A farming village on the road to the walled city
Ghami grew where water and flat land allowed farming at 3,500 m. Irrigation channels lead off the streams that come down from the hills, and the village's barley, buckwheat and mustard fields spread out on the terraces below the houses. For centuries Ghami sat on the main route between Lo Manthang and the south, and the passing caravans of salt and grain, and later the pilgrims and travellers going to the capital, brought it trade and news. Water, more than anything, decided where people could live in Lo.
Like the rest of Lo, Ghami belonged to the kingdom founded by Ame Pal in the late 14th century, ruled from Lo Manthang. Its gompa and chortens follow the Sakya tradition favoured by the rulers of Lo, and its families shared in the ritual life of the kingdom, including the festivals held in the capital. When Upper Mustang was opened to foreign trekkers in 1992, Ghami became one of the regular overnight stops, and families began turning rooms into lodges.
In the past two decades, the jeep road has transformed daily life. Supplies arrive by truck instead of mule train, and young people travel easily to Jomsom, Pokhara and Kathmandu, often for school or work abroad. Many houses are empty for part of the year. Yet the fields are still planted each spring, the mani wall is still repaired, and in the evening older villagers still walk around the chortens turning their prayer wheels. The village is changing, but it has not emptied.
