rock formations and has a huge punishing desert like appearance. One of the most absorbing features of Mustang is virtually its hundreds of cliff dwellings, some of which look totally inaccessible. The most recent discovery is that they may date back to 8-10,000 BC when Mustang was a much fertile land and a prosperous kingdom. Obviously, much of Mustang is now a matter of legend rather than scripted fact, but it’s very clear that Lo was once part of Ngari, a province of Tibet and a rather loose jumble of feudal fiefdoms. It was incorporated into the Tibetan Empire under the most famous of the Tibetan kings Songtsengampo. this was a vital route for crossing the Himalaya from Tibet to Nepal, and many of the medieval salt caravans went through Mustang. By the turn of the 14th Century, much of Ngari became part of the Malla Empire, with its capital of Sinja in western Nepal. Under the rule of Ame Pal, the founder king of Lo in 1380, this kingdom thrived at its best. The current royal family can trace its history 25 generations back to Ame Pal, and the city of Lomanthang, which we will visit, was the axis of their power.
This is a highly popular trek in a region in Nepal that is said to be “the desert of the Himalayas’…An incursion into the true wilderness…
The Upper Mustang Trail
This is an expedition into a world never known to us till now, a world of mystique and history as old as the mountains…we go into wild barren land in an isolated corner of Nepal, amidst loveliness which is exceptional, but yet so celestial, you get the feeling of being in different world. This is Upper Mustang for you, at its best. This venture is an addition of the Tibetan plateau, with conventional Tibetan traditions, Bon (pre-Buddhist) and Buddhist culture. This has been a prohibited area for over a decade, with spectacular landscapes, congenial locals, and the walled city of Loman-thang as it was over centuries ago, complemented with majestic views of gleaming snowcapped peaks standing high as if in protection to this ancient kingdom.
Some insights into this land:
Mustang is the ancient kingdom of Lo. Jomsom is the capital of this old realm that has now been condensed to a district, but the unique Tibetan style district lies north of Kagbeni and is usually referred to as Upper Mustang. Mustang has an average elevation of 13,000ft and is located to the north of the mountain giants of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna and is therefore north of the main Himalayan range and physically part of the highlands of Tibet. This is a rolling high valley, parched and dry, characterized by shabby canyons, colorful stratified rock formations and has a huge punishing desert like appearance. One of the most absorbing features of Mustang is virtually its hundreds of cliff dwellings, some of which look totally inaccessible. The most recent discovery is that they may date back to 8-10,000 BC when Mustang was a much fertile land and a prosperous kingdom. Obviously, much of Mustang is now a matter of legend rather than scripted fact, but it’s very clear that Lo was once part of Ngari, a province of Tibet and a rather loose jumble of feudal fiefdoms. It was incorporated into the Tibetan Empire under the most famous of the Tibetan kings Songtsengampo. this was a vital route for crossing the Himalaya from Tibet to Nepal, and many of the medieval salt caravans went through Mustang. By the turn of the 14th Century, much of Ngari became part of the Malla Empire, with its capital of Sinja in western Nepal. Under the rule of Ame Pal, the founder king of Lo in 1380, this kingdom thrived at its best. The current royal family can trace its history 25 generations back to Ame Pal, and the city of Lomanthang, which we will visit, was the axis of their power.