Jumla जुम्ला

Jumla sits at around 2,480 metres in a broad valley at the heart of Karnali Province, its fields of rice — cultivated at one of the highest reliably recorded altitudes in the world — terracing the slopes alongside orchards of Jumli apple, an acidic, cold-hardy variety that has become the district's small commercial crop. The Sinja Valley, a day's walk west of the headquarters, was the capital of the Khas Malla kingdom between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, the state from which the Nepali language descends; stone temples and inscriptions survive among the paddy fields. Jumla is also the principal air and road trailhead for the trek to Rara Lake in neighbouring Mugu.

The town is the most functional hub in the inner Karnali, with a market, guesthouses and a small airport — but conditions are rough by any measure; road access along the Karnali Highway from Surkhet is long and often disrupted, and the altitude means cold nights even in summer. The Sinja Valley is a legitimate heritage site that deserves wider recognition; at present it sees almost no visitors outside a handful of trekkers passing through on the Rara circuit.