A Night with Nomads
Nomadic and semi-nomadic lifestyles used to be commonplace, as people moved with the seasons, their animals, or trade goods. This way of life is becoming few and far between - due to global forces such as large-scale agriculture, climate change, and global trade enabled by cargo ships, trucks, and planes.
In some parts of the world, however, there are remnants of nomadic ways of life. Lower Mustang is one of them. We spent two nights with yak herders, as part of a recent Lower Mustang Cultural Immersion Experience. It was a humbling and eye-opening experience for all of us.
The geography in Lower Mustang is vast and rugged. After crossing the river, we immediately started to climb. From that point forwards, I don’t think there was any piece of truly flat land, until we reached the yak pastures, 1,000m higher up!
Luckily, our packs were not too heavy - we were only carrying our clothing and other essentials. Porters who were more acclimatized and stronger than us took up the tents, sleeping gear, and food. We took plenty of breaks to admire the changing forest, the ever smaller river, and to marvel at the path ahead… Going up and up!
At about 3,000m altitude, we started to feel the thin air more acutely. Our pace slowed, but with snacks we were able to keep climbing. We tried a classic Nepali walking food - chowchow chiura (noodles, dried rice, and other dried snacks). It went down a treat!
Finally, at about 3,400m altitude, the forest whittled down into scrubland. We tried eating rhododendron flowers as were told they tasted good by our local guide, but I couldn’t distinguish any strong flavour myself.
Near the top, we stopped and all took turns cresting the top of the hill onto the ridge. Each of us whooped in delight at the sight of the valley below and the hills beyond sweeping up into peaks half hidden by clouds.
Asman, the yak herder we would be staying with came out to greet us as we approached his camp. His face was split into a big smile as he welcomed us. As he doesn’t get many visitors, he said that he enjoyed the company of Nadi’ Experience’s groups.
We busied ourselves with helping to set up the tents and set out our sleeping gear before it got dark, while Asman started to prepare dinner. His kitchen was simple - just an open fire in the middle of his self-made bamboo shelter, and the ingredients were relatively simple because they all had to be carried in or foraged.
Asman had previously been a chef for trekking expeditions in the 1980’s and 1990’s - so his food was excellent! It goes to show that fancy tools, gadgets, or boutique ingredients are not needed to make nutritious and tasty food.
I set off to scope out toilet spots I could use for ‘ehm, different demands of nature. We had collectively decided to leave the luxury toilet tent and port-a-loo behind because we were all very comfortable going in the wild. I found my pee spot not far from the campsite, with the best view I’ve ever had while doing my business! My other toilet spot that would require a shovel was to be down the hill, close to the rhododendron scrub and further out of the way.
While we sat around the campfire, Asman talked with us and answered our questions as our local guides translated. He showed us jasmine tea and a very mild garlic he’d foraged. We learnt about his yaks, the different pastures he takes them to in different seasons, his diet, and his new family down in a nearby village. I asked about the mounds of yak poop we had seen outside, and learned that the yaks refused to sleep where another yak had done its business. So Asman piled them up to ensure there was enough room for each yak to rest overnight.
As the light faded, Asman left to call his yaks back to the camp. As there were some baby yaks (the cutest things!!), it was safer for them to be all together, and nearby Asman’s camp. Bears and leopards would both enjoy a baby yak for dinner, if they could get one.
It started to rain, but we were cozy around the campfire. In the end, I moved to the doorway, because the smoke was too much for my eyes. I could also see the beautiful mountains in the fading light, and later on the stars.
The view the next morning was truly breathtaking. We all drank coffee while standing in awe at the sight of the mountains and the rising sun catching their snowy wrinkles as it rose.
We left for a walk, and saw black animal in the distance. My worst-case-scenario brain instantly thought it was a bear! Checking through the binoculars, however, we saw that it was actually a yak lying on the ground and seemed to be in distress. Our local guides went to tell Asman, who came running. Together, the three of them managed to help the yak to its feet. Asman told us it was 21, older but not ancient for a yak, and was just a baby when he had started working with this herd. He was glad we had been there, because alone he would not have been able to get it to its feet.
When we crested the next ridge, we saw other peaks playing hide-and-seek with clouds that seemed to be in a rush to head from Nepal towards Tibet. There was another yak pasture - a summer one. Some of the yaks from other herds had arrived, but their herders had not yet shifted camp. We passed Asman’s summer camp and saw him bringing up a load of foraged firewood in preparation for the upcoming summer season.
We were keen to keep watching the celestial cloudy spectacle, but our guides judged the weather perfectly and guided us back to camp just before a heavy rain started! We sheltered around the campfire and drank foraged jasmine tea.
In a break in the weather, our local guides helped Asman to feed some medicine to the yak. While it had recovered somewhat, its movements indicated to Asman that it still wasn’t in complete health. Ashim and Milan each held a horn, while Asman fed the yak the brown concoction through a funnel. It was all herbal, with lots of nutrients to boost its health.
The next day, we packed up and headed off a different way down the hill. We saw stunning views of different mountains and enjoyed an undulating path - much less steep than the way we had climbed. It was a longer route and took us through different types of forests, other yak pastures, and several villages further down in the valley.
We stopped for lunch in a teahouse and it was one of the best noodle soups we had ever eaten. There is a saying in Nepal that “it is hunger that tastes better than food.” In this case, I am not sure whether it was the food or our hunger that made it taste better!
Following the river’s course, we passed through more villages and forest. We arrived back at our guesthouse late in the afternoon, having walked a half marathon. Our next meal, dinner of Thakali food was again superb!
