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Dolpo Trekking
Region Nepal Himalaya
Dolpo is the best-known of
Nepal's forbidden northern border regions. The 1989 announcement that the
government was opening the region to group treks caused a flurry of excitement.
To reach here, you must trek through a registered company, which will obtain
permits. Groups generally fly from Nepalgunj to the Juphal airstrip, then walk
few hours to the district headquarters of Dunai (2,100 meters). The trail
follows the Suli Gad River, passing through thick conifer forests and a few
Thakuri Hindu villages. The National Park check-post is one day from Dunai; two
steep days later, you reach Phoksumdo Lake.
Flying in and out, the trek
takes less than two weeks. Phoksumdo Lake (3,627 meters) is the highlight of the
whole trek, a basin of unearthly turquoise blue ringed by rocky crags and
forest, framed by snow-capped peaks. Legend says a demons fled here during Gum
Rinpoche's conversion of Tibet's resident spirits, offering local people a
gigantic turquoise to keep her passage a secret. Guru Rinpoche transformed the
turquoise into a lump of dung, and the disgruntled people revealed the demons
hiding place. In revenge she culled down a flood upon their village, submerging
it beneath the lake. The legend is a concise mythic summary of the ancient
struggle between Bönpo and Buddhists; the latter won, but the former remain,
even here at Phoksumdo. At the lake's eastern end is the village of Ringmo, also
called Tso. The town's entrance chorten has nine complex Buddhist and Bönpo
mandalas painted on its wooden ceiling.
The people are Bhotia and only
very distantly related to Tibetans. They are gradually becoming Hinduized,
adding Chhetri surnames to their Tibetan names. The Bönpo monastery, Tso Gompa,
is two km from the village, set above the lake on forested cliffs with views
across to Kanjiroba. Below the village, a gigantic waterfall cascades over a
series of rock steps, draining into the Suli Gad fur below. A visit to the Bönpo
Gompa at Pungmo, two hours up aside valley to the west, is a worthwhile
expedition. The best part of Dolpo lies beyond the lake, along a difficult trail
that crosses a high pass into the real Dolpo. Shey Gompa, named after nearby
Crystal Mountain, is several days' walk north of the lake. Another trail to
reach Shey Gompa leads trough the Tarap valley over several high passes and
magnificent villages like Tarap-Dho, Saldang and Pijorgaorgaon.
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