Mustang, December 23
Temperatures in Upper Mustang drop as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius, severely affecting daily life during the winter season. As the cold intensifies, most residents of Upper Mustang have migrated to lower regions to escape the harsh conditions, while a few remain behind to guard their homes and livestock.
With most residents moving downhill for the winter, rural settlements in Lomanthang and Loghekar Damodarkunda rural municipalities have become largely deserted. Those who stay in the villages face increasing difficulty coping with the extreme cold.
Irregular electricity and communication services, along with freezing household water taps and septic tanks, have disrupted daily life. The cold also poses health risks to residents who remain in the area during winter.
To endure the winter, locals in Upper Mustang have increasingly relied on dung cakes as a source of fuel. Due to the dry plateau geography and lack of forests, firewood is scarce in the region. While electricity and gas are used during the monsoon season, residents traditionally dry livestock dung into dung cakes and use them as an energy source to get through winter.
Pasang Gurung of Lomanthang-3, Thingar, said that as only one crop is grown annually in Upper Mustang, the practice of using dried animal dung as fuel has long been common. He explained that excess livestock dung, which is also used as manure, is dried in the sun and made into dung cakes for heating, boiling water and cooking food.
A large number of residents in Upper Mustang are engaged in yak, chauri and sheep farming. Locals regularly dry the dung of these animals in the sun to prepare dung cakes, a practice that has continued for centuries.
After drying, the dung cakes made from yak, chauri and sheep droppings are stored in sacks and used as needed for fuel, said Dhinduk Gurung of Lomanthang-2, Kimling. He added that dung cakes burn more efficiently than firewood, making them a convenient fuel for heating and cooking during winter.
Locals collect animal dung scattered in fields and grazing areas to make dung cakes. With this practice, dung cakes have become a reliable alternative to firewood in Upper Mustang, helping reduce the use of electricity and gas and contributing to household cost savings.
