Nepal, access to Kingdom of Mustang
 

Hi,

Has anyone got any information about the kingdom of Mustang in Nepal? Is it accessible by road/path, has anyone been there on a motorbike? I looked at it in google earth but can't quite figure out if I'm looking at roads or rivers in places. Any help & hints would be much appreciated!

Bjorn

You need special permits for Mustang. I don't think the road would be rideable. Donkey etc. and hiking.

Riding high
 

Walk.
It's a trek.
You need to go on a guided tour to enter Mustang.
If you really want to ride into the Himalaya then look further west - there are some good rides up to the Char Dhams in Uttarakhand (India) that get you right into the mountains, or further west you can ride over the Himalaya & into Ladakh. Or east - in Sikkim you can get up into the big stuff.
And then there's Pakistan and the KKH...
All good fun

It's really guided-tour territory, unfortunately. And as for non-residents riding up into this "protected" area - i reckon they'd take a bit of a dim view... But there is track access to the region, occasionally a truck will topple off the road/track and make the local rag. If it's the sublime scenery that attracts you there, then Ladakh offers the alternative in a rider-friendly environment!Fuel accessibility may well also be a problem, given the current situation.

I've seen maps showing a road to Mustang, but most maps don't. The rule apparently is if there is a road you can drive there. As soon as you walk more than a km away from a road you need a permit. The Mustang permit is very expensive, I've read something about 1200 US$ somewhere.

There IS a road into Mustang from the North, i.e. China. Don't count on using it...

Himalayas
 

Hi,

Thanks for all your advice. I guess Mustang is too much of a gamble then... I looked into crossing from China into Sikkim, going via the Nathula pass, but I read it's not open to foreign tourists. (General idea being: get a group of people together to go through China with 1 guide & share the costs for the guide).
I might stick to the more traditional route after all, going down the KKH & entering Ladakh.

Thanks again for your comments!

Bjorn

You can ride through Western Nepal if you start in Mahendranaghar (border crossing is Banbassa in India) and ride to Nepalgani, then up to Pokhara. Some of the best views on my trip were in the lowlands of Western Nepal

Just left nepal by bike. Tried to do Mustang, but it didn't work. $700 for a walk-in permit when I was there. Saw a group go by bike up into Tibet at the crossing above KTM, but I think that's an in-and-out sort of thing, not sure if you can get all the way across china that way.

Mustang by Bullet with Hearts and Tears
 

I made the first solo ride into Mustang, in January 2009, on a standard Royal Enfield 350.

It's a tough journey, especially on an antique bike, but it is possible. At high altitude, the Bullet begins to struggle. It also guzzles fuel, which is difficult to find. It gets very cold at night, but the views more than compensate for the hardship!

The "track" is on an old trekking route. Although the trekkers now stay away, you are still required to have permits to enter the area. I can speak a bit of Nepali, and I went out of season, so I got away with it. I just rode up. If you're going in the tourist seasons, I'd recommend having a permit.

Above Jomsom, it's like riding on the surface of the moon. Completely barren as far as you can see, with no vegetation or animal life. It's absolutely spectacular.

Hearts and Tears Motorcycle Club is an adventure tourism business in Pokhara, Nepal. We're going to run Mustang tours commercially from October 2010.

Cheers
Rick

Am very, very jealous...and intrigued.

Can you give us a ride report & some piccies?

How did you get the bike up there? I've done the Jomson trek before & while lots of it looks great for an adventure ride I would expect you would get turned back if you were riding?


Looks like yet another reason I must get back to the Himalaya..