Upper Mustang Jeep Tour

Overview

Himalayan Companion's Upper Mustang Jeep tour is a wonderful way to experience the culture, natural beauty, and history of this breathtakingly beautiful former Himalayan kingdom Mustang. Following old salt-trade caravan trails into fabled Upper Mustang, this trip is for those who are keen to immerse in Himalayan culture, and history and a less physically demanding trip.

The Buddhist kingdom of Mustang is one of Nepal’s most diverse and spectacularly beautiful regions. Sculpted canyons and fantastic rock formations, traditional, white-washed Tibetan-style villages, crumbling fortresses, royal palaces, unexplored cave complexes, Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, and Himalayan snow-peaks characterize this spectacular region, a thumb sticking up into the Tibetan plateau.

Our Upper Mustang jeep safari features Mustang’s timeless villages and ventures deep into the realm of the last nomads of Mustang, still living their traditional migratory lifestyle on the high plateaus bordering Tibet. Visiting the mythical walled city of Lo Manthang, you will explore the forgotten ‘sky-caves’ painted with Buddhist murals, often ancient burial sites. You visit the renowned Luri Gompa and Tashi Kabum ‘sky cave’, both dating back 500+ years and filled with some of the most exquisite murals of the Tibetan Buddhist world, as well as having an option for a spectacular ridge-line hike to the hidden Buddhist Konchok Ling cave. You’ll spend a couple of days exploring the remote and dramatic Chhoser Valley, staying in a hotel in this once-restricted border region, and visiting Jhong Caves and the ancient cave monasteries of Garphu and Nyiphu.

Upper Mustang and its walled capital, Lo Manthang, is a remote and starkly beautiful region, home to Tibetan Buddhism and the remnants of the more mystical Bon religion that pre-dates Buddhism. Mustang was first explored by a handful of intrepid Himalayan travelers and pilgrims in the 50s and 60s, and we continue in their spirit of exploration. You will journey along some of the least known routes to the more isolated villages in this sun-drenched region, often following the rocky Kali Gandaki river-bed, other times driving on spectacular jeep trails high above the river valley, descending through marvelously sculpted and multi-hued gorges.