Tiji Festival Trek in Upper Mustang

Wilderness Excursion team will take the fantastic early morning flight to Jomsom and begin our trek alongside the Kali Gandaki riverbed to the attractive village of Kagbeni. The trail is flat and quite barren, with craggy rocks and pebbles littering the trail. We get magnificent views of huge peaks such as Dhaulagiri, Tukuche and the Nilgiri Himal, whilst to the south can be seen the entire Annapurna Massif. Kagbeni with its narrow alleyways and tunnels, irrigation canals, fields of wheat and barley and large red gompa, gives us a preview of scenes that we will come across in Upper Mustang. At the north end of the village is the police check-post. Here we complete our paperwork before entering this long forbidden region of Nepal. (4 hours trekking). Overnight at Kagbeni. Meals: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.

We start our trek to Chele along the east bank of Kaligandaki river. Seclude and unique landscapes along this sandy trial are mind blowing. We continue uphill and downhill to Tangbe village. The view of Nilgiri peak from this village is amazing. We pass white washed houses, crop fields and apple orchards and continue to Chhusang village. We cross the river and continue our climb up to a huge red lump of agglomerate which falls from the cliff above. We leave Kali Gandaki valley and climb a steep rocky canyon to Chele. Overnight at guesthouse. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

We go on our climb up along steep, treeless terrain along the side of a steep canyon to a pass and a cairn of rock at (3540m). We make a long gradual descend to Samar village and climb up above Samar village to a ridge. Wilderness Excursion team further descends into a large gorge and continue to a valley field. We cross a stream and climb up a ridge at (3800m). We continue our climb up and cross yet another pass. We follow the ridge and descend to Shyangmochen. We further climb to a pass at (3770m) and descend to Ghiling Village. Overnight at guesthouse. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

The trail goes up gently up to a pass called NYI La and descends below to a valley. We cross a steel bridge over the Tangmar Chu (river) and follow the way to the longest Mani wall in Mustang. We climb a pass at 3,600m and make a long gentle descend to Tsarang Village. Wilderness Excursion team visit a huge five-storey white Dzong and red Gompa which are the major attractions of the village. Overnight at guesthouse. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

Our trail climbs up steadily to Lo-Gekar Gompa, one of the oldest Gompa of Nepal. We continue our trek with a sight of the walled city of Lo all along the trial. We make a short descent, cross a stream and climb up into the plateau of Lo-Manthang. Overnight at guesthouse. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

Today is the first day of Tiji Festival. We spend our day observing the dances and celebrations. Horse racing and a giant tug-of-war are the major attractions. Tibetan women in their traditional clothing with colorful jewelry, monks in their robes and dancers in elaborate costumes make the entire environment vivid and vibrant. Overnight at guesthouse. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

We can enjoy a colorful ceremony accompanied by an unusual dance of Tibetan lamas. It is done to chase away all the hungry and evil spirits from the village. We can see many people across the region participating in this ritual of purification and renewal. After the observation, we can explore the intimate alleyways and courtyards of the city or simply rent a horse and visit some of the other villages in the area. Overnight at guesthouse, breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

Today, we walk to Namgyal Gompa, a monastery that lies on a hilltop. It is an important monastery that serves as a local court to the local community people. After our visit to the monastery, we continue our tour to Tingkhar, the last village to the northwest of Lomanthang or excursion to western valley of Upper Mustang (optional). In the evening, we return back to Lo Manthang and continue the celebration of Tiji festival. Overnight at guesthouse. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

Today, our trail climbs up steadily. We climb a ridge at 4070m and continue to the Chogo La at 4210m, the highest point of our trek. Then we make a short and steep descent and cross the Charang River. We climb up to Lo Gekar and continue to Ghar Gompa, a small monastery. We climb up a ridge, cross a valley along some alpine meadows and drop down a steep eroded path to Drakmar. Overnight at guesthouse, breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

Our trail descends as we pass the stone walls and fields of Drakmar and then climbs up to a ridge. We descend to the lower part of Ghami and then to Jaite (3820m). We further descend to Chhung-Kah and follow the trial to Tama Gaon (3710m). We continue our descend until we reach Shyangmochen. Overnight at guesthouse. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner included. 

We follow a stream all the way down to Chhusang and continue to Kagbeni. We can also take an alternative route to Samar by visiting Ranchung Cave which is 30-minutes longer than the usual route. Overnight at guesthouse. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

After breakfast, we start our trek leisurely and continue to Jomsom. After completing the upper Mustang trails, we join the normal route and head on to Jomsom for an overnight halt. Overnight at guesthouse. Meals: breakfast, lunch and dinner included.

After morning breakfast we check in the airport to fly back to Pokhara. A 30 min dramatic flight to Pokhara between gorge of the two huge mountains Annapurna and Dhaulagiri. On arrival at Pokhara airport guide will transfer to the lakeside hotel. Rest of the time explores the lake and overnight at hotel. Overnight at Kathmandu. Meals: Breakfast and lunch Included