Tsum Valley: the living traditions of a hidden valley

Tsum lies in the far north of Gorkha district, a side valley of the Budhi Gandaki that runs east toward the Tibetan border between Ganesh Himal and the Sringi range. You enter it the hard way, climbing from the main Manaslu trail at Lokpa into the gorge of the Shiar Khola, where the walls are so close that for half a day you see little but forest and river. Then, above Chumling, the valley opens into wide terraces of barley and buckwheat, stone villages and long mani walls, with snow peaks on all sides.

Because of its position on the border, Tsum was closed to foreign visitors for decades, and it opened to trekking only in 2008. It is still a restricted area: you need a special permit, at least two trekkers and a licensed guide through a registered agency; check current status before you travel. That isolation has helped keep its religious life strong. Tsum does not feel like a place preserved for visitors. It feels like a place getting on with its own year, and letting you watch.

The people of Tsum, the Tsumba, are Tibetan Buddhists who speak their own dialect of Tibetan, different enough from the Nubri speech of the main Manaslu valley that people from the two valleys notice at once. They farm barley, buckwheat, potatoes and maize, keep yaks and other livestock, and have long traded across the passes into Tibet. Many families have relatives who are monks or nuns, and some young people now study or work in Kathmandu and abroad.

In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, Tsum is part of a beyul, a sacred hidden valley said to have been set aside by Guru Rinpoche, Padmasambhava, as a refuge for practitioners in troubled times. The beyul associated with this part of the Himalaya is known as Kyimolung, the valley of happiness. Pilgrims and lamas treat the whole landscape as holy: caves, springs and rocks carry stories of saints, and even the act of walking up the valley can be a form of practice.

The tradition visitors notice first is the absence of slaughter. Tsum has a long-standing community agreement, known locally as shyagya, which forbids hunting and the killing of animals in the valley. Yaks and other livestock are kept for milk, wool, dung and transport rather than meat, and animals are not sold for slaughter. The agreement is linked to the valley's Buddhist teachers and has been reaffirmed by Tsumba communities over the years.

For trekkers, this means meals in Upper Tsum are almost entirely vegetarian. Lodges serve dal bhat, potatoes, tsampa, noodles, Tibetan bread and greens, and you should not ask for meat or bring meat to cook. The valley's wildlife benefits too: blue sheep and Himalayan tahr graze close to villages, and the absence of hunting is one reason for that. It is a small but telling sign of how faith shapes everyday life here.

Above the trail near Burji, beyond Lamagaon, is Piren Phu, a cave which tradition associates with Milarepa, the 11th to 12th century Tibetan yogi and poet whose songs are still sung across the Himalaya. The cave is now a small shrine with prayer flags, butter lamps and impressions in the rock that pilgrims identify as Milarepa's footprints. Lamas sometimes stay there in retreat, so visit quietly.

Tsum's religious buildings are its landmarks. Mu Gompa, near the head of the valley at about 3,700 m, is the largest monastery in Tsum. Rachen Gompa is a large nunnery below cliffs on the river's south bank, and Gumba Lungdang is another nunnery high on a hillside in Lower Tsum, with views to Ganesh Himal. In both nunneries, nuns study, pray, farm and cook, and visitors are often welcome to stay in simple guest rooms and attend evening prayers.

Houses in Upper Tsum are built of stone with flat roofs where firewood, fodder and grain are stored, and often share walls with their neighbours, giving villages a tight, fortress-like look. Like several other Tibetan border valleys, Tsum once had households in which brothers shared one wife, an arrangement that kept land undivided; today it is rare. Most families now send at least some children to school down-valley or in Kathmandu.

Change arrives slowly but steadily. Solar panels, mobile phones and a few lodges with hot showers have appeared since 2008, and a road is being pushed up the Budhi Gandaki from the south. Some families worry about young people leaving, others welcome easier access to health care and markets. As a visitor, you see a valley in the middle of a long conversation about how much to change and how fast.

Life in Upper Tsum follows a short growing season and a long winter. Snow can lie in the upper villages from December to February, and some families move down-valley or to Kathmandu for the coldest months, leaving a few relatives to look after the houses and animals. Lhosar, the Tibetan New Year, usually in February or early March, brings people home for prayers, family visits and the hanging of fresh prayer flags on the roofs.

Spring is ploughing and sowing time. Barley, buckwheat and potatoes go into the terraces from March, and by May the fields around Chhokangparo and Nile are green. In summer, herders take yaks and other animals up to the high pastures, where they live in stone shelters and make butter and cheese, while the villages below weed and water the crops. The monsoon is lighter here than in the gorge below, because the high ridges to the south catch much of the rain.

Autumn is harvest, and the busiest time for visitors too. Barley is cut and threshed on flat roofs and threshing floors, potatoes are dug and stored, and firewood is stacked for winter. This is when trekkers usually arrive, so lodge owners are juggling guests and fields at once. Be patient if dinner takes a while; the cook may have spent the afternoon threshing.

Tsumba hospitality is warm, and most etiquette is simple. These habits matter most.

• Walk clockwise around gompas, chortens and mani walls, keeping them on your right.
• Remove your hat and shoes before entering a prayer hall, and sit quietly at the back during prayers.
• Ask before photographing monks, nuns, elders or the inside of any gompa, and never use flash.
• Do not ask for meat, bring meat into Upper Tsum or harm any animal.
• Leave a donation at each gompa or nunnery you visit, especially if you sleep there.
• Dress modestly, with shoulders and knees covered.
• Carry out all plastic and batteries; waste disposal in remote valleys is difficult.