Trekking in Mustang is like being at sea, only with more dust. There’s an endless spaciousness, punctuated by cathedral columns, crumbling cliffs and towers of rock.

In the rain shadow of the Himalayas, north of the Annapurna range and south of the Tibetan Plateau, Mustang has been part of Nepal since the late 18th century but has more in common with Tibet, which surrounds it on three sides.

Alluring, no? We found these lovely descriptions in this article from an Australian newspaper, describing a two-week trek to Upper Mustang. It goes on to say that only about 2,000 trekkers visit Upper Mustang each year, which it calls “a drop in the ocean of 70,000 trekkers visiting Nepal every year.”

Read on, and you’ll come across more fine prose like this:

Then there are the villages – green and lovely oases such as Ghami, where we stop for lunch on day four, which is all autumn-leafed poplars, white-walled courtyards, fluttering prayer flags and pink hollyhocks.

At Embark, we dream of places like Mustang – wild, remote places with fascinating culture and history, not to mention amazing beauty and fantastic trekking opportunities. Our Mustang trek “More Tibetan Than Tibet” is a perfect introduction to this high, lonesome place.