Tsum Valley

Why this valley is different from the trek it branches off

Tsum shares its first days with the Manaslu Circuit and then turns north into a side valley that most Manaslu trekkers never enter. The circuit is a mountain trek with culture along the way. Tsum is the opposite: the culture is the reason to go, and the mountains are the setting.

It was closed to foreigners entirely until 2008. The isolation was geographic before it was administrative — the valley is hard to enter and leads nowhere except Tibet — and the result is a Tibetan Buddhist community that has continued with unusually little interruption.

The non-violence agreement

This is the fact that makes Tsum genuinely unusual. Following the teaching of a lama in the early twentieth century, the valley's communities agreed to prohibit the killing of animals — no hunting, no slaughter, no meat production. The agreement, known locally as shyagya, has been observed since around 1920 and predates any Nepali conservation law.

The practical effects are visible. Wildlife is unusually unafraid. Blue sheep graze near the trail. And meals in the valley are vegetarian, which is worth knowing in advance rather than discovering at dinner.

The monasteries

Mu Gompa (3,700 m), at the head of the valley near the Tibetan border, is the highest and the natural end point of the trek. Rachen Gompa is a nunnery housing a substantial community of Buddhist nuns — considerably larger than most visitors expect, and a very different atmosphere from the monasteries on the main trekking routes.

Piren Phu is a cave associated with Milarepa, the eleventh-century yogi and poet who is among the most significant figures in Tibetan Buddhism. The cave is decorated with murals and remains an active site of devotion rather than a monument.

What the walking involves

The approach is the Budhi Gandaki gorge, shared with Manaslu, which is hot, humid and steep in its lower sections. Above Lokpa the Tsum valley itself opens and the character changes to open, dry, high country with mani walls running for hundreds of metres.

The maximum altitude is only 3,700 m, so this is easier than Manaslu in terms of altitude — but longer than people expect, because the approach and return are substantial.

Permit rules

Tsum is a restricted area with its own permit, separate from the Manaslu one. A licensed guide is mandatory, the two-trekker minimum applies, and the permit must be issued through a registered agency. If you are combining Tsum with the Manaslu Circuit — which most people do — you need both restricted permits plus MCAP and ACAP.

How to behave here

More relevant in Tsum than almost anywhere. Walk clockwise around chortens and mani walls, ask before photographing inside gompas or photographing nuns, and do not bring meat into the valley. Our guides brief this properly at the start rather than correcting you afterwards.

Where to go next

• Manaslu Region — A restricted region in Gorkha built around the eighth-highest mountain on earth, with a single long gorge leading to a 5,106 m pass and a sacred side valley branching off it
• Upper Mustang — A former Tibetan kingdom in the rain shadow north of the Annapurnas
• Shey Phoksundo & Dolpo — Nepal's deepest lake, and beyond it the Bon heartland of Upper Dolpo

Related activities: Trekking in Nepal, Cultural & Heritage Tours.

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