Dolpo is a Tibetan-like region lying to the north, and in the rain-shadow of the main Himalayan
peaks. Like nearby Mustang, it has a unique culture. Its people wear traditional Tibetan-style
clothes and jewellery and practise the pre-Buddhist animistic religion of Bon Po. Its remoteness and the fact that only until recently it was strictly off-limits, has meant that the traditions and way of life have remained intact.

In the autumn of 1990 we were the first British tour operator to organise a trek from east to west, from Pokhara to Jumla through Lower Dolpo. This route, newly opened by the Nepalese authorities, hiked into the western end of Nepal where few Europeans have travelled. It passed many gigantic mountain ranges - Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and Kanjiroba, to name but a few - and passed through Lower Dolpo, at one time a small kingdom in its own right.
More recently we have repeated the route, with variations and our groups see very few other
Europeans and enthused greatly about the wild remoteness, the stunning mountain scenery and the fact that the local people had that innocent friendliness peculiar to people who live in excessively remote mountainous regions.

In the past few years, building on our knowledge, we have explored some of the most isolated villages of Upper Dolpo, and we will re-visit them again this year. In 1997 we were, to our knowledge, the first British company to cross the Kang La to visit Shey Gompa and Saldang. Most villages in Dolpo are removed from the rest of the world to the south by one or more difficult passes. The people that live here number only a few hundred and are among the world's highest dwellers. The villages in Upper Dolpo are 14,000ft/4,300m and above. It is here specifically that people still practise the pre-Buddhist Bon Po religion. This early sect was almost entirely replaced after Buddhist doctrine began to spread across Tibet in the 9th century. Dolpo remained unknown to the rest of the world until David Snelgrove discovered the region in 1956. His account of his seven-month journey in the inner mountain areas of west and central Nepal, titled 'Himalayan Pilgrimage' is the most authoritative work describing this region. The best known book though, is the evocative and romantic novel by Peter Matthiessen - 'The Snow Leopard'.