Upper Mustang Region Trekking

 Upper Mustang is a delicate land, which is substitute of Tibet. This part is escapes with many windy passes as well as cultivated arid land. Many villages based on Tibet culture & about 20 Monasteries and picturesque flight between Mt. Annapurna 8091mtrs. & Dhaulagiri 8067mtrs.The north of Kagbeni villages generally referred Upper Mustang. The capital of Mustang “Lo-Manthang” was attached into Tibet ,centuries of 14^th . It is identity since through out centuries autonomous kingdom. It is a walled city where about 150 houses, with their own king and people are still mainly Tibetan. This is the reason rather restricted, which required special permit.
The landscape of  Upper Mustang is barren moonscape of  sandstone pillars and discontinuous moraine terraces which together present a colorful mosaic made up principally of an earthen brown, yellow and red. It is easy trekking along the permitted route to Lo Manthang which lies in the very heart of Mustang. The trek to Upper Mustang is through an almost treeless barren landscape and strong wind across the area in the afternoon. Being called “Upper Mustang” is rain shadow of the Himalaya of Nepal. In reality, this kingdom gets rain much less than rest places of Nepal . Legally allowed to be trek to Upper Mustang is in March 1992. The population of this kingdom was 15869 as year of 2008. They are ethnic group, specially Tibetan-Thakali as well as Buddhist religion.
Being in the Himalaya’s rain shadow, Mustang has much be less rain than rest of Nepal.

   By the way, Tiji festival is one of the most important events in Mustang (the ancient kingdom of Lo).  “Tiji” is an ellipsis of the word “Tempa Chirim” which translates as “Prayer for World Peace. It is celibreat for 3 days with Lamas mask dancing and more activities. This festival is celebrate in May each year. According their own calendar, tiji festival is going to be celebrate this year on May 06, 07 & 08 2013.

                                            History
The early history of Lo is shrouded in legend, myth and mystery. Although it is not proven. There are records of events in Lo as early as the 8^th Century. It is quite likely that the Tibetan poet Milarepa, who lived from 1040 to 1123 visited Lo. It is generally believed that Ame pal (A-ma-dpal in Tibetan) was the founder king of Lo in 1380. The ancestry of the present Mustang raja can be traced 25 generations back to Ame Pal.

Prithivi Narayan Shah’s Gorkha armies never entered Lo and recognized the rule of the Mustang Raja. Although Mustang became part of Nepal. The raja returned his title and Lo had a certain amount of autonomy.
Lo main its status as separate principality until 1951. After the Rana rules were overthrown and king Tribhuwan re-established the rule of the Shah monarchs in Nepal on 15 February 1951. Lo was more closely consolidated into Nepal. The raja was given the honorary rank of colonel in the Nepal Army.
During the 1960 after the Dalai Lama had fled to India and Chinese armies established control over Tibet, Mustang was a center for guerrilla operations against the Chinese. Who were secretly trained in the USA. At the 6000 Khampas in Mustang and neighboring border areas. The CIA’s support ended in the early 1970s when the United States under kissinger and Nixon, initiated new and better relation with china.
The government of Nepal was pressed to take action against the guerrillas and making use of internal division with the Khampa leadership, a bit of treachery and the Dalai Lama’s taped advice for his citizens to lay down their arms, it managed to disband the resistance without committing to action the 10,000 Nepali troops that had been sent to the area. Although Mustang was closed the government allowed a few researcher into the area. Toni Hagen included Mustang in his survey of the entire kingdom of Nepal. Dr. Harka Bdr. Gurung also visited and wrote about upper Mustang in October 1973. A few groups legally trakelled to upper mustang during the 1980s by obtaining permission to climb Brikhuti peak (6364m), south – east of Lo-manthang. Other than a few special royal guests the first legal trekkers were allowed into Mustang in March 1992 upon payment of a high fee for a special trekking permit.