The
historical remote Mustang trek unseal
the once Forbidden Kingdom of Mustang,
tucked away from the rest of the
world, lies just north of the main
Himalayan range of Nepal. Mustang,
a land where the soul of the man
is still considered to be as real
as the feet he walks on: a land
said to be "barren as a dead
deer" but where beauty and
happiness abound is spite of hardship,
was a part of the Tibetan Kingdom
of Gungthang until 1830's. The wall
city of Lo Monthang, unofficial
capital of Mustang still remains
a kingdom within a kingdom. The
early history to Lo Monthang is
embellished in myth and legend rather
than the recorded fact. Mustang
has maintained its status as a separate
principality until 1951. The king
of Lo Monthang still retains his
title and he has been given the
honorary rank of Colonel in the
Nepal army.
Trekking
in Mustang was officially opened
in 1992. It allows limited numbers
of trekkers each year in order to
protect and conserve the local Tibetan
tradition and the fragile environment.
A trek into this fabled forbidden
kingdom of vast, arid valleys, eroded
canyons, ochre valley, yak caravans,
colourful-painted mud brick houses
on the back dropped of majestic
mountain of Nilgiri, Tukche, Annapurna
and Dhaulagiri makes your medieval
walled kingdom Mustang trekking
a very especial one.
Mountain Monarch regularly orginizes
trek to the Himalayan Kingdom of
Mustang targeting TIJI festival
a three days long ritual known as"
The chasing of the Demons",
one of the most important festival
of the region. Over the festive
time monks dressed in elaborate
costumes and masks perform dances
and rituals that are supposed to
drive away evil spirits. Dressed
in their finery, people from all
over Mustang gather in Lo Monthang
to celebrate the Tiji festival.
Michel
Peissel was the first westerner
to witness the Tiji festival in
1964 during a visit to Mustang.
In his book 'Mustang - A lost Tibetan
Kingdom', he has described the Tije
festival "We found ourselves
in the midst of a festival in which
over a thousand men, women and children
were taking part. Before us spread
a sea of weather-beaten brown faces
that contrasted with those of the
beaming, dirty little children who
clung like grapes upon the rooftops
of the houses". "The scenes
I witnessed were so extraordinary
and so unexpected that I dared not
believe my eyes and even today I
have some trouble in believing in
the reality of what I saw that day."