Trekking into the region of Upper Mustang was officially opened in 1992 to the limited number of trekkers each year in order to protect and conserve the local Tibetan tradition and the fragile environment. A trek into this fabled forbidden kingdom of vast, arid valleys, eroded canyons, ochre valley, yak caravans, colorful-painted mud-brick houses on the back dropped of majestic mountain of Nilgiri, Tukche, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri make your medieval walled kingdom Mustang trekking a very special one.
Himalayan Dynasty organizes regularly trip to Himalayan Kingdom of Mustang targeting the TIJI festival a three days long ritual known as” The chasing of the Demons”, one of the most important festivals of the region. During the Tiji Festival, time monks dressed in elaborate costumes and masks perform dances and rituals that are supposed to drive away evil spirits. Dressed in their finery, people from all over Mustang gather in Lo-Manthang to celebrate the Tiji festival.
Michel Peissel was the first westerner to witness the Tiji festival in 1964 during a visit to Mustang. In his book ‘Mustang – A lost Tibetan Kingdom’, he has described the Tiji festival “We found ourselves in the midst of a festival in which over a thousand men, women and children were taking part. Before us spread a sea of weather-beaten brown faces that contrasted with those of the beaming, dirty little children who clung like grapes upon the rooftops of the houses”. “The scenes I witnessed were so extraordinary and so unexpected that I dared not believe my eyes and even today I have some trouble in believing in the reality of what I saw that day