Trek through Mugu Himal to Dolpa

The spring earthquake destroyed even the most important monument in the city … four allegedly local priests perished in this house.

Our čundr started at the airport in Jumle. The total route measured about 330 kilometers, including 25,000 meters of altitude. It's almost a kilometer a day :-) up and down.

The beginning of our trek.

Our group at packing camp. The horses went with us at the beginning of the trek, so the porters went easily, but later that changed. The horses returned and the Nepalese boys took it on their shoulders.

Wonderful weather, height around 3000 meters … just a walk so far.

The villages are built on a slope and therefore the only flat area is the roof … and that's where everything essential takes place. The children are playing there, the villagers are resting in the sun and, most importantly, the harvest is drying there.

A road far from everything that led nowhere and ended up in the woods after about 50 meters. Even our porters didn't know what that meant. But since the porters were Buddhists, they decided it was something Hindu.

The largest and deepest lake in Nepal. A sacred lake in which swimming and fishing are prohibited.

There is a military garrison on the shore of the lake. So as soon as we started building tents, the soldiers immediately came, checked the permits and pointed out the ban on photographing military buildings and the ban on swimming.

We spent the seventh night of the trek at the confluence of the Karnali and Namlang Nadi rivers. Next door was the old TIAR monastery, which was empty, so we spent the night in the courtyard. Here the route is changed. Reportedly, there is a fallen bridge on our planned route, so we have to look for a new way. Road found, but three new 5,000-seat saddles are waiting for us. So a slightly challenging trek becomes extremely challenging …

We are slowly scrambling higher. It's getting dark, sometimes it's snowing and the weather is getting worse.

still along the Great Himalain Trail towards the Kingdom of Dolpo

joo panorama with iphon

We start to wander a bit, the Narajan guide is not very sure and we haven't met anyone for 5 days. We have 13 nights on the trek.

The weather got worse and we didn't know exactly where to go next. We stayed a day because the saddle at a height of 5450 meters cannot be crossed safely in this weather. Even from a satellite phone, Martin calls his friend Alena Zárybnická, what about the weather? She reassured us that it would be almost clear in our place tomorrow at 11:00. And indeed, the next day the weather calmed down and we went to the saddle.

Beautiful scenery, dry riverbed towards Dolpa.

We are in a saddle at an altitude of 5600 meters and we have the Himalayas in the palm of our hand. In the distance we see Daulaghiri, Kanjiroba, Makalu and perhaps even the Everest massif. And before us descent to the village of Pho. We haven't been through a village in a few days … so we're quite looking forward to the locals.

Our entire expedition

this look will not bore you

In the evening we came after dark and with the headlights, but in the morning we were immediately woken up by the children. The boys got the last Lega pieces I found in my backpack and they were incredibly excited. And when I showed them that they could change their heads, they were completely out of it :-)

Another challenging day. Road through two saddles around 4500m. Upon arrival in the village, we are immediately taken over by a local lama and invited to a gompa, which they claim is 900 years old.

on the way to the sacred Crystal Mountain and to Shey Gompa

A landscape that enchanted Peter Matthiessen, who wrote the book The Snow Leopard, or the French director and photographer Eric Valli with his film Himalaya Caravan. Gompa is one of the oldest in Nepal. Its history dates back to 734.

We even drank tea with the local caretaker and his family … The lama was on his way somewhere at the time.

we are crossing the last five-thousandth saddle …

Incredibly blue lake. You don't believe that color … really beautiful. It is forbidden to swim in the lake, if you want to wash, you can get water, go aside and wash, but never in the lake. We set out in a village that lies next to a monastery. He is one of the last to be dedicated to the BON religion, from which Buddhism subsequently developed.

Above you can see the riverbed we came through. We walked around the lake at a height of a few hundred meters from the right. Sometimes dangerous, but a wonderful journey ..

With my friend Dawa Sherpa, who went with us for the third trek … In the background of the village in which we set and to the left, above the lake, a monastery.

and another panorama with iPhone.

I don't know where our coordinator Govinda in Kathmandu got this connection to Nepalgunj. But a Cessna plane brought biscuits to Juphal and took us to Nepalgunj International Airport. The use of single-engine aircraft for passenger transport is already banned all over the world, but not in Nepal.

Cessna's flight was truly an experience. The flight level is a maximum of 4200 meters, so we zigzagged between 5–6 thousand.

This town with a domestic airport is really not nice. And we had no idea that I would stay here for almost three days.

Main class…

Dasain was the culmination of that time, so prayers were held everywhere, orange flowers were sold, and animals were ritually killed. From sheep, goats to hens. It depended on how rich the family was, and accordingly they could afford to ceremoniously kill and then eat the animal. The goats cut off their heads, then grabbed her back and walked around the wheel, saying prayers. The owners paid for the animal and took it home. Something like killing our carp. Tradition.

Our chundr ended on the air route from Nepaganj to Kathmandu. We enjoyed a few more days in Kathmandu and then Istanbul and Prague. I thank Martin Kratochvíl for being a member of his team and everyone who went with me and helped to the most beautiful experiences. And thank you for your attention.