Humla and Limi Valley Trek

Nestled deep between the sweltering Indian sub-continent and the frozen plains of Tibetan Plateau, Humla lies hidden in the far northwest corner of Nepal. It receives heavy snowfall and remains isolated and snowbound throughout the winter, Lower parts of Humla are mostly habitat by the Khasa tribe.
Lying on the far North West of Nepal, Limi is one of the isolated valley extending from the border of the Himalayan pass near Hilsa to another pass Chang-la between Nepal and Tibet. The longest River of Nepal, Humla Karnali flows into Nepal border at Hilsa where the valley starts from west side. This ancient Trans Himalayan Limi Valley is beautiful and scenic. The top of Gyuckarka at 5,000m offers wonderful panoramic scenery of Nepalese Himalayas from Saipal 7,031m, Byas, Rishi, Api, Kanjirawa, Kanti and Gorakh Himlayan range. This region is also famous for rare flora and fauna, like the marmot, wolf, wild yak, blue sheep, wild ass (Kyang) musk deer, hare, Himalayan black beer and occasionally the snow leopard in this exotic region.

Indigenous Tibetan cultured people are settled here and they have their own Tibetan dialogue and language with their unique tradition and culture, large beautiful villages like
Haljee and Gombyak are located in the wild patches of Limi Khola. This valley is recently opened for trekkers since 2002 AD and the first group of foreigners was Mike A Murphy geo-science group from the University of Houston USA this group explored this area for about one and half months. To protect this fragile eco-system of this hidden valley, the government of Nepal issues the limited number of permits with special fees.

HUMLA-Nepal’s Wild West.

Humla was once part of the great Malla empire administrated from Sinja near Jumla.Until 1787 this empire extended as far as to Purang (Taklakot) and the ‘Lost’great villages of Toling(Zanda) and Tsaparang located in a remote south western Tibet, and to the north of Nanda Devi and Kamet Himal. Taklakot is an extraordinary melting pot with traders and merchants from the nearby countries, Indian, Chinese, Tibetan and Muslim traders from Kashgar, Nepalese entrepreneurs trading wool, salt and Indian goods along with Chinese Government officals and a huge army contingent.

In Humla the traditional salt/grain trade with Tibet continues as it has for centuries.This trade has ceased in most of Nepal, because of the import of Indian salt and the other reason is that China has eliminated many border trading posts in remote regions.

Restricted Area trekking…when the earth kisses the sky…

If you are wishing to get well off the beaten track you may wish to consider a journey to some of the fascinating restricted regions of Nepal.

These regions remain pristine wilderness & ecological cultural museums where life has changed very little. An intimate experience of the differing ways people arrange their lives in order to cope with their often harsh physical conditions on some of the toughest terrain on earth. A journey full of questions and contrast awaits everyone who visits this     side of Nepal.Some of the remote areas of Nepal were restricted for foreign visitors until 1991. After multiparty democracy in Nepal, rules have been changed together with new democratic constitution regulations and opened for visiting the most inaccessible and firmly controlled areas in Nepal. The regulation is designed primarily to protect the environment and cultural aspects of the remote regions and provide security and safety for both foreign trekkers and Nepal's northern borders with China.

The treks must be fully arranged through a registered Trekking Company. It has to be fully equipped with tents, all Support staffs, cooks, etc. The trekking agency arranges the trekking permit through a series of applications and guarantee letters. You cannot trek alone in these restricted areas. You should be at least 2 people in the group. Each group is accompanied with a government environmental officer. The environmental officer has to handle all the formalities with the police and government offices en-route.

Encounters Nepal has a decade of experience in operating in restricted zones & we will arrange all your trek formalities & logistics for some of the most challenging & thrilling adventures in the great outback of Nepal.