It is situated western north of Nepal near Tibet Border, isolated high Himalayan valleys. Dolpo conserves one of the last remnants of traditional Tibetan culture. Legend says it's a one of the "hidden valleys" created by Guru Rinpoche as a refuge for devout Buddhists in troubled times. Surrounded by high mountains including the Dhaulagiri massif to the south-east and cut off by high passes closed by snow half the year, Dolpo's easiest access is from Tibet, where its people emigrated from perhaps 1. 000 years ago.Upper Dolpo shelters about 55.000 people, whose lives revolve around Buddhism, barley, and yaks; their villages (over 4.260 meters) are among the highest settlements on earth. A large portion of Dolpo has been set aside as Shey - Phoksumdo National Park, at 3.555 square km Nepal's largest. Meant to preserve a complete example of the trans-Himalayan ecosystem, the park shelters blue sheep, Himalayan black bear, leopards, wolves, and the exclusive snow leopard. Dolpo is the best-known of Nepal's forbidden northern border regions. In 1992 Government allowed foreigners to trek.Flying in and out, the trek takes less than two weeks. Phoksumdo Lake at 3600 m is the highlight of the whole trek, a basin of unearthly turquoise blue ringed by rocky crags and forest, framed by snow-capped peaks. Legend says demons fled here during Gum Rinpoche's conversion of Tibet's resident spirits, offering local people a gigantic turquoise to keep her passage a secret. Guru Rinpoche transformed the turquoise into a lump of dung, and the disgruntled people revealed the demons hiding place. In revenge she culled down a flood upon their village, submerging it beneath the lake. The legend is a concise mythic summary of the ancient struggle between Bönpo and Buddhists; the latter won, but the former remain, even here at Phoksumdo.The people are Bhotia and only very distantly related to Tibetans. They are gradually becoming Hinduized, adding Chhetri surnames to their Tibetan names.The best part of Dolpo lies beyond the lake, along a difficult trail that crosses a high pass into the real Dolpo. Shey Gompa, named after nearby Crystal Mountain, is several days' walk north of the lake.