Limi

Limi is a ward council of the Namkha rural municipality of the Humla district, which itself is a part of the Karnali Province. Previously the whole valley was known as the Limi Village Development Committee (VDC). As of the 1991 Nepal census, Limi valley had a population of 988 persons living in 169 individual households.{{Cite web |title=Nepal Census 2001 |url=http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/nepalcensus/form.php?selection=1 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012163506/http://www.digitalhimalaya.com/collections/nepalcensus/form.php?selection=1 |archivedate=12 October 2008 |accessdate=4 September 2008 |work=Nepal's Village Development Committees |publisher=Digital Himalaya}} The population of the valley decreased to 904 individual according to 2011 Nepal census.{{Cite web |date= |title=वडा नं. ६ |trans-title=Ward No. 6 |url=https://namkhamun.gov.np/content/%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%A1%E0%A4%BE-%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%82-%E0%A5%AC |access-date=17 October 2020 |website= |publisher=Namkha rural municipality |language=Nepali}}

The Limi valley is drained by the Limi river, a tributary of the Humla Karnali river. This valley has only three settlements, the Dzang, Halji, and Til villages. Dzang lies at 3,920m, Halji at 3,700m, and Til at 4,100m above sea level.{{Cite web |title=Humla and Limi valley trek |url=https://www.yatritrekking.com/en/humla-and-limi-valley-trek.html |access-date=2022-08-06 |website=www.yatritrekking.com}} Halji village is located on the southern slopes of the Gurla Mandhata massif.{{Cite journal |last1=Kropáček |first1=J. |last2=Neckel |first2=N. |last3=Tyrna |first3=B. |last4=Holzer |first4=N. |last5=Hovden |first5=A. |last6=Gourmelen |first6=N. |last7=Schneider |first7=C. |last8=Buchroithner |first8=M. |last9=Hochschild |first9=V. |date=2015-10-26 |title=Repeated glacial lake outburst flood threatening the oldest Buddhist monastery in north-western Nepal |url=https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/15/2425/2015/ |journal=Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences |language=English |volume=15 |issue=10 |pages=2425–2437 |doi=10.5194/nhess-15-2425-2015 |issn=1561-8633 |doi-access=free |hdl=20.500.11820/64439aad-d2d0-4d32-9f02-3e3d4f65db7d |hdl-access=free }}

To go to the Limi valley, one first needs to travel to Simikot, the headquarters of district Humla. Presently, the only way of traveling to Simikot, other than going on foot for several days, is to take a flight from Nepalgunj in the western Nepali plains. Limi valley can be accessed from Simikot by two routes.{{Cite book |last1=Bubriski |first1=Kevin |title=Kailash Yatra: a Long Walk to Mount Kailash through Humla |last2=Pandey |first2=Abhimanyu |publisher=Penguin Random House |year=2018 |location=New Delhi |pages=47}} One follows the upstream course of the Humla Karnali river from Simikot to Hilsa; crosses the river at Hilsa, and climbs up the eastward trail to Limi valley. This route enters near Til village. Walking this route takes 5-7 days. The other route also begins by following the Humla Karnali river in an upstream direction, but diverges to turn north at the confluence of the Salli Khola and Humla Karnali rivers. This route goes over the 4,995m high Nyalu Lagna pass, enters Talung valley, and after another day's march, enters the Limi valley near Takche, east of village Dzang. Walking this route takes 4-5 days. A rough motorable road has been built from the Sino-Nepal border near Lapcha La pass till Salli Khola; it connects the eastern end of Limi, near Dzang, by road to Taklakot in Tibet (China).

A permit is required to visit the northern areas of Humla, including Simikot and Limi valley.{{Cite web |date=2022-03-21 |title=Humla Trekking Permit |url=https://intrekking.com/humla-trekking-permit/ |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=Info Nepal Tours and Treks |language=en-US}}

The local inhabitants of the Limi valley, called the Limey,{{Cite journal |last=Bate |first=Tara |date=2022-07-15 |title=Competing perceptions of landscape in the Limi Valley: politics, ecology and pastoralism |url=https://journals.openedition.org/ebhr/490 |journal=European Bulletin of Himalayan Research |language=en |issue=58 |doi=10.4000/ebhr.490 |issn=0943-8254|doi-access=free }} follow the Drikung Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, and there is a small gonpa in each village.{{Cite web |title=Monasteries in the region of Purang |url=https://www.drikung.org/purang-and-limi/ |access-date=August 3, 2022}} The Limey economy has traditionally been dependent on agriculture, supplemented by pastoralism and trade.{{Cite web |last=Goldstein |first=Melvyn |date=1975 |title=A Report on the Limi Panchayat, Humla District, Karnali Zone |url=https://case.edu/affil/tibet/booksAndPapers/limi.panchayat.pdf |access-date=August 8, 2022}} Over history and in the present times, the Limi valley community has had various kinds of close ties with the neighboring region of Tibet.{{Cite journal |last=Saxer |first=Martin |date=2013 |title=Between China and Nepal: Trans-Himalayan Trade and the Second Life of Development in Upper Humla |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/536757 |journal=Cross-Currents: East Asian History and Culture Review |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=424–446 |doi=10.1353/ach.2013.0015 |s2cid=144666817 |issn=2158-9674}}{{Cite journal |last=Yeh |first=Emily T. |date=2021-05-03 |title="The land belonged to Nepal but the people belonged to Tibet": Overlapping sovereignties and mobility in the Limi Valley Borderland |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14650045.2019.1628018 |journal=Geopolitics |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=919–945 |doi=10.1080/14650045.2019.1628018 |s2cid=197727669 |issn=1465-0045}}{{Citation |last1=Hovden |first1=Astrid |title=Balancing the sacred landscape: environmental management in Limi, North-Western Nepal |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003036272-4/balancing-sacred-landscape-environmental-management-limi-north-western-nepal-astrid-hovden-hanna-havnevik |work=Cosmopolitical Ecologies Across Asia |doi=10.4324/9781003036272-4 |access-date=2022-08-04 |last2=Havnevik |first2=Hanna|date=2021 |pages=83–101 |isbn=9781003036272 |s2cid=239514686 |url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Pandey |first1=Abhimanyu |last2=Pradhan |first2=Nawraj |last3=Chaudhari |first3=Swapnil |last4=Ghate |first4=Rucha |date=2017-01-02 |title=Withering of traditional institutions? An institutional analysis of the decline of migratory pastoralism in the rangelands of the Kailash Sacred Landscape, western Himalayas |journal=Environmental Sociology |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=87–100 |doi=10.1080/23251042.2016.1272179|doi-access=free }}{{Cite book |last1=Bubriski |first1=Kevin |title=Kailash Yatra: a Long Walk to Mt Kailash through Humla |last2=Pandey |first2=Abhimanyu |publisher=Penguin Random House |year=2018}} The Rinchenling gonpa at Halji is said to have been built by Lotsawa Rinchen Zangpo in the 11th century AD, and bears significant resemblances with the Tabo monastery in Spiti valley, India - also said to have been built by Rinchen Zangpo.{{Cite web |title=Mimi Church and Mariette Wiebenga: A four-fold Vairocana in the Rinchen Zangpo tradition at Halji in Nepal |url=https://asianart.com/articles/halji/index.html |access-date=2022-08-05 |website=asianart.com}} Limi valley is also known for the Lapcha La pass, on the border with Tibet, from where one gets an expansive view of Lake Manasarovar and the distant Mount Kailash on a clear day.{{Cite book |last1=Bubriski |first1=Kevin |title=Kailash Yatra: a Long Walk to Mount Kailash through Humla |last2=Pandey |first2=Abhimanyu |publisher=Penguin Random House |year=2018 |location=New Delhi |pages=1}}{{Cite web |title=Limi-Lapcha could be an alternative route to Kailash Manasarovar |url=https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/limi-lapcha-could-be-an-alternative-route-to-kailash-manasarovar |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=thehimalayantimes.com}}

The snow leopard, Himalayan wolf, Tibetan fox, Tibetan gazelle, kiang, argali, Himalayan brown bear, and Himalayan blue sheep have been reported from Limi.{{Cite web |date=2018-09-24 |title=Limi Valley: A threatened Shangri-La for wildlife (commentary) |url=https://news.mongabay.com/2018/09/limi-valley-a-threatened-shangri-la-for-wildlife-commentary/ |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=Mongabay Environmental News |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Wolf Research Expedition to Humla western Nepal 2015 {{!}} Himalayan Wolves Project |url=https://www.himalayanwolvesproject.org/wolf-research-expedition-to-humla-western-nepal-2015/ |access-date=2022-08-06 |language=en-US}} Wild yak, once thought to be extinct in Nepal since five decades, was reported from the Limi valley in 2014.{{Cite web |title=Mammals - Bos mutus |url=https://dnpwc.gov.np/en/species-detail/76/#:~:text=Wild%20Yak%20used%20to%20occur,2015). |access-date=August 4, 2022}}{{Cite web |title='Extinct' wild yak found in Humla: Study |url=https://kathmandupost.com/miscellaneous/2015/04/21/extinct-wild-yak-found-in-humla-study |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=kathmandupost.com |language=English}} Limi valley and its neighboring parts of upper Humla are rich in bird diversity.{{Cite journal |last1=Acharya |first1=Raju |last2=Ghimirey |first2=Yadav |date=2016 |title=The remote trans-Himalayan landscapes of Limi valley, Humla district, north-west Nepal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/314263302 |journal=BirdingASIA |issue=26 |pages=91–98}}

Since 2004, a series of GLOFs have come threateningly close Halji Richenling monastery, while also destroying parts of the Halji village. Scientists have linked these GLOFs directly to global warming and climate change.{{Cite web |last=Crews |first=Chris |date=2015-01-08 |title=When the Anthropocene Came to Halji |url=https://stateofformation.org/2015/01/when-the-anthropocene-came-to-halji/ |access-date=2022-08-06 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Vallangi |first=Neelima |title=Climate change threatens 1,000-year-old monastery in remote Nepal |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2019/1/24/climate-change-threatens-1000-year-old-monastery-in-remote-nepal |access-date=2022-08-06 |website=www.aljazeera.com |language=en}}

On account of its geographic remoteness and the intactness of its culturally Tibetan heritage, the Limi valley has been called 'Shangri La' by some commentators.{{Cite web |title=The Hidden Himalayas - Path to Shangri-La |url=http://ecs.com.np/features/the-hidden-himalayas-path-to-shangri-la |access-date=2022-08-03 |website=ECS NEPAL |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2018-09-24 |title=Limi Valley: A threatened Shangri-La for wildlife (commentary) |url=https://news.mongabay.com/2018/09/limi-valley-a-threatened-shangri-la-for-wildlife-commentary/ |access-date=2022-08-04 |website=Mongabay Environmental News |language=en-US}} In a similar vein, the Zen Buddhist teacher Joan Hallifax has called Limi valley a 'beyul'.{{Cite web |title=Program Descriptions |url=https://www.upaya.org/program/?id=778 |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=Upaya Zen Center |language=en-US}} The Indian guru Sadhguru visited Limi valley to view Kailash-Manasarovar from the Lapcha La pass in September 2021.{{Cite web |title=Religious tourism key to Nepal's economy, says Sadhguru|url=https://thehimalayantimes.com/nepal/religious-tourism-key-to-nepals-economy-says-sadhguru |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=thehimalayantimes.com}}

• Humla district
• Hepka
• Khagalgaun
• Muchu

• [http://www.un.org.np/maps/district-maps/mid-western/Dolpa.pdf UN map of the municipalities of Dolpa District]
• [http://mofald.gov.np/sites/default/files/News_Notices/Final%20District%201-75%20Corrected%20Last%20for%20RAJPATRA.pdf Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration]
• [http://103.69.124.141/ MOFAGA GIS MAP]

{{Humla District}}

Category:Populated places in Humla District