“Nepal’s one of most challenging treks that traverses across the barren highland deserts on Great Himalayan Trail of isolated west, Upper Dolpo Trek is a lifetime adventure for trekkers who can endure hardships of different kinds. Nature in the rawest form and the culture nomadic than expected, Upper Dolpo Trek is truly an amazing trip that every avid trekkers must undertake. The word “MUST” is used here because Upper Dolpo Trek, which is almost a month long adventure every day takes you to scattered pieces of heaven on earth – unexplored  by adventurers and unharmed by human influence.”

Today’s post is a Photo Essay that highlights incredible features of Upper Dolpo Trek. 

Before Upper Dolpo Trek, the sightseeing tour of Kathmandu’s Heritage Sites offers cultural glimpse of Nepal’s rich history – A day required to acquire all documents to trek to Dolpo well used

After the flight to Nepaljung, a lowland town of Western Nepal, we fly to remote airport of Juphal, the trek starting point

The trail that stretches through the lush vegetation of Shey Phoksundo National Park caters tremendous biodiversity of floral and faunal species

Nepal’s one the most magnificent lakes, Phoksundo Lake is the first major highlight of Upper Dolpo Trek. The lake has unique attributes. It is devoid of living creatures and it has color changing features

Upper Dolpo Trek also highlights Bon Culture, Buddhism based on Shamanism and which is also believed to Buddhism prior to Buddha. Ringmo is the Bon Village that lies atop a spur right above Phoksundo Lake

Upper Dolpo Trek is challenging because it comprises several high passes. Charka La 4920m, Sangda La 4990m, Mushi La 5030m, Shey La 5010m & Sehu La 5160m are the important passes trekkers traverse during the trek

The culture of Upper Dolpo is close to nomadic one. For fire natives depend on fire woods and ignite the fire the yak dung is still in practice

To heal the illness, natives faith on local Amchis (Traditional Doctors), who gather knowledge from ancient manuscripts and treat patients with medicinal herbs found in the region

Neither technology nor science has made impact in Upper Dolpo, animals and humans both has to go through painful and traditional treatments to heal the illness

Sparsely populated with mythical monasteries, Villages of Upper Dolpo located in the middle of nowhere manifest traditional  Buddhist Culture. The major villages we explore during Upper Dolpo Trek include Ringmo, Shey, Namgung, Tinze & Mu Gaon among others

Wilderness walk continues for hours and sometimes days during Upper Dolpo Trek. No teahouses and hence trek in Upper Dolpo are based on Fully organized Trek – Camps for Accommodation and Sherpa Cooks for three hearty meals a day

From one restricted region to another – entering Upper Mustang – the fabled town of walls and the forbidden Kingdom in the rain shadow of dazzling Dhaulagiri

The caves in the cliffs of Upper Mustang were the sky cemeteries in the ancient days, Nat Geo Explorers have already verified the fact

Lo-Manthang, the fascinating capital of Upper Mustang, where history, culture and spirituality ideally blend with a slight modern essence

The monks of Upper Mustang, marching for the performance during Tiji Festival