Upper Dolpo Trek

Upon landing at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu, you will be greeted by our team and transferred to your hotel in Thamel. We will require your original passport with Nepal’s visa to process the Dolpo restricted area permit, which takes a few hours to complete. In the late afternoon, you will meet your hiking guide for a briefing on the details of your Upper Dolpo trek.

Take a single hour from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj city in west Nepal. Nepalgunj is a big town that is also a gateway to the Simikot of Humla. This town itself is an interesting Terai town of Nepal with influences from both the Nepal hills and plains well as local Hindu and Muslim cultures. Get experience visiting some sightseeing places in Nepalgunj with our guide if the weather permits. Otherwise, we at the Gokyo hiking team prepare for a flight to Juphal airport the next morning.

Catch a morning flight from Nepalgunj to Juphal airport takes 45 minutes. Distance from Nepalgunj to Juphal is 155 kilometers in front. In a clear sky, the tourist gets an amazing view of miraculous landscapes with a beautiful snow-capped mountain view. Juphal is a small Bazaar, where we can feel cold and breathe fresh air. We stay here for the first night because we have to arrange porters, arrange gear and prepare Donkeys to carry food for the Dolpo trip..etc.

On our first day of hiking, we traverse wheat and vegetable fields to reach the Thuli Bheri River. Crossing a large suspension bridge brings us to the entrance of Shey Phoksundo National Park (SPNP), the largest national park in Nepal covering an area of 3,555km².

Following the Suli Khola, we catch glimpses of the Dhaulagiri Range. Enjoy a refreshing tea with pure local honey along the way. Trekking through pine, fir, juniper, cypress, and bamboo forests, this is a beautiful opportunity to connect with nature. We camp overnight at Cheep Ka, amidst millet and wheat fields.

We trek through lush forests, tracing a river and encountering various ascents and descents. Along the way, we may see local people with their mules, known as dzopas (a crossbreed of yak and cow), loaded with goods to sell.

After several hours, we reach Reechi village, and from there, continue to Chumuwar village. In Chumuwar, there is an Amchi Hospital, where an Amchi, trained in traditional Tibetan medicine, provides treatments using herbs and natural remedies.

We ascend for about 2 hours, and just before reaching the top, we are treated to the sight of Nepal’s highest waterfall, the Phoksundo Waterfall, which stands at an impressive 107 meters. While not the world’s tallest waterfall, it is considered the most scenic and beautiful, surrounded by flowers.

In comparison, the Hyatung Falls or Hyatrung Falls is the highest waterfall in Nepal, but it is more common and lacks the picturesque beauty of the Phoksundo Waterfall. Descending from the waterfall, we arrive at Ringmo village, where the residents practice the Bonpo religion.

This ancient religion was founded by Buddha Lonpa Shanrab Miwo around 18,000 years ago. Dolpa is believed to have been the center of the Bon Kingdom known as Zhang, which was a large and powerful empire encompassing present-day western and northwestern Tibet.

Special day to admire the beauty of Phoksundo Lake and visited nearby villagers inhabited by Bon and Buddhist religion.

From here onward, begins the Upper Dolpo section. We follow the famous hiking trail where the famous movie called CARAVAN of Eric Valli was castes. Eric Valli is a renowned French photographer who discovers this Himalayan journey. Salla Ghari hiking trail route, used by local Dolpo people for the purpose to trade with Tibetans. We reach the high hill to get a beautiful view of Lane Ringmo, the dark green pine forests, and the snow-capped mountain to the South. Later on, you will have a spectacular view of Kanjirowa Himal (6,6612m), we reach an alpine area with junipers called Thaneba or Lakeside camp to stay for that night.

We trek through the pine forest between high rock walls on both sides and cross a couple of streams to reach the base camp caravan. Enter a narrow gorge where will set our camp to stay for that night.

We ascend adventurous journey to Ngadra La (5,350m). We descend downhill walking to reach Shey Gompa, a very small village with a couple of houses and the Gompa. It is an 11th-century gompa, situated beneath the crystal peak on a small grassy plain, at the confluence of two rivers people believed that it was constructed by a Tibetan Buddhist, who arrived here on the back of a flying snow lion. Shey Gompa is also called the spiritual heart of Dolpo where many pilgrims visit this gompa to make Kora (clockwise circuit) of crystal peak every year.

Visit Tsakang Gompa – a Monastery that stands at an elevation at 4570 meters to explore and meditation. Tsakang had been a meditation center for many famous lamas from Tibet. Shey Gompa belongs to the Chaiba community, followers of the Padmasambhava, and Kagyu sects. It was the first Kagyupa monastery and its founder was the lama Ten-szin-Ra-Pa. The monastery was built during the 11th century. Shey is famous for its ancient Buddhist culture.

In Dolpo, the ancient Tibetan way of life combines animism with the teachings of Buddha. Drutup Yeshe introduced Buddhism in the Dolpo valley. Many years ago, he came to Dolpo and came across a wild people whose supreme God was a ‘fierce mountain spirit’. Crystal Mountain is to the west of the Shey monastery. It is a very strange mountain indeed. Its contorted cliffs are laced with quartz and embedded with a rich variety of marine fossils.

Today, we need to cross the Sheyla pass which is also called Geln La (5000m). Hike at the pass, you can see a beautiful view of the northern part of the Tibetan plateau, which is the highest plateau in the world. Likewise, to the east, we can see Mustang. After passing, we descend further to the pastures of Namgung village. Namgung is a beautiful place with friendly people and a great environment.

Our Trek to Saldang la starts with climbing a treed slope. We have to ascend to 4700m before going down steep slopes to the picturesque village of Saldang. Situated on a plateau high above the Nam Khong nala and the biggest villages of lower Dolpo. This village is prosperous because of the agriculture and business trade route to Tibet.

We will leave Saldang village and on way to Sibu we have to pass through terraced fields, Stupas, Chortens mani and a Chaiba monastery. Namdo, the next village contains sixty houses having nearly four hundred in habitats. It stretches 5km on the high slopes to the left of Nam Khong Khola. We set camp near the small settlement of Sibu, right on the river bank.

The hiking trail today involves a relatively easy ascent. Continue to cross another stream before entering a side valley where the ascent becomes much steeper.

Walk to Jeng La (4850m) pass hilltop, offers an excellent Golden view of Mount Dhaulagiri in the morning. Continue to descend towards Tarap valley. Tarap is a spectacular valley with vast plants in high mountains extending to twenty kilometers along the Tarap Chu River. It consists of ten villages with cultivated fields, many Gompas, and Chhortens.

Trek along the downward lower of Tarap Chu where the trail is easy as it is well-traveled. There are many mani walls along the journey. The French School is just outside the village of Dho Tarap. Dho is surrounded by an irregular stone wall and consists of thirty-four houses. Both Bonpo and Buddhists are inhabitants here. Visit the Buddhist Gompa where a Lama lives, he is happy to welcome you to show you his monastery and might even let you see his private Gompa and the Thankas which he made himself.

Trek route follows the Tarap Khola, generally downhill. Go through the narrow gorges with the river rushing through. One may see blue sheep, marmot, yak, sheep, and goat and perhaps meet people from Dolpo taking their flocks of sheep and goats to lower pastures for the winter. You will also see the first of the modern steel suspension bridges that have been built to facilitate people and animals. The track is often very narrow in places.

You leave Khanigoan by new suspension bridge. Walk alongside the river, sometimes going very high before reaching down to the water again. Coming into the broad fertile valley of the Barbung Chu, you walk among the various crops of millet, sweet corn, barley, buckwheat, green beans, chilies, and marijuana.

Tarakot is an old fortress town known by the local people as Dzong, meaning ‘fort’. Before the Gorkha dynasty, Tarakot was the capital and had a dzong. Sandul gompa is a famous gompa of 8km east of Tarakot and at the junction of Barbung Khola and Tarap Chu, stands on a knoll to the south of Bheri River and at one time supervised collections of tolls for the trading caravans traversing an area called Tichu Rong.

The trail mostly descends and offers a relatively firm footing. You’ll walk alongside the Bheri River, using a clever path built about twenty feet above the river. Before you know it, you’ll arrive at Dunai and the campsite you used previously, marking the completion of the Dolpo circuit.

You now retrace your steps to Juphal. After reaching Jhupal, we can spend our afternoon exploring the busy market town or simply pursuing whatever we feel like. Initially, the way is flat but the final hour up to your destination seems steeper than you remember on our first-day hikes. As today is our last day of hikes in remote areas, we are safely back at our campsite. The camping crew will set up a campsite over the nice ground. In the evening, we’ll have a celebration with our team of porters, cooks, guides, and fellow hikers. It’s a delightful opportunity to thank them for helping you realize your Dolpo exploring dream. Finally, we’ll fly from Juphal back to Kathmandu via Nepalgunj, and enjoy some free time in the capital before a farewell dinner as a group.

We take an early flight from Jhupal to Nepalgunj town. On reaching Nepalgunj airport, we return to Kathmandu on the next available flight immediately. Upon landing on the Kathmandu airport runway, our guide will arrange a private transfer for you to return to your hotel. Furthermore, You can spend the evening leisurely, perhaps catch up on some last-minute shopping and celebrate dinner with us. Overnight at Kathmandu.

After breakfast, the day will start with our guided trip to cultural world heritage sites in Kathmandu valley. The tour places are pilgrimage sites of the Hindu Pashupatinath temple, the world’s biggest Boudhanath Stupa, visit Swayambhunath Stupa, and historical Kathmandu Durbar Square. In addition, Tourists can visit an ancient monument to see unique architecture and the living goddess (kumari temple) in central Kathmandu.

In the evening, we drop you at Kathmandu International Airport for your home country return flight. In this way, the trip ends. Gokyo Treks Nepal agency will be happy to serve you on all of your adventures, trekking, and tours in the Himalayas. We wish you a wonderful journey back home.