People of Dolpo region in Nepal are one of the last nomadic trading caravans in the world. For more than 10 decades, the locals of Dolpo have depended for their survival on a biannual journey across the Himalayas.
Once the summer harvest is over, the people of Dolpo sew flags and red pommels into the ears of their yaks, rub butter on their horns and throw barley seeds to the cold wind. Then they leave the fertile middle hills of their homeland and head north, to the plateau of Tibet, where they carry out an ancient trade with their Tibetan neighbors.
Located to the far western reaches of Nepal bordering Tibet, Dolpo resembles Tibet culturally. It is a vast landmass with wild and mountainous terrains and can only be accessed through days of trekking or mules. Once part of the ancient Zhang Zhung kingdom, it claims some of the highest inhabited villages on earth.
A restricted region, Dolpo remains a discreet place with lesser influence of the modern world. Fierce winter snowstorms ensure that these routes are impassable for up to six months of the year, when it is isolated from the rest of the country. But during the summer months, when the alpine fields are alive with yellow poppies and the lower slopes are furrowed with barley and buckwheat, the paths are navigable again.
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