Mustang in Nepal – Part 1
Sunday, 23 November 2025Despite the arrival of the road to Lo Manthang and on to the China/Tibet border Mustang remains an exotic destination in the north of Nepal. For many years Lo Manthang, the ‘capital’ of the district, played a role as a trading junction between Tibet and India. The invasion and annexation of Tibet by the Chinese led to the CIA-supported Khampa rebels’ activities against China from bases in Mustang. Which totally shut down the cross-border trade. Chinese pressure on Nepal and the end of CIA support for the rebels reopened the border, but today it’s international tourism which supports the Mustang economy.
Mustang started to open up to Western visitors in 1992. Now with the road open there’s steadily more money coming into the region and it’s pretty clear a lot of it is being spent on religion. Monk numbers have increased from their nadir during the Mustang shutdown and although they’re never going to get back to the old era, when your second son automatically went into a monastery, they’re definitely higher than they used to be.
Maureen and our son Kieran walked up to Lo Manthang in 1999. In 2011 I walked there, this time with Kieran and our daughter Tashi and their respective partners. Both are now divorced! In 1999 there was no choice on how you got to Mustang, if you wanted to go there you walked. In 2011 we walked – and at times rode horses – but the road was under construction, click here for Part 1 and here for Part 2 of my 2011 Mustang visit. In 2025 we drove all the way, sure we did quite a bit of walking at our assorted stops, but overall this was a road trip.
▲ Standing with Richard I’Anson in front of Pilgrim’s Bookshop in Thamel, Kathmandu
This was a photographer’s trip, organised by World Expeditions and as a fund raiser for the Australian Himalayan Foundation. Richard was the photographer guide and he certainly rolled out his expertise on our nine-day trip – plus spells in Kathmandu before and after the time in Mustang.
▲ The road to Lo Manthang, north of Chhusang
It’s certainly a spectacular road although sadly it’s taken the edge off Mustang as an iconic remote location. At times the road certainly spoils the view as well and no doubt maintenance is going to be a difficult story. Already it is getting horribly littered with plastic water bottles, drink cans, general rubbish.
▲ In Maya’s Heritage Inn, Tsarang
The road is not the only big change from the tourist’s perspective – ‘you’ve stayed here before,’ the Maya Heritage Inn’s owner Chawang informed Richard and me. Indeed we had, on separate visits, because the hotel is built on the field where visitors used to camp. On my 2011 visit there were fairly basic rooms available at a few places in Mustang, but essentially you camped all the way. Now we were in hotels and at Maya’s Heritage Inn not only were the standards high, so was the design and the imaginative colours.
▲ Tangbe with its ruined castle, above the Kali Gandaki
◄ Marpha, the ‘apple capital’ of Mustang just south of Jomsom. I camped there in 2001.
The Kali Gandaki river emerges in the Himalaya, near Lo Manthang, so close to the border between Nepal and Tibet, and flows down (with several name changes en route) to join the Ganges River in India. As it cuts through the Himalaya it flows through an amazingly deep gorge. We followed the Kali Gandaki as we travelled north by car (Indian Mahindra SUVs) and I’d also followed it on foot back in 2011. Even earlier in 2001 Maureen and I walked the Annapurna Circuit which descends from the Thorong La Pass to join the Kali Gandaki at Kagbeni. On that walk we continued south to Pokhara, camping after Kagbeni at Marpha and Tatopani amongst other stops.
This trip Tatopani was the first night out of Pokhara and we stayed in the surprisingly big and modern Hotel Natural Spring overlooking the river. Amazing changes in 25 years! Tato is ‘hot’ and pani is ‘water,’ after the hot springs at the town. This year after our overnight in Tatopani we continued past Marpha, Jomsom, Kagbeni and Tangbe before overnight stops in Chhugsang, Ghami and Tsarang (Charang) before we reached Lo Manthang.
▲ The ‘colours’ of Mustang, a familiar sight and this is in Chhugsang
▲ Just outside Ghami we passed by a notably long mani wall complete with mani stones and prayer flags, again familiar sights in Tibetan regions.
◄ From Tsarang we could look across the gorge to this footpath zig-zagging up the side to a collection of caves hollowed out in the rock wall. Later we were able to clamber around a cave site at Chosser, north of Lo Manthang.
▲ From Tsarang we made a side trip to Ghara/Yara, lunched at the Five Sisters Bhirkuti and made the steep climb up to the Shree Luri Monastery at Luri Gompa. These women performed for us at Luri Gompa.
▲ And the following day we enjoyed watching a local horse riding performance in a nearby field. Was it a competition, or just an opportunity to gallop back and forth?
▲ Between Tsarang and Ghara we passed this long flight of steps leading up from the river and heading somewhere. With enough time you really would have liked to climb the stairway to see where it went!
▲ Heading back to Tsarang, on a typical road, which typically impressive Mustang scenery. Our group had four cars and for almost the entire trip they strictly stayed in order on the road – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4.
