Dolpo – Phoksundo Lake & Guerilla Trail Camping Trip

Dolpo is also home to the mysterious plant-animal/ fungi-insect “Yarsagumba”. Every year, during the months of May to July, thousands of people in western Nepal even from the tarai region rush towards the Himalayas of Dolpo and surrounding districts to harvest Yarsagumba. Whole villages shift settlements in the high mountains taking even the kids and the old for almost 4 months every year. Trekking to Dolpo during this season of the year can be a once in a lifetime experience because you can witness a very unique culture with one of the very last remaining nomadic lifestyles of people in these areas. If you get lucky, you could also pick a few Yarsagumba yourself.

We have a team of highly professional and enthusiastic adventurers who will give their all to ensure you have a wholesome trip 🙂

Day1&2: Kathmandu- Nepalgunj-Jufal-Sangta:

As there are no direct flights from Kathmandu to Jufal, we first need to fly to Nepalgunj and then fly again from Nepalgunj to Jufal Airport, Dolpa. We reach Jufal during the morning the following day and then start our trek after lunch.We enter the Shey-Phoksundo national park and head towards Sangta, along the turquoise colored Phoksundo khola. Dolpo is very sparsely populated and does not receive as much tourists as other tourist destinations of Nepal so if you’ve been accustomed to a certain type of culture and people in other parts of Nepal, you will be surprised by the rawness of this region. Welcome to the wild west 😉 . We spend our night in a teahouse or a tented camp.  

Day3: Sangta- Chepka

We leave after breakfast and keep following the Phoksundo Khola up north. We pass through lush green coniferous forests with different types  of Himalayan flowers of different colors popping up here and there. We cross the khola multiple times trough pretty looking wooden bridges and continue our journey looking for sightings of ‘Nair’/ wild goat. We lunch during the way and reach Chhepka before evening. We dine and rest in a tented camp or a teahouse where we spend our nights this night.

Day4: Chepka – Jharana

We head early as we have a lot of ground to cover this day. We also gain some altitude so drinking a lot of water will help your body adjust to the demands of high altitude. Dolpa district can besically be divided into lower Dolpa( with hills and trees and a lot more greenery) and upper Dolpa( dry ,naked mountains, with snowy peaks in the background). We start noticeing the transition in landscape clearly this day.We will see lots of mules and horses along the way which are the basic means of transportation in the Himalayas. We stop this day at Jharana, with Phoksundo Taal hidden just a couple of beast like looking hills away.

Day5: Jharana- Phoksundo Taal

We start our day staring at the giant hill that needs crossing today. As we move ahead after a few turns, we are greeted by a giant waterfall from the laps of the mountains. If you  enjoy the adrenaline rush you get when you stare down from the top of a hill to a river 1000 meters below you, you’re in for a treat! The way to Phoksundo is very picturesque if you love taking pictures. After we navigate the beast hill, we are welcomed by a lovely little forest with pretty trees beyond which lies the majestic Phoksundo Taal. We reach the beautiful Phoksundo taal for lunch and enjoy the perfect view for the rest of the day. We rest at a tented camp or a lodge.

Day6:EXPLPORE PHOKSUNDO:

We go up to the Phoksundo lake view point and the centuries old Bon monastery. Enjoy the day in this peaceful, quiet pristine environment and don’t forget to observe the Phoksundo change its color with every passing hour and every movement of the wind and the clouds. Phoksundo lake looks unbelievably pretty during the moonlight too.

Day7: Phoksundo-Chepka:

We return the same way we came and head straight to Chepka skipping Jharana because its all downhill. We spend our night at Chepka. We have our dinner there and rest for the night.

Day8:Chepka-Dunai:

We head to the district headquarters of Dolpa district today. We leave early after breakfast as we have a long walk today. We lunch at Sangta and depart the Shey-Phoksundo national park where we see the crystal clear waters of Phoksundo khola meet the slow and massive Thuli Bheri River. We follow the Thuli Bheri to the biggest town we’ve been to on this journey to Dolpa, Dunai! We come across a busy market on our way to the lodge we are staying this day. We spend our night in Dunai getting ready for a long walk tomorrow. We gather some essentials for the rest of our journey. We go south east tomorrow towards the high pass of Jung-la into Rukum district and over to the mountains/hills leaving the Tibetan plateau behind us.

Day9: Dunai- Bhaisigoth:

We enter the guerilla trail from this day. We will not be seeing any town or villages for the next 2-3 days .Bhaisigoth literally translates to “buffalo shed” . We will nevertheless meet lots of locals along the route in the right season because it is also a route followed by the Yarshagumba harvesters of the region. We might find a local herder at Bhaisigoth who might have a supply of fresh buffalo milk and curd for us to feast on. Camping equipments are a must in this route. We have to climb almost ~ 6-7 hours through a bhanjyang(hill pass),from Dunai to reach our destination. We spend our night in a tented camp.

Day10: Bhaisigoth- Jung-La Pass:

Although we only walk for a few hours today, the increasing altitude makes it more difficult as we take each step forward. We eventually reach the high pass of Jung-la where in the Yarsa picking season, we will meet hundreds of camps set up in the mountains. We too will join them, and set our camp nearby. Communicating to these villagers will give us a lot of insight about the culture and lifestyle of people in these highlands.

Day11: Jung-la – Pupal :

We officially enter the district of Rukum leaving Dolpa behind after crossing the Jung- la pass. We are welcomed by a massive grassy hillside with 360 degree views of shining white Mountains. We have a whole day of walking ahead in these beautiful mountains as we go over another pass of purbang. We will find another yarsha harvesting settlement there in Purbang where villagers of Maikot set up camps.(The last time our team went there, there were even “movie hall” tents and temporarily set up ferris wheels!). Leaving lively purbang behind we head towards another such settlements called pupal named after a samall pond in the site which is also considered sacred. We set our camps nearby and rest after an eventful day.

Day12: Pupal-Maikot:

We start early after breakfast as this could be one of the longest we might have to walk during the whole of our journey. Its mostly only downhill though. We can see the clear separation of the tree line and the geography as a whole as we slowly enter the hilly areas leaving the mountainside behind us. We finally see our first (permanent)village for days as we have our lunch. We go through a steep downhill for about 5 hours before we reach Maikot. It is a lively village with plenty of traditional looking homes with very little external impact with loads of wooden stacks in every home for fuel . We dine and sleep in one of the lodges or a tented camp after a heavy day of downhill.

Day13:Maikot-Valga:

This is the final day of our walk as we see a motor able road for the first time since Dunai. Due to absence of motor able bridges in these parts, we will have to change a vehicle every time the road intersects the river. Due to this reason we might or might not get a vehicle in valga.Depending on the situation, either we settle there for the night and wait for the vehicle on the other side next morning or we get a vehicle and head to Takasera.

Day14: Valga –Takasera-Rukumkot

We are deep inside the hilly region now. We drive for around 4 hours to reach Takasera. It is a lovely town by the Sani-Bheri River. We drive for a further 4 hours to reach Rukumkot where our vehicle will pick us to take us to Kathmandu. We lunch at Takasera.

Day 15: Rukumkot-Nepalgunj

We drive 11 hours through lovely scenery and then through forests and finally to the plains of Nepalgunj. We will rest there for the day. Only our flight back to Kathmandu remains, else our journey to the Wild West ends here. We dine and rest at a lodge.

Day 16:Nepalgunj-Kathmandu

We take a flight back to Kathmandu and bid goodbye to each other after our epic adventures in the Wild West!