Humla, Nepal
![group in Simikot](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/image006_0.jpg?itok=rAJmtLKb)
![The Simikot airport](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_2911.jpg?itok=EsMMkwtP)
![Simikot airstrip](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_2921.jpg?itok=Lg5mvVvJ)
![elderly couple at Guru Rinpoche cave](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_2933.jpg?itok=My_gaw5d)
![site of Raling festival](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_1899_0.jpg?itok=fehZcYsP)
![view of Raling Monastery and Shelmogang](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_1904.jpg?itok=npfXns5-)
![Guru Rinpoche cave](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_1906.jpg?itok=NMdHW0Yg)
![Villager from Theh](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_2945.jpg?itok=ZHifplvM)
![cannabis field](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_1923.jpg?itok=CJCsR0AL)
![rain stopping ceremony](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_1924_0.jpg?itok=uwz5UICZ)
![Theh village](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3018.jpg?itok=2vElt0tM)
![goat caravan](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3042.jpg?itok=d9VmakRU)
![On the way to Tsongsa](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3064.jpg?itok=wg6MHreh)
![Excavator near the campsite](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3080.jpg?itok=dsCAb5gi)
![Selima Tso](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3099.jpg?itok=VSNQz22k)
![women not far from Nyalu Pass](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3115_0.jpg?itok=eGvWp-rK)
![Nyalu pass](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3129_0.jpg?itok=RFUVLUGL)
![la btsas](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3139.jpg?itok=6xH4oYf_)
![Ashok, herder, and baby goat](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3158.jpg?itok=R7syLiWJ)
![new "road" up to Laptsa Shar pass](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3174.jpg?itok=Utiw2r-K)
![white sand dunes](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3181.jpg?itok=6fbXmLLK)
![Takyon Karpo](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3190.jpg?itok=6_BCdvSV)
![clearing the road up to Lapcha Shar](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3192.jpg?itok=qvGuaUEM)
![campsite at hot springs near Tsang](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3198.jpg?itok=cya6NWgN)
![Pasang and kids in Tsang](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3219.jpg?itok=B1QgsHsL)
![fancy cup](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3230.jpg?itok=8vh259I1)
![Chinese beverages in Limi Youth Society office](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3259.jpg?itok=gQOdzsQf)
![Checkpoint at Sunkani](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3274.jpg?itok=Ae8czTN5)
![Halzi looking in the direction of the GLOF](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3281_0.jpg?itok=M60xLK2q)
![kids play in Halzi](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3291.jpg?itok=ZTPnbNVA)
![community hall](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3300.jpg?itok=xe3WHsPk)
![house partially destroyed by GLOF](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3313.jpg?itok=XheEux4G)
![inside a shrine in Rinchenling Monastery](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3328.jpg?itok=fXgyC0Fp)
![Til Monastery](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3344.jpg?itok=xmEdI1WK)
![on our way down to Hilsa](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3362.jpg?itok=ukfdIws3)
![Cave at Cha-se Namkha dzong](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3367.jpg?itok=RthDa6An)
![Old frescoes at the cave](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3371.jpg?itok=8cskvJZ6)
![wild rose](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3374.jpg?itok=Fix0Qkla)
![meditation room in cave](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3375.jpg?itok=RjTwdUc0)
![Rinzen Dolma getting to sing and our crew at the cave](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3380.jpg?itok=XVrymXTP)
![looking toward Hilsa and the Chinese border](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3382.jpg?itok=Tn60-dtV)
![Strike hard against illegal entry and exit](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3982.jpg?itok=WPU6-mDJ)
![women carrying construction materials across the border](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_3985.jpg?itok=J22KI8NK)
![meeting at Yalbang monastery](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/14379814_1580224212003557_6127009257421715736_o.jpg?itok=9wFnJTV9)
![Loding and Fooding at the Salli Khola](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_4016_0.jpg?itok=zVIQox7S)
![Khas shaman heading to Manasarovar](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_4024.jpg?itok=jlNyF2G-)
![flying out of Simikot](https://www.colorado.edu/tibethimalayainitiative/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/slider/img_4038_0.jpg?itok=_tCcatdt)
Photo Essay by Emily Yeh.
In July-August 2016, I was very fortunate to be able to join the Sacred Himalaya Initiative of the India-China Institute at The New School, in a trip through Humla to Mount Kailash. Led by Ashok Gurung, we were a crew of Americans, Nepalis, and Indians supported by a number of cooks and porters. Although the centerpiece of the journey was Mount Kailash, we spent much more of our time walking through Humla District in the Karnali Zone and in the northwestern corner of Nepal, much of which was once part of Ngari in western Tibet. Its district headquarters, Simikot, is currently accessible only by plane or foot. We spent five days walking in the Tibetan Buddhist Nyin valley to the east, home of Tshewang Lama, a former politician as well as lama, businessman, and organic intellectual who accompanied us throughout the trip. Then after returning to Simikot, we split into two groups, one taking the shorter route to the border at Hilsa through Muchu and Tumkot, and the other (including me) the longer northern route over the Nyalu pass through the isolated Limi Valley.
Humla is home to both Hindu (Chhetri and Thakuri) and Tibetan Buddhist communities, with the former living in the south and the latter mostly to the north in and past Dharapuri. The region was once quite prosperous from the trade that brought salt from Tibet in exchange for grain from lower Nepal. With the change in border policies and broader shifts in the political economy (including the advent of iodized salt), however, Humla has now become a food deficient region, and one of the poorest and least developed districts of Nepal. Consequently, Simikot is home to many international and Nepali NGOs and receives considerable food aid.
Our initial primary goal during the more than two weeks we spent in Humla was to better understand the region’s pilgrimage routes and other connections to Kailash and Manasarovar, both past and present. In the course of our walking and conversations with Humla residents, though, we also learned about road building and shifting livelihoods, particularly with increasing labor outmigration.