Upper Dolpo Trek

Arrival: Upon your arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport, one of Shikhar's representatives will meet and transfer you to your hotel. An evening walk through Thamel will give you a great view of its shops, restaurants, and activities and just get that excitement started for the first impression.

Following are the great buildings and enduring beauties you will see today from the Kathmandu Valley. Your guide will meet you in the lobby of the hotel at 8 am and shortly go over today's plan. You will have the chance to visit these four main places in the capital city: Pashupatinath Temple, Bouddhanath Stupa, Swayambhunath Maha Chaitya, a.k.a. the Monkey Temple, and Kathmandu Durbar Square.

Fly to Nepalgunj to reach Dolpa. This will be your destination. Nepalgunj A steaming hot city in South Western Nepal, situated just 8 km from the Indian border in the Terai plains. Culturally these places are more akin to India than to Nepal's uplands.

You can do a bike rickshaw tour around the town and see the vigorous market. Colorfully painted horse carts with colorfully attired people traveling to or from the Indian border will block your way.

It is a flight of 35 minutes over rugged mountains with beautiful snow-capped peaks that lands on Juphal's dirt airstrip-a pretty humble form of arrival. This suddenly changes from flat land to fresh mountain air pretty soon in this small Himalayan village. From Juphal, a nice path through wheat and vegetable fields down to the Thuli Bheri River starts. Your entrance to Shey Phoksundo National Park means crossing the 99-meter-long Dhim Bridge into Nepal's largest national park, conserving the unique Trans-Himalayan ecosystem.

You will be crossing the village of Suligad, ideal for having tea before continuing your trek along the Suli Khola River. Some other villages, which are ideal resting places with their honey cultivation, are Kageni (2,413 m) and Sangta (2,520 m). The route then follows the pine, spruce, and walnut forest beside the river, which has emerald-green water. The day will end at Chhepka, a quiet village on the workings of millet and wheat fields.

It follows pine forests, with some bushes, birches, and broadleaf trees, directly next to the river. The land is basically "Nepali flat," with some easy ups and downs and a few steeper sections. Where the valley starts to narrow, steep rock walls rise on either side, bringing views into drama. You may encounter locals with mules or dzopas with loads.

After some four hours of walking, you will reach Rechi, which has a campsite and a teashop over the bridge. Two hours further up is Chunuwar, boasting the Amchi Hospital, where lamas still practice Tibetan medicine. This interesting clinic shows some of the old practices passed on, uses herbs, minerals, and other treatments including Tibetan acupuncture. Donations help keep this very commendable tradition alive.

Today's short hike from Ringmo to Phoksundo Lake involves a steep 2 hour ascend. Just before reaching the top of the ridge, below Nepal's highest waterfall, the 167m Phoksundo (Suligad) Waterfall comes into sight. From the pass, you can see your first glimpse of the beautiful Phoksundo Lake.

Now, the trail starts going down towards the river, following it to the village of Ringmo. Renowned for its Bonpo religion, more ancient than that of Buddhism, it allows one to briefly glance back into the echoes of ancient spirituality. Once, the Bonpo faith emanated from the Zhang Zhung kingdom, which enveloped much of Dolpa and Tibet.

You have to spend one extra day at Ringmo because your body needs some time to get along with the high altitude. Phoksundo Lake is a very beautiful lake, so having rest there is worth it.

Today you will enter the restricted area of Inner Dolpo, following the famous Demons Trail, which was the route taken in Eric Valli's movie Himalaya (Caravan). This highly scenic route contours high above Phoksundo Lake, affording outstanding views of the lake itself, Ringmo village, pine forests, and snow-capped Norbung Kang (6,085 m). Part of this trail is narrow and chaotic due to landslides.

Lunch on the north shore of the Lake after gentle descent, the trail rises through huge valley crossing streams with marvelous views of Kanjirowa Himal, 6,612m. You camp on the high area of Chuneba surrounded by junipers.

First narrowing from the Phoksundo Valley entrance, high rock walls from both sides with some stream crossings follow after some 30 minutes from where the trail disappears into the tight gorge, steeply ascending up through the valley.

You will camp in Snowfields Camp today. This place, located down in the trail, takes you further up into Inner Dolpo the next day.

5306 m high Kang La, also known as Ngadra La, is 2½ hrs from the lodge via a dusty trail with some prayer flags and piles of stones (cairns) marking the way. The northern side has snow most of the time, making the decent a little tricky.

It slowly drops down for around 45 minutes, followed by a gentle slope for around 3 hours up to Shey Gompa. On the way, you can see red and white Chortens, Mani Walls.

Shey Gompa is a small village that has a monastery from the 11th century at the base of Crystal Peak. A spiritual hub in Dolpa, pilgrimages make their way here for the circumambulation of this peak. People belonging to the predecessors of Tibet, dressed up traditionally in Tibetan attire, add more culture to this village.

You can today gaze at the Tsakang Gompa 4575 m - a Kagyupa Buddhist monastery which featured on the movie Himalaya - clinging to the face of a rugged red rock face, part of the trail that pilgrimages take for the Crystal Peak kora.

There are many blue sheep here as hunting was stopped here by the abbot of Shey Gompa. If you are lucky then you will see the rare snow leopard also. You will overnight at tented camp and all meals are provided.

You will cross the Shey La today, also known as Gelu La at 5000 meters, climbing through a narrow valley. From the top, to the north is the big Tibetan Plateau, and towards the east, it's Mustang. Later, you go down to the pastures of Namgung, where you may see Tibetan tents next to the spread-out fields since these latter are too far to travel to each day. The people of Namgung are friendly, and their welcoming words, "Tashi Delek," come with a smile.

Today's walk is shorter. The trail follows the high route above the Namgung Khola and then drops steeply to Saldang, the largest village of inner Dolpo, which lies in the Nagon Valley. This old village in this hard land is surrounded by surrounding fields of barley, buckwheat, and potatoes.

Yaks are used to get meat, wool, and trading, continuing the old tradition with the locals of salt for grain. Many are semi-nomadic: during the summer months they migrate with their animals to the highlands. Droka work for richer villagers herding the animals.

Today's walk towards Sibu follows the course of Namgung River and passes small villages like Namdo surrounded by barley terraces. It is rather easy and is a path with Mani walls, chortens, and gompas, indicating how deeply Buddhism is enrooted in the day-to-day life of people within Inner Dolpo.

The trail follows the gentle route along the river till the last village of Raka. Shortly it then enters a very open valley, maybe some sights of Blue Sheep and Snow Leopard. The path leaves two hours later the river and commences a steep ascent onto a grassy meadow often used for yak grazing at 4570 meters. Lagmo Che is the climbing base for people attempting Jeng La.

You ascend for about 2 hours to the Jeng La Pass at an altitude of 5110 meters, from which you will have spectacular views of Dhaulagiri at 8167 meters and the surrounding snow-capped peaks. From the top of the pass, you will descend into the Tarap Valley and to the village of Tokyu at 4209 meters, considered the highest permanent human inhabitation on Earth. Tokyu Village has a famous Gompa with an impressive Maitreya statue.

It's a short walk from Dho Tarap. Cristal Mountain School, supported by a French NGO, is along the way. The school is open to visitors and teachers are pleased to show you around. Trekker will need a half hours walk to reach Dho Village from the school.

There are picturesque Chorten gates at the entrance. The village is settled by Tibetans' descendants. They can easily be recognized by means of their clothes: dark dresses and aprons of all the colors of the rainbow, with big shell bracelets and silver and turquoise inlaid headpieces for women; men wear long coats with one sleeve hanging and tie long hairs with succulent red ribbons.

Dho Tarap is a traditional farming village surrounded by fields where yaks help with plowing. People mostly grow barley, buckwheat, and potatoes, but now greenhouses let them grow some vegetables too. The locals depend on products from yaks and trade with others. Their stone houses are built in the Tibetan style, with small windows and flat roofs that are used for storing firewood. The friendly locals, especially the young people, often know some English.

Today is an easy day, hence, you have a lot of time in the morning to enjoy Dho. Going down alongside the Tarap Khola, you will notice great views of manis walls and small Chortens. The landscape slowly changes, and it becomes more green-colored with bushes before reaching Sisaul. You'll first climb a small hill and then, the valley gets narrower. Beyond Sisaul is a pleasant campsite with a tent-hotel. You can either consider camping at this place or decide to roll further down.

From Sisaul you climb up to a small col with a Chorten. Behind the col you see the first trees and follow a river valley alongside tall rocks. The last chance to see blauschafe or snow leopard. You need 3 to 3½ hrs. from there to reach Nawarpani, mostly down and part of the trail is hewned in the rock so tunnel-like.

Just after Nawarpani, the area starts getting greener as the path goes through nice-smelling pine forests. The trail gets wide at some points and goes higher from the river at times. You will reach Laina Odar where the riverside tent camp is set up for night.

It descends steeply from Laina Odar to Laisicap at 2772 meters. The forests are thick with tall pine trees-spruce, fir, juniper, and cypress. The river is sometimes far beneath your feet. It takes about 3 hours. You cross the Thuli Bheri River on a 120-meter suspension bridge at Laisicap before continuing downhill for another 45 minutes.

The rest of the hike is easier-down, slowly, and some flat-and the area is very green with juniper and pine trees. You should be able to see big grey monkeys and take in views of the snowy Kang Tokal (6294 meters). As you draw closer to Lingdo, you will notice faraway villages, such as Sarakot, on cliffs.

Picking up from Dho Tarap's first village onwards, it is Lingdo that offers a guest house and camp site. It is peopled by the local Trail, a Buddhist Magar tribe.

Preamble to a perfect day: one starting with an unforgettable hike through beautiful yet unforgiving craggy terrain, carved sideways into the rock face, deep into the beauties of this world. This hike takes approximately 2.5 hours until one reaches the picturesque village of Bazar at 2427 meters. This entrance itself is a strong transition in topography-from arid to lush green, just as if an alpine meadow had been placed in Europe, interstocked with tall pine trees guarding its sides.

Moving further along the banks of the Thuli Bheri River, the trail now takes you to Dunai, a real humming village with life, with about 2,500 residents. The administrative centre of Dolpa, Dunai, is itself a strange amalgamation of Hindu and Buddhist culture, customs that exist together freely. Cross the river for a short walk to the Dolpa Kendriya Gompa, a tranquil Buddhist monastery that was built in 1998. The soft humming of daily prayers greets your ears for some moments of quiet contemplation in your journey.

The following day brings a more leisurely pace with a 4-hour hike to Juphal. Today, your trek begins with a colored chorten that marks the entrance of the Dunai region. Further, cross the suspension bridge over the Thuli Bheri River that swings, slowly and smoothly leading into Shey Phoksundo National Park.

A wide path now leads through the charming village of Kalagaonda and unfold local life. The walk now opens up into open fields of barley and wheat, occasionally broken by trees heavy with fruit, which amply provide a refreshing contrast to the mountain surroundings.

Across an upward steep the trail now passes through the Hindu village of Dangiwada. The trail awaits your call to stop for a while to catch the warm hospitality of the people living here. Finally, you’ll arrive in Juphal, a larger village that offers a lively market brimming with local crafts and produce. Take your time exploring the bustling stalls, where the colorful displays and friendly vendors create an inviting ambiance, making it a perfect place to unwind after your day of exploration.

You will have an early morning flight to Nepalgunj with good views of mountain valleys and fly back to Kathmandu same day in the afternoon.

Today is your last day in Nepal. If your time permits, today you may do some last minute shopping if you wish. Late afternoon our staff will drop you at Tribhuvan International Airport for onward flight 3 hours prior to the flight time.