Dolpo Region
Nepal's most remote region — Phoksundo Lake, Shey Gompa and a Bön culture that never changed.
Trekking in the Dolpo Region
Upper Dolpo is the most remote trekking region in Nepal, and one of the last places on earth where a Tibetan Buddhist and Bön culture survives essentially unchanged. Geographically and culturally it belongs to the Tibetan plateau. It is the landscape of Peter Matthiessen's *The Snow Leopard* and of Eric Valli's film *Himalaya (Caravan)*.
Two things define it. Phoksundo Lake is 145m deep, a turquoise that looks synthetic, ringed by cliffs, with the old Bön village of Ringmo on its shore and Nepal's highest waterfall at its outlet. Shey Gompa is the 11th-century "Crystal Monastery" beneath Crystal Mountain, the most sacred peak in Dolpo, circumambulated by pilgrims each summer.
There are no lodges for most of the route — this is a full camping expedition with a support crew, cook and pack animals, crossing five passes above 5,000m. Dolpo lies deep in the rain shadow, so the best season runs May to September, the opposite of the rest of Nepal.
Treks in the Dolpo Region
Upper Dolpo Trek – 23 Days
Twenty-three days across Nepal's most remote trekking region — the turquoise Phoksundo Lake, five passes above 5,000m, and the Crystal Mountain at Shey Gompa.