The best known of the many isolated high Himalayan valleys across northern Nepal, Dolpo preserves one of the last remnants of traditional Tibetan culture. Legend says it's a one of the "hidden valleys" created by Guru Rinpoche as a refuge for devout Buddhists in troubled times according to Buddhism. Surrounded by high mountains including the Dhaulagiri massif to the south-east and cut off by high passes closed by snow half the year, Dolpo's easiest access is from Tibet, where its people emigrated from perhaps 1 000 years ago. Upper Dolpo shelters about 5000 people.
A large portion of Dolpo has been set aside as Shey - Phoksumdo National Park, at 3,555 square km Nepal's largest National Park. Meant to preserve a complete example of the trans-Himalayan ecosystem, the park shelters blue sheep, Himalayan black bear, leopards, wolves, and the exclusive snow leopard .Dolpo is the best-known of Nepal's forbidden northern border regions. The 1989 announcement that the government was opening the region for trekking caused the greater excitement.
Groups generally fly from Nepalgunj to the Juphal airstrip, and 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 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 demo ness’s 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. Dolpo region contains many villages, valleys, deep forest to Tibetan plateau structural land, rivers, monasteries and wild lives. |
