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Trekking Humla Mugu.
Trekking Humla Mugu: Remote and poor…but extremely rich in culture and beauty…Trekking Humla Mugu, poor and neglected due to its very remote geographical conditions and not very accessible by land yet; is still home to More species of beautiful rare birds (236) that nest around the lovely Rara Lake and are more in number than the people who visited the region in 2010 (170). And Rara is the biggest lake in Nepal, stretching almost for 14 km and famously called the ‘Pearl of Nepal’’, and snugly positioned nearby is the smallest national park in this region of mystifying beauty, and just a 3 hours walk from an airstrip. Trekking Humla Mugu, a gorgeous peaceful sanctuary grouped in by forests, and a virtual paradise for bird watchers who could calmly say the kindergarten poem of ‘3 little dickey birds sitting on the wall’’ and you can bet there’ll be more than those 3 birds, and some of them are so rare, you wouldn’t find them anywhere else on the planet.
Jumla is the capital of the Karnali zone and the other major centers are Humla, Rara and Mugu to the northwest of Nepal, interestingly, Mugu was once a part of the Malla kingdom within the Karnali River basin, who ruled this region in the 12th and 14th centuries. Artefacts and ornaments are found in abundance hereabouts – you may encounter medieval shrines representing the local deity ‘Masta’, and wooden statues of spirits adorned with bells, flowers and cloth, and rock pillars engraved with figures of the sun and the moon. Southern Mugu is made up of rugged ranges forested with ancient blue pine, spruce and cedar, and is inhabited by Hindu Chhetris, Brahmins and Thakuris. Humla is probably the most remote district in Nepal, and seeped in poverty. Tourists aren’t many who visit this area, and those you come across are probably heading to the border town of Hilsa, a launching point to Mount Kailash in Tibet.
The local Humli folks, like other Nepalese throughout the country, are extremely diverse in caste, customs and cultures. About 85% of the 56,000 people who inhabit this sparingly populated district are Hindu. The minority Buddhists, of whom a few practice polyandry, occupy the highlands. According to anthropologist Carol Dunham:
“Trekking Humla Mugu is one of the most culturally fascinating places in all of Nepal, a cultural symbol of a living history from the ancient mysterious kingdom that was once a powerful Tibet, ancestors of an ancient dynasty that once held sway, with Rajput and Thakuri clans a part of the Aryan mixup.”