Humla – Reaching the Unreached

Flight Kathmandu to Nepalgunj

Journey has begun from TIA Domestic. Suvash Khadga, JayaRam Gautam, Rabindra Acharya, Prabesh Niraula, Chudamani Pokhrel and Me, Surendra departed from Kathmandu at 3:15 PM. Since we don’t have direct flight to Humla, we had to fly to Nepalgunj first. it was about 50 minutes’ flight from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj. Nepalgunj is hot city and when we landed, temperature was 35 degrees Celsius. For people who live in Kathmandu, the temperature is quite hot. I have never been in Nepalgunj before, and was so excited for sight seen.

First of all, we all went to hotel and after wearing some light clothes, we rushed towards a restaurant as we all were too hungry. Foods are similar to Kathmandu. Mutton Sekuwa, MoMos, Newari Khaja Set, and more.

After getting some good foods, we walked around and I found completely different culture there, adopted mostly from Muslim community. I heard its one of the biggest city of Muslims in Nepal. Interesting part is, no taxis there – only Auto-Rikshaw for a ride in town. I found unmanaged bazaar. Near Airport, I could say its nice and green but when you go a bit far from airport, I see completely no trees around. We didn’t want to waste any minutes and so we decided to have a long drive. We went to Kohalpur and stayed overnight in Hotel.

Flight Nepalgunj to Simikot

We spent really amazing time at Kohalpur even at late night. We had declared 6:00 AM flight time to Simikot, so early morning at 5:00 we moved towards Nepalgunj Airport. As, flights are not certain, it got delayed till 7:15 AM.

Finally, our baggage got security checked and we got taken off into “Tara Airways” 14 seated Twin-otter. Small aircraft and funny thing is; it has no RestRoom privilege.

It’s about 55 minutes’ flight to Simikot from Nepalgunj. It flies over steep mountain ranges with beautiful views of snow-capped mountains. Flight was really adventures.

At 8:15 AM, we were landed at Simikot airport, which is a blacktopped airstrip amidst the mountains. It guarantees a spectacular landing. When we stepped out of the plane, we felt of completely different world. We arrived in a small mountain village, situated in the midst of the Himalayas, breathing in crispy cold air. Temperature was 15 degrees Celsius.

We all started capturing photographs, videos of this beautiful land.

Beautiful Landscape of Simikot Airport surrounding snow capped Peaks

Apple Blossom Flower

Apple Blossom Flower in Simikot

Another interesting part of this flight is; it landed and 8:15 and it had another round of 8:20 to fly back Nepalgunj. I mean After landed the aircraft, it didn’t turn off the engine. Without turning off the engine, it flies back to Nepalgunj.

Our stay was booked at Raling Hotel And Lodge. From the airport we walked up through the village to reach the hotel. We got welcome Drink “Ghodamorcha”.

Ghodamorcha–  it’s a local tea, made from herbal plant and medicinal herbs. If you want to drink Delicious Tea, then Ghodamorcha is your best choice.

At lunch and dinner, there are more popular foods like Black Lentil, Red/Black Beans, RED RICE (Chino), Kalomarci, Dheedo and more.

Red Rice – it’s unique rice, specially found in Humla and Jumla. It’s tastier than other white rice. Local people claim that red rice is good for diabetes.

Short info about HUMLA

Humla – it is located in the Himalaya, the Karnali Zone of North –Western Nepal. It’s bordering the Tibet. It is the highest district in Nepal, the average altitude is about 3,000m.

It is considered as one of the most remote and isolated regions of nation, we can say unreached district of Nepal. It is inaccessible by motor roads, reachable only by foot or small aircrafts.

The climate is not stable, unpleasantly rough, half of the year Humla covers with snow. Due to Rocky Mountains, poor soil, and dry land, only 1-2% of the land is arable. Practically there is no irrigation.

The common means of transportation are mules which bring necessary products from the Tibetan border to Simikot.

Simikot – It is the district headquarter of Humla, situated at an elevation of 2945 meters. It is surrounded by high snow-covered mountain peaks. Simikot is actually the gateway to the Holy Mt. Kailash and Lake ManSarobar Trek. For normal trekkers, it takes about 3-5 days walk up to the Tibetan border.

Humla, one hand its symbol of beauty with truly natural gifts of Rocky Mountains, snow covered peaks, richly minerals, mesmerizing landscape full of known and unknown herbs and vegetations, and food grown in the region is 100% organic.

It is rich in medicinal herbs and tree vegetation. There are popular trees which produce oil like Wall Nuts. There are also other herbal plants like Mushroom, Ghodamorcha, Jattamasi and many more.

But on the other hand, its isolation has pushed into far behind from the rest of the world. Its not easily accessible to entire World.

Transportation

There is only one airport at Simikot. Actually this is the only one gateway to connect with Surkhet, and Nepalgunj by air. Flight normally takes about an hour from Nepalgunj to Simikot. The Airport runway is short and so only small aircrafts like helicopter and Twin-otter are accessible to provide service. The major problem is unstable weather, so Air service depends on weather of Humla and Nepalgunj. We can say the connections are neither reliable nor regular.

Since Humla is not accessible by motor roads, and Aircraft are irregular, there is another option to reach Humla i.e. on foot. By the way, Karnali Curridoor and a road from Tibet to Simikot is under construction but they are yet to be completed. It would be a milestone to connect this district with the Tibet and the rest parts of the country.

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