| Twelve unique and distinct tribal groups are found | | | | to this day remain closed to foreign trekkers, two |
| in a 500 mile stretch of the Nepal Himalaya | | | | places, that for decades retained mystery and |
| mountain range. Scholars such as Tibetologist | | | | only a handful of lucky scientists and explorers |
| David Snellgrave, anthropologist Christoph von | | | | noted above were fortunate to obtain trekking |
| Furer-Haimendorf, naturalists George Schaller and | | | | permits for, alluded me. These two remarkable |
| Peter Mattheissen as well as ethnologist-explorer | | | | territories are Dolpo and Mustang. |
| Michel Peissel and many others have been | | | | Though I was unable to get past king's army |
| attracted by the seclusion of ethnic cultures | | | | check posts in my day, Dolpo and Mustang are |
| populating remote inaccessible valleys of the | | | | now open to any trekker willing to pay for the |
| principal chain of the Himalayas, most of them | | | | stiff trekking permit issued on strictly enforced |
| hidden in the rain-shadow of the High Himalaya. | | | | bases by the Nepalese government. These cut |
| Their differing ways of life, architecture and | | | | off places attract trekkers interested in the |
| beliefs have enticed explorers ever since Nepal | | | | physical challenges of high Himalayan passes as |
| first opened its border to the outside world nearly | | | | well as those more fascinated by the culture of |
| sixty years ago. | | | | peoples that have survived in typically inhospitable |
| The principal part of the Himalaya mountain range | | | | living conditions on account of harsh environment. |
| is framed by the Dhaulagiri massif in the west and | | | | Dolpo trek is a strenuous journey to the far-flung |
| the Kanchenjunga Himal in the east. In this vast | | | | Shey Monastery beyond Phoksundo Lake, the |
| expanse of the Himalayas lies not only the | | | | fabled region of snow leopard, the Himalayan blue |
| densest concentration of world's highest peaks | | | | sheep, and the semi-nomadic yak herders |
| but also the most extraordinary collection of | | | | removed from the rest of the world by some of |
| cultures. In the 1970s I had undertaken six major | | | | Himalayas' most difficult passes. Mustang trek |
| journeys into the interior of the Nepal Himalayas | | | | leads into a barren landscape, a high altitude |
| attracted precisely by the mystique of the | | | | desert, once an independent kingdom with close |
| Himalayan most isolated areas. In one of my | | | | ties to Tibet proper, the mysterious former |
| journeys I had walked over 2000 miles, a solitary | | | | Kingdom of Lo, aka Mustang. |
| one-man expedition that I hoped would allow me | | | | If you might have ever toyed with the idea of |
| to penetrate the complexities and simplicities of | | | | being an explorer, and the adventure spirit is still |
| tribal life far better than any team expedition, and | | | | within you, time is now for Dolpo and Mustang, as |
| above all reach villages never visited by a | | | | development promises to alter even these two |
| foreigner. While I did succeed to visit areas that | | | | world's most remote corners soon forever. |