Dolpo

---

title: "Dolpo" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["geography-of-karnali-province", "dolpa-district", "regions-of-nepal"] topic_path: "geography" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolpo" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::data[format=table title="Infobox settlement"]

Field	Value
	name
native_name	डोल्पो •
native_name_lang
image_skyline	Dolpo village 2014.JPG
pushpin_map	Nepal Karnali Province#Nepal
pushpin_relief	1
coordinates
subdivision_type	Country
subdivision_name	Nepal
subdivision_type1	Province
subdivision_name1	Karnali Province
subdivision_type2	District
subdivision_name2	Dolpa District
unit_pref	Metric
area_urban_footnotes
area_rural_footnotes
area_metro_footnotes
area_magnitude
area_blank2_title
area_blank2_km2
population_density_km2	auto
website
::

| name = Dolpo | native_name = डोल्पो • | native_name_lang = | settlement_type = | image_skyline = Dolpo village 2014.JPG | image_alt = | image_caption = | image_flag = | flag_alt = | image_seal = | seal_alt = | image_shield = | shield_alt = | nickname = | motto = | image_map = | map_alt = | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Nepal Karnali Province#Nepal | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_relief = 1 | coordinates = | coor_pinpoint = | coordinates_footnotes = | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = Nepal | subdivision_type1 = Province | subdivision_name1 = Karnali Province | subdivision_type2 = District | subdivision_name2 = Dolpa District | subdivision_type3 = | subdivision_name3 = | established_title = | established_date = | founder = | seat_type = | seat = | government_footnotes = | leader_party = | leader_title = | leader_name = | unit_pref = Metric tags --| area_footnotes = | area_urban_footnotes = | area_rural_footnotes = | area_metro_footnotes = | area_magnitude = | area_note = | area_water_percent = | area_rank = | area_blank1_title = | area_blank2_title = | area_total_km2 = | area_land_km2 = | area_water_km2 = | area_urban_km2 = | area_rural_km2 = | area_metro_km2 = | area_blank1_km2 = | area_blank2_km2 = | area_total_ha = | area_land_ha = | area_water_ha = | area_urban_ha = | area_rural_ha = | area_metro_ha = | area_blank1_ha = | area_blank2_ha = | length_km = | width_km = | dimensions_footnotes = | elevation_footnotes = | elevation_m = | population_footnotes = | population_total = | population_as_of = | population_density_km2 = auto | population_demonym = | population_note = | timezone1 = | utc_offset1 = | timezone1_DST = | utc_offset1_DST = | postal_code_type = | postal_code = | area_code_type = | area_code = | iso_code = | website = | footnotes = ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Local_people_in_meeting_in_Dolpo.jpg" caption="Local people in meeting in Dolpo"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Yak_caravan_leaving_saldang.jpg" caption="[[Yak]] caravan near Saldang in the northern part of Dolpo."] ::

Dolpo ( ) is a high-altitude culturally Tibetan region in the upper part of the Dolpa District of western Nepal, bordered in the north by China. Part of the region lies in Shey Phoksundo National Park. The sparse, agro-pastoral population, known as Dolpo or Dolpopa in standard Tibetan and Dhol-wa in the local dialect, is connected to the rest of Nepal via Jufal airport, which can be reached in three days by horse.

The Dolpo are generally adherents of Bon, a religion whose origins predate Buddhism but whose modern form is officially accepted as a fifth school of Tibetan Buddhism. The remote region has preserved its Tibetan culture in relatively pure form, making it attractive to Westerners. Dolpa was the location for the 1999 Oscar-nominated film Himalaya and more recently for the German documentary Dolpo Tulku.

In spite of the near inaccessibility of the region and tourism restrictions for the more remote parts, Dolpa is a popular destination for trekking tourism.

Geography

Dolpo is geologically part of the sedimentary Tibetan-Tethys zone. It is surrounded by Himalayan mountain chains including the Dhaulagiri (8172 m). These cloud barriers cause a semi-arid climate, with reported annual precipitations of less than 500 mm.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Chorten_and_barley_fields.jpg" caption="Chorten]] with barley fields; Tarap Valley in the southern part of Dolpa."] ::

The region is historically divided into four valleys: Tsharka ("good growing-place"), Tarap ("auspicious excellent"), Panzang ("abode of monks"), and Nangkhong ("innermost place"). They constitute four of the seven village development committees (VDCs) that were created in 1975. The valleys south of the watershed drain into the Bheri River. The VDCs in this area are (roughly from east to west):

• Chharka (Tsharka Valley)
• Mukot
• Dho (Tarap Valley)
• Phoksundo. The northern valleys between the watershed and Tibet drain westward by the Langu River, a tributary of the Karnali River via the Mugu Karnali. The VDCs in this area are:
• Tinje (Panzang Valley)
• Saldang (Nangkhong Valley)
• Bhijer.

Dolpo can be roughly divided into four valleys, each of which is represented since 1975 by a village development committee (VDC): Dho (Tarap Valley), Saldang (Nankhong Valley, the most populous

Agriculture is possible at heights of 3800 to (villages of Shimen Bentsang Valley and Chharka, respectively) but often requires irrigation. Apart from barley, crops include buckwheat, millet, mustard, wheat, potatoes, radishes, and spinach. Similar to transhumance in the Alps, the population migrates between villages and high-lying (4000 to) summer pastures, in a lifestyle referred to as samadrok (roughly "farming nomads").

Dolpo makes up the greatest part of the area of the Dolpa District, but the district's population is concentrated in the lower southern parts, where also most of the VDCs are located.

Trade

Local products are not sufficient to guarantee survival. The Dolpo traditionally trade salt from Tibet to the lower parts of Nepal, where they maintain netsang (literally "nesting place") relationships, first described by Kenneth M. Bauer in 2002. According to Bauer, each family in Dolpo has netsang partners in most villages of Dolpo District, a network that facilitates travel as well as trade. In return for salt, the netsang provide grain and shelter. The netsang partners trade with each other on preferential terms, based on family relations that may last for several generations. Recent changes such as the easy availability of salt from other regions and the closed border with Tibet have put the netsang system under pressure.

History

Dolpo appears in historical records since c. 8th century. In the time from the 6th century to the 8th century the Tibetan Yarlung dynasty conquered most Tibetan-speaking territories. This seems to have caused a southward migration towards Dolpo and the peripheral areas along the upper Kali Gandaki River (Lo and Serib). In 842, Tibet fell apart, and Dolpa fell under the kingdom of Purang. Purang and Dolpa became temporarily part of the kingdom of Guge in the 10th century, but soon became separate again when King sKyid lde Nyi ma mgon divided Guge among his three sons. An early 14th century medical text by Brang ti dPal ldan ‘tsho byed lists delegations of physicians from neighbor countries invited by the Tibetan king Khri srong lde btsan (reigned 756–797 AD). The fact that a physician from Dolpo was listed indicates that Dolpo was a province separate from Tibet at the time of the Yarlung dynasty. A reference in PT 1287, an old Tibetan chronicle preserved as one of the Dunhuang manuscripts, also indicates that in the 8th century Dolpa was independent from Tibet and Nepal.

Dolpo was also said to be controlled by Serib. Furthermore, since the Dolpo and Serib had strong ties not only with its geography, but also with matters such as religious and political. In Old Tibetan Annals preserved in Dunhuang, we can find a reference which suggest that Serib was taken under control of Tibet with the help of the minister (Tib. blon chen po) dBa Khri gzigs, but later again separated from their control.

During the reign of the Ya-rtse king A-sog-lde around 1253 both Dolpo and Serib were lost to the ruler of Gungthang, mGon po lde. The latter then reunited both the Dolpo and Serib and classified them among three provinces of mNga' ris. It is also known from historical documents that Mongolian troops reached Dolpo to conquer this province when they conquered many parts of Tibet and finally handed over the power to the ruler of the Sakya period.

In the 14th century Dolpo fell under its eastern neighbor the Kingdom of Lo, which controlled the trans-Himalayan trade route through the Kali Gandaki Gorge. The Dolpo had to pay tax and travel to Lo Monthang to provide manual labor.

For some time between the 15th century (1440?) and the 16th century, Dolpo was temporarily independent and ruled by a king from the Ra nag dynasty.

In 1769, the Gorkhas conquered Kathmandu and established the Kingdom of Nepal, which would soon reach more or less the country's modern extent. In 1789, Nepal swallowed the Lo kingdom and with it Dolpo. The kingdom's attempt to wrest nominal suzerainty over Tibet from China ended in a massive Chinese intervention that left Nepal paying tribute to China.

The region in film

The 1999 French-Nepalese movie Himalaya, which gives insight into the local customs, was the first Nepalese film to be nominated for an Oscar award and also a huge success in Nepal itself, drawing the country's attention to the region. Kenneth M. Bauer notes that the film's authenticity was in large part artificial, as dialogues mixed the standard Tibetan of the professional actors with the villagers' local dialects and all external influences in the region (such as clothes, Maoists and tourists) were hidden. He also describes the impact which the film had on the region as an employer.

The 2009 documentary Dolpo Tulku accompanies Sherap Sangpo (born 1981 in the Tarap Valley) on his journey from India back to his home region and his first steps as a Buddhist spiritual leader of the Dolpa. At the age of ten, he had pilgrimaged to India and after meeting the Dalai Lama had decided to become a monk. In Ka-Nying Monastery in Kathmandu he was soon recognized as the reincarnation of Lama Nyinchung and sent to Namdroling Monastery in Karnataka. After 16 years in southern India his education was finished, and in 2008 he returned to his home region to take over the responsibilities of his predecessor as a Buddhist spiritual leader of the Dolpa and in particular the monasteries in Dho-Tarap, Namgung and Saldang.

Notable people

• Orgyan Chokyi, hermitess
• Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen

Notes

Bibliography

• Gurung, Phurwa (2022). "Governing caterpillar fungus: Participatory conservation as state-making, territorialization, and dispossession in Dolpo, Nepal." Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 6 (3): 1745-1766.
• Gurung, Phurwa and Bauer, Ken. (2022). "Infrastructures of Change: Development among pastoralists in Dolpo, Nepal." In Jelle J.P. Wouters*,* Michael T. Heneise (eds.). Routledge Handbook of Highland Asia.

References

5. {{harvnb. Bauer. 2004.
6. Phurwa Gurung, Ken Bauer. (2022). "Infrastructures of change: Development among pastoralists in Dolpo, Nepal (1990–2020)". Routledge Handbook of Highland Asia.
7. "Upper Dolpo".
8. [http://ncthakur.itgo.com/districtmaps/dolpa_district.htm Map of Nepal – Dolpa District].
9. Gurung, Phurwa. (September 2023). "Governing caterpillar fungus: Participatory conservation as state-making, territorialization, and dispossession in Dolpo, Nepal". Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space.
10. [http://otdo.aa.tufs.ac.jp/archives.cgi?p=Pt_1287 PT 1287], transliterated online version.
11. [http://dolpotulku.org/ dolpa tulku] – film website.
12. Schaeffer, Kurtis R.. (2004). "Himalayan Hermitess: The Life of a Tibetan Buddhist Nun". Oxford University Press.

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