Upper Mustang Trek

When you arrive in the airport our staff will receive you at Tribhuvan International airport, Kathmandu. He/ She will be displaying a placard with Himalayan Travelers Trek & Expedition written in it outside the airport terminal. He will meet, greet and welcome you with auspicious garland and escort you to your respective hotel by our private tourist vehicle. At the hotel, he will assist you to check in and do pre-trip meeting with you.

Trek preparation day/rest and digest the journey, and enjoy the atmosphere of Boudhanath/Thamel. You can also do some last-minute shopping, and most importantly, optimize your luggage to a mountaineering bag and a trekking bag.

The road takes us out of the Kathmandu Valley along the Prithivi Highway. On the way, we can see Trisuli River( one of the famous rafting river of Nepal) and rafters rafting on. After you reach Pokhara and check into your hotel you can roam around the Fewa Lake and go for boating and relax.

This amazing short fly makes your trip more interesting as you can enjoy beautiful hills and mountain views during this flight. After you reach Jomsom, you will hike to Kagbeni via Lubra Villege( one of the hidden bon Village of Lower Mustang) and visit around Kagbeni ( The Tibetan Village). Kagbeni is the gateway to Upper Mustang.

After breakfast, we have to check for especial Upper Mustang permits and drive till Tangbe by jeep and hike to Tetang. Entry to Tangbe is thus from below a string of beautiful chortens and a ruined fort. Then instead of continuing along the road, it’s better to detour via Tetang. Tetang is one of the best preserved villages of the Shoyul. Arriving in the village from above is particularly beautiful. Then, continue trek to Chhusang. Upper Mustang, the challenging of the wind as it whistles up the valley gorge. We will pass through the white-washed houses and set of buckwheat and barley fields. We find three protectors (Rigsum Gonpo) through out this trip. There are three colored Rigsum Gonpas and they represents the trinity formed by the three most popular buddhisattvas in the Mustang area: Jampelyang (Sanscrit:Manjushri), Chenresig (Avalokiteshvara) and Chana Dorje (Vajrapani). The color red is the attribute of Jampelyang, the god of wisdom. White represents Chenresig, who personifies compassion. He is the most venerated god in the Tibetan Buddhism, known also for the famous mantra: “Om mani padme hum”. Blue is the color of Chana Dorje, a fierce and powerful deity who fights demons. Another significance of these Rigsum Gonpas are that they guards the villages and houses terein against malevolent spirits coming from the three levels of the world: sky, earth and underground. White represents the Lha divinities who live in the sky. Red is the Tsen, demons of the earthly expanses. Blue is the Lu (nagas), the snake god of the underground and springs.

Today we cross Kali Gandaki River and pass through the steep barren land alongside the copper-red canyon. We will visit a Ghyakar village and monastery. We will continue down-hills and up-hills until Samar.

Today we will continue our trek challenging with down-hills and up-hills of the trail and visit Chungsi Cave and continue trek to our destination Shyangboche/Ghiling. Chungsi cave is a popular pilgrimage of Mustang which is believed that Guru Ringpoche meditated in this cave around 8th century. This cave is naturally originated on the cliff.

After breakfast we will leave Shyangboche/Ghiling in the alternative route and head towards Ghemi. As soon as we leave Shyangboche/Ghiling, we cross many hills to get into Ghami. During this journey we will trek up and down walking through narrow trail of semi-arid desert of hills and panoramic Himalayan views. Shyangboche to Ghami route offers you the similar exploration of the village in Tibetan plateau. Many massif mountain views, landscape, culture and natural of this part makes the journey joyful.

Today after crossing the steel bridge at Ghami Khola, we will walk along the longest mani wall of Upper Mustang and pass many chortens to reach Drakmar. Drakmar is one of the most fabulous village and valley with stunning panoramic views of different colored red-cliffs. From below Tensing Riverside Lodge, take the path for Ghar Gumba which winds it’s way through the cliff and turn left and follow the line of the ridge crossing a few small intermediate summits. Breathtaking panoramic views are guaranteed. From the pass we can see the amazing views of Annapurna, Dhaulagiri, Throng peak, Nilgiri and Damodar mountin range.Then after we will continue to Ghar Gumba.The Ghar Gumpa is the oldest monastery in Upper Mustang which is linked with Guru Rinpoche and Samye monastery in Tibet. Evidently when Samye monastery was being built it was destroyed every night by eerie demons. In the Lama’s dream the building was saved which meant Guru Rinpoche could help them so he sent a request to him. Guru Rinpoche came to Tibet and destroyed the demons but told the monks that Samye could not be completed until the monastery was built in the Lo Gekar in Mustang. There was also a demon in Lo Gekar who Guru Rinpoche killed on whose blood spilled on the mountains. Therefore, Drakmar’s mountains are red. The demon’s intestines where then used to create a long mani walls.

Today we walk through motorable road, the walking trails are mostly flat, wide and gradually up. From the windy pass we can see the first glimpse of an amazing walled capital of Lo Manthang. From the pass we descent down to reach our final destination Lomanthang.

Lo-Manthang is one of the major attraction of this trip, the walled capital of Buddhist kingdom of Lo and is the northern two-thirds of Mustang district founded by Ame Pal in 1380. It has tall whitewashed mud-brick walls, gumpas and Raja’s or Royal or King’s palace. There are four major temples at Lo-Manthang: Jampa Lhakhang or Jampa Gompa the oldest known as the ‘God house’, Thubchen Gumpa a huge and red assembly hall, Chodey Gumpa the main city Gompa and Choprang Gumpa popularly known as (new gumpa).

Today we trek to Choser, have lunch at Choer, visit around the Choser valley and get back into the teahouse. There are many Tibetan villages, caves and monasteries within this valley to visit. We will visit Jhong cave and deep red Gharphu Gumpa built into the rock face.

Today early in the morning after breakfast we visit Konchok ling cave and trek back to Lomanthang. This cave is famous for it’s amazingly beautiful Murals. Large figures of Vajradhara, Chaturbuja, Avalokiteshvara and Tara are depicted in the Mural of this cave. The cave is situated in unaccessible height so the care must be taken. The route ascends the valley decorated with ancient chortens then heads east to a quite steep zigzag. This is surely the most beautiful walk in Mustang. The main purpose of visiting this Cave is to admire the cave painting in the Leopard’s Grotto, the surrounding countryside, the views from the arête, the ambience, the hardiness of the trail all combine to make this the most unmissable itinerary in the whole of North Mustang. Atraverse is followed by steepish descent, then another climb next to a stunning geological delirium in flamboyant colors. At the col, a very old construction attresrs to the historic importance of the site: a monastic complex with the evocate name of Trakpuk konchokling. The cave consists of a wall 7.5m long covered by 55 panels of 12th century Pala Buddhist art representations. Depicted in the principal fresco are the “The Great Accomplished Ones” or Mahasiddas, historic persons or legendary characters practicing asceticism and psychophysiogic techniques of yoga.

Heading towards Yara leads us to the same route to Tsarang till near the Sungdha Chorten. After that we follow the left route of the trail and pass through the small hills to reach Udi Danda pass. From this pass we can see the panoramic views of different colored cliffs, hills and mountains. We will descend down from Udi Danda till Dhi Village and stop there for lunch. Dhi village is a full of farming fields, we can also go for excursion of Dhi village if interested. Then after we cross Kali Gandaki River and go along the trail on the left side of a Puyung Khola. We can see very beautiful landscapes on the opposite side of near Yara. There are also Chortenas and Rigsum Gompo (the three protectors) on the way. Then after continue 10-20 minutes, we reach our destination.

A day for culture, visiting two exceptional religious sites- Tashi Kabum and Luri Gumpa with the highlights being the unique landscape of the Yara caves. We visit Tashi Kabum which is located in a cliff approximately 50meters above the Puyon Khola on the way to Luri Gumpa. It takes almost an hour to reach Tashi Kabum by foot from Yara village. It is little bit difficult to reach this cave and also we need to crawl down to enter into the cave but once inside we have enough space to stand approximately five-six meters high. In the center of Tashi Kabum cave there is a white chorten under the ceiling of eight suspicious symbols. The symbols painted on the ceiling are surrounded by Vajras and lotus petals as in a Mandala and contains Lokeshvara and a Buddhist Master. The mantra of compassion, “Om mani padme hum” is painted in a lot of places in Upper Mustang. Luri Gumba is also known as Luri cave monastery which is situated inside the cave with numerous delicate paintings. This cave also surrounded by beautiful landscapes and is one of the most important places to worship in the Kingdom. The monastery represents the “Dhukpa Kagyu” sect of Tibetan Buddhism and one of the Mustang’s interesting mysterious. In the center of this cave is a chorten, six meters high, with painted figures on all sides of its rectangular base, on its dome, and also beneath the ritual parasol atop the dome. The domed ceiling is decorated with eight painted images of Mahasiddhas, circling above the chorten. Then after continue with good mountain views until Gharagaon and stop there for lunch. After lunch we will visit around this village and continue to Yara.

Chrang village is also spelled as Tsarang and it has numerous stupa structures and monasteries. Chortens and Mani walls surround the village of typically Mustang style, which form a maze of narrow stone flagged alleyways and whitewashed mud and stone houses with flat timber topped roofs that blend so perfectly with the surrounding landscape. Chrang village is a very peaceful with series of cultivated terraced fields and the peoples are friendly and hospitable. Chrang is actually the second largest village in the entire Mustang region.

This is an end of the trek and celebrate last day in Jomsom.