Tibet Pilgrimage Tour (Simikot - Kailash - Manasarovar Lake) – 16 Days
Itinerary
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Our vehicle & company escorts will be on standby at the airport to pick you up & transfer you to your hotel. After you’ve refreshed & relaxed, you can go for a stroll down the street to get familiar with you surroundings. You will be taken for the welcome dinner in the evening in nice restaurant.
Today our tour manager will meet you at your hotel to brief you about the pros and cons of your trip. There will also be a check & demonstration of equipments which will be essential to the trip. Should you need to buy any extra things or hire any items, our staff will be happy to help you for the same. You can then have dinner and go in for a good sleep so you can get up fresh the next morning to be ready for your flight that starts your religious journey. Your first overnight in the valley of the gods.
After breakfast, we go to the airport to board our ninety minute fligeht to Nepalgunj in the far south west of Nepal. This is a teeming crowded city with soaring tempratures in the summers and lies close to the Indian border. Overnight at our hotel in Nepalgunj.
After breakfast, we board another flight and fly up north for about 45 minutes to Simikot, the headquarters of Nepal’s most remote district, Humla. After meeting up with our crew, we sort out our equipments and baggage and begin our trek, climbing up from the airstrip on a rock strewn trail past fields of barley and wheat. We ascend a forested ridge above the town of Simikot, before making a long steep descent past Dandaphoya. The trail is then pretty level, through walnut and apricot trees, until we come to the speckled village of Dhara Pokhari which is divided by the Yakba Khola.
After an early morning breakfast, we cleanup our campsite and begin our hike, crossing a long scree slope and follow by the banks of a river to a waterfall near the shepherds’ camp at Chachera. We then climb over a ridge and bypass the village of Kermi before entering a big valley with walled fields of potato and buckwheat. After walking through a bare pine forest we descend from the ridge to the Salli Khola and set up camp by the banks of the river.
We cross the river and climb over a rocky ridge before descending to the grey brackish waters of the Humla Karnali. After crossing another ridge we come to a sandy meadow where goat herders often camp by the river. Beyond the pasture the valley narrows and we cross several more ridges, passing the villages of Yalbang and Yangar. The trail then winds its wayprecariously above the river before we cross a suspension bridge to the village of Muchu.
From Muchu, we follow the trail over a ridge to the Tumkot Khola and then walk along the rocky stream bed for a short distance before beginning a steep climb through a rock-filled gully. We pass through Palbang and its bright yellow mustard fields to the small settlement of Yari and beyond here the route climbs up the valley towards a pass, the Nara Lagna. We camp below the pass in a meadow known as Sipsip.
From Sipsip we ascend to a steep rock cairn marking the top of the Nara Lagna [4580m]. Descending from the pass, we get great views of the Tibetan Plateau before arriving at the village of Ranipauwa. Beyond here, we could slip and slide on a surface of loose pebbles down to the Humla Karnali.
Shortly after crossing the Nepal/Tibet border which is marked only by a single stone pillar, we meet our transport and drive about 130km, via the large trading centre of Taklakot, the border near Tibet & on to Manasarovar, the most respected and considered sacred of Tibet’s many lakes.
Today, more or less a day of rest, we will spend our time at Manasarovar, allowing our body to relax and acclimatize to the higher elevations but instead of being idle, we explore this interesting area of great significance. We will visit the picturesque Chiu Monastery on the North West shore of the lake with the daunting sights of Mt Kailash in the background.
Early in the morning after breakfast we drive down to Darchen and then spend our night in guest house.
From Tarboche, we walk up the Lha Chu Valley through beautiful green hamlets and streams with clear blue skies & Mt Kailash towering in the shadows above us. We follow by the river banks which enters a narrow canyon with high, steep cliffs and fabulous waterfalls. Continuing up the valley, the north face of Kailash peeks into view before we reach the 13th century monastery at Dira-puk.
Our Kora continues as we now leave the Lha Chu Valley and enter the Drolma Chu Valley, heading up towards a high pass, the Drolma La at [5630m]. It’s a tough climb to the summit which is festooned with prayer flags but from there it is all downhill or flat to Zutul-puk, with views of one of the highest lakes in the world, Thukpe Dzingbu Lake, known as the Lake of Compassion. Besides the monastery at Zutul-puk {the cave of Miracles}, the great ascetic Milarepa is supposed to have performed miracles here); there are several meditation caves hereabouts and another cave containing an image of Milarepa.
This is the final day of your holy Kora as we cross several streams, and follow a remarkable gorge. Along the way we are once again treated to stunning views of Kailash. We then enter the Bharka plain and it’s about an hour’s walk through this desert-like landscape to Darchen. After hiking for some total 3 hours, we drive to Saga and spend overnight in guest house.
We drive back to Kerung from saga and stay overnight in Kerung.
From Kerung we drive down to the bustling border town of Zhangmu & on to the borders of Tibet & Nepal {Tatopani} where our vehicles & escorts will be on standby to drive us down to Kathmandu. At the border we bid goodbye to our Tibetan staff & guide & proceed for a scenic drive down to ancient Kathmandu. And this officially ends our religious odyssey with the gods.