Essay
The Key to Mustang
It is time to open up the "Forbidden Kingdom", so that it, like Lower Mustang, can benefit from tourism and development.
Lower Mustang, home of the Thakalis with its district capital at Jomsom, has gradually been transformed by trekkers on the "Annapurna Circuit," pilgrims to Muktinath, and apple farming.
In contrast, the Bhutia inhabitants of Upper Mustang, the ancient kingdom of Lo, live much as their forbearers did for centuries, farming in the spring, taking their animals to high pastures in the summer and engaging in trade in the winter.