from $2,855* per person	16 Days	March-October
Comfort accommodations		Exertion level: 5
Operator: One World Trekking		12 people max

A timeless and breathtaking journey through the Kingdom of Lo which, until recently, a hidden Tibetan Buddhist enclave forbidden to foreigners. Sculpted canyons with wild rock formations, deep gorges, medieval villages, ancient fortresses, palaces and mysterious, ancient cave hermitages, Tibetan Buddhist gompas and soaring snow-peaks characterize this spectacular region, a 'thumb' sticking up into the Tibetan plateau. Mustang is a Kingdom tucked away along the deepest river gorge in the world, the Kali Gandaki, a remote and starkly beautiful region, Tibet's arid high desert bordered by some of the Himalaya's highest mountains. Formerly the Kingdom of Lo and a part of the Western Tibetan Kingdom of Ngari, 'forbidden' Mustang has lured intrepid travelers to its remote realm for centuries, but only the most adventurous made it to this mountainous and inaccessible bastion of Tibetan Buddhism.

People have inhabited this harsh region for thousands of years, some of the early dwellers living or meditating in ancient caves, rich in Buddhist art, which pepper the bizarre rock formations. Mustang became part of the Yarlung Dynasty of central Tibet, later falling under the jurisdiction of the Malla Kingdom of Nepal (Jumla) and in the fifteenth century, the independent Kingdom of Lo was founded, ruling such other remote regions as Dolpo. It was only incorporated into the Kingdom of Nepal in 1951. Soon afterwards, renegade Khampa freedom fighters battling the Chinese used Mustang as a base of operations, and it was closed to all Westerners until 1992. This mythical land north of the 8000 meter peaks Annapurna and Dhaulagiri still requires a special restricted area permit to enter, and numbers are limited, thus helping to preserve its unique heritage.