Limi Valley Trek

Himalayan Dream Team will pick you up at the international airport for your transfer to the hotel. As a welcome you will have a typical Nepalese dinner with some of the staff members. Learn about momo’s and Dal bhat and do not forget to try our typical Nepalese drink with great mood of cheers. 

After breakfast we will start for the sightseeing tour in the Kathmandu, visit the main temples of Swoyambhunath (Monkey temple), Pashupatinath, the most venerated Hindu temple of Nepal and Bouddhanath, the biggest Buddhist stupa of the world. In the afternoon we show you Durbar square with an orientation tour through lively Thamel. Entree fees and private transport included! 

To reach the Limi valley, we have to make two domestic flights. Today we fly to Nepalgunj, which actually is pleasant because of the beautiful scenery. It is a municipality in the Banke District, on the Terai plains near the southern border with Bahraich district, Uttar Pradesh state of India. We will explore the heart of the city- Dhamboji, which is the most important traffic junction of the town referred to as Dhamboji chowk, the main business hub with several banks, book shops, lodges and hardware dealers. It is a quite hot and tropical town and so different to the place we are going to

Today it takes a 45 minute flight to the North, to Simikot. The trip is a thrill over the many ridges and ravines in the spectacular mountains. Access to Simikot  is mainly by air. Simikot Airport's has a relatively short 549 meters runway at nearly 3.000 meters altitude! From the more, to Indian resembling city of Nepalgunj it is a total other world we are entering. The sudden fall in temperature will also be noticed. 

After breakfast we premiere with our first trekking day in the remote Limi Valley. First we start with a short ascent to reach a mountain pass at an altitude of 3.150m. From there we descend for about an hour to Majgaon. The trail leads us through a pine forest where you will see local Hindu and Buddhist people in their traditional daily life with their herding of cattle. These cattle are important to carry the load in this isolated part of the world because there are no other means of transportation. Once we pass Majgaon, the trail gets more rough, up and down. This continuously ascending and decending is called the 'Nepali flat'.

Today's five hours trail is less work and more fun. The trek is unusual as the altitude persistently changes within a few hundred meters. We will be following the Karnali River through the valley passing through little Hindu and Buddhist villages. There will be some high rocky slopes interspersed with walking on the banks of the river. You will have the chance to closely observe the pattern of cultivation as your trek continues along the farming areas of the local people. Most of them grow barley, buckwheat, potatoes and rice. Since your day is done early, you can take, close to our camp site at Kermi (approx. 30 minute walk) a dive in the small hot springs, where you can relax your feet and back. The village itself is the first of the many Buddhist villages we will come across. It has two monasteries, Lakiyo Gompa and Lhundrup Choeling Gompa. The monasteries are not often visited by the tourists. Lakiyo Gompa is a few centuries old and it takes a 45 minutes walk away from where we will camp and the latter is relatively new and was built less than a hundred years ago. Lhundrup Choeling Gompa takes a 30 minutes walk from our camp. 

An easy start off this day as the track that takes us to Yalbang is flat although after there will be a steep ascent for 2 hours until we arrive at a small pass. We can spot some different species of lizards along, mostly by the Karnali River. We cross a pass on a big iron suspension bridge dangling over the Sali River. From here it is downhill to a small village where we have a local tea at one of the enchanting cafes. The trek becomes even more interesting from here as we walk midst pine trees looking at the emerald waters of the Karnali River down the hill. There is a big chance that we 'll bump into caravans of mules and dzopas (crossbreeds of yaks and cows), who are led by local villagers of Simikot and Nyinba Valley to and from Taklakot, the trade route across the Tibetan border. Yalbang has many heritages to offer and the Namkha Khyung Dzong Monastery is the most famous of them.  It is a Buddhist monastery of the Nyingma tradition, one of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Currently it has over one hundred and fifty monks. If you ask a monk he will be more than happy to show you around and later you can join the others and chat with them over a cup of tea upstairs. 

Today we leave the Karnali River behind us as we reach the tiny village of Yangar. The path is exciting because the trail looks line a hike in a three-sided tunnel that is carved out of the gigantic boulders. The climate and greenery are slowly but surely disappearing, and replaced by pine trees and rocky hillocks. We will once again cross the Karnali River over a spectacular wooden suspension bridge. The trail gets tougher now as we begin climbing the rocky mountains up until we reach the a deep gorge. In the villages we notice that local products are not sufficient to guarantee survival. The Tibetans living here traditionally trade salt from Tibet to the lower parts of Nepal. They use sheep and yak carrying sacks of salt on their backs to trade for grain. We may come across some big army tents set up in a few places, providing mobile restaurants and cafeterias to serve some tea, coffee and snacks. We reach Tomkot in the afternoon which is the proud home to the Dhungkar Choezom Monastery, which is affiliated to Shakya Lineage. This monastery was built over 500 years ago by the earlier Sakya Lineage holders at Tomkot village. It has preserved the specific lineage and promote the Buddhist practices throughout the ages. It is considered one of the most important monasteries in the Tibetan region. The monastery still maintain the precious old statues of the 3 bodies of Buddha i.e. Truth body, complete enjoyment body and emotion body. Dungkar Choezom Monastery also keep old Buddhist texts and statues of many other deities with relics from previous high lamas holding the blood hierarchy of the Sakya lineage. 

After breakfast the ascent continues and the landscape becomes more and more rocky and desolate. The climb will be challenging, with long uphill sections and rocky trails. The trees that you see now are now short and low junipers. We will pass through the village of Pani Palwang where there are some tea houses which offers also a perfect place for a short time out having a lunch. We continue after Yari to our camp for the night. Yari is the last village in Humla before the old trade route climbs to the Nara.

An adventurous day ahead! After breaking up our camp we leave the trees behind and the landscape starts to resemble more like Tibet. Every few hundred meters you will bump into a herd of dzopas, mules and even yaks. Today we have to conquer the Nara La Pass at an altitude of 4.620m,  piles of Buddhist good luck stones and prayer flags will support our effort. You will be instantly rewarded by the breathtaking view of Tibet on one side and by the spectacular views of Yari Village down below. You will find barren mountains in brown, copper, ash and dark yellow colors as far as you can see. From here on, it is a shaky descent down until you find yourself standing on the border of Nepal and Tibet. We can take a longer route along a dirt track or make a steep but shorter ascent to our camp for the night in Hilsa.

Again we will encounter the Karnali river and cross a large iron from Hilsa. A narrow trail winds its way up until we connect with the main route on the higher slope. The trail stretches alongside the river all the way to Manepeme. The path takes a lot of physical strength with all the literally ups and downs. The landscapes, barren mountains will however amaze us all the time as we trek along this difficult trail. 

We follow our trail through lush stands of Juniper to an interesting meditation cave called Ya Yip Phuk, where the famous Buddhist Lotsawa Rinchen Sangpo, who was active in spiritual exchanges between India and Tibet, was said to have meditated.  Passing Lamka La, our trail flattens out, passing a series of Gompas before entering the fertile valley where Til is located.  Til is a beautiful village whose scenery and inhabitants have a distinctly Tibetan appearance.

Today's walk is relatively easy and smooth. We may be lucky to see some mountain goats, snow leopards, and even blue sheep. Our destination, Halji village,  is camouflaged into the environment so much so that you find it hard to locate at first. Due to global warming, the village has been harmed by several floods the last six years and it is urgent to get proper flood mitigation measures in place. Once you go through the chörten you will see a big mani wall, mani walls are low walls built up with many stones with holy mantras and Buddhist deities carved on them. The village is the shelter to a 14th century monastery Rinchenling Gompa. It has recently been confirmed by C-14 tests that the Vairocana temple in the Rinchenling monastery in Halji can be dated back to the early eleventh century. This makes the temple one of the oldest in the Nepal Himalayas. The monastery is affiliated to Kagyugpa Lineage.  After having been through a period of decline, Buddhism was reintroduced to Tibet around the turn of the millennium. This revival,  the so-called second dissemination,  was initiated from the western Tibetan Guge kingdom and entailed invitation of some of the most learned Buddhist scholars from India, extensive translation work, and the founding of a number of temples and monasteries throughout Guge, Purang and Ladakh. Tonight we will stay in a local teahouse

Today we have a relaxed trek in the companionship of the Limi River. We will trail to Jang, the third and the last village of Limi Valley. As before in this remote and whimsical nature, it looks majestic, surprisingly beautiful. Jang is offers purest Tibetan culture in all its traditional glory.

The total isolation from any Western society starts today as we leave the world as we know it. We will no more see any human settlements. It is now just to you and the most surreal landscapes you will have ever seen. The trail also gets tougher and many times we have to cross quite some rivers. The trail remains slow and steady and goes up until Talang which provides a bit of leveled ground to set camp. 

We will reach the highest altitude today as we reach Nyalu La Pass which is a real challenging part of this trek. Once we conquer the pass, we will be rewarded by a spectacular 360 degree view of Humla and Tibet and the majestic Mount Saipal (7.031m) and Mount Kailash (6.714m). After the pass we descent and plummets down to 4.630 meters at Lake Selma Tso. The downward slope continues all the way down to Shinjungma. 

At the horizon we finally begin to see human settlements again as we head back to Kermi Village. We now are below altitudes of 3000 meters, and the vegetation and trees begin to emerge again. We embrace the pine and birch trees with the Sali River by our side. The trail takes us to the Karnali River where we find some hot springs to enjoy and relax after these strenuous trekking days

We trek back today to the starting point at Simikot. The day begins after breakfast with a few ups and downs along the road. The walk up to Darapuri (2300m) and Majgaon (2290m) will altough nice and smooth. It is after Majgaon that the trail again has to overcome one more last 3.000m pass. From there on, it is just half an hour walking to Simikot.

After a longer sleep we will after our breakfast fly back to Nepalgunj and Kathmandu where we will drop you off at your hotel for a nice long hot shower and a well deserved Everest beer..

After breakfast you can explore Thamel for some nice souvenirs or we can invite you for some additional sightseeing. Maybe still interested to go to Patan or Bhaktapur and see these enchanting former King’s cities? Or just hangout on one of the many terraces in lively Kathmandu.

Depending on your flighttime we leave in time for the airport