Dolpa Districtडोल्पा जिल्ला

Dolpa is the largest of Nepal's 77 districts at 7,889 km² — more than 5% of the country — yet only 42,774 people lived there in 2021, a density of 5 per km². Elevations run from 1,525 m to 7,625 m at Churen Himal, and most of the district lies behind the Dhaulagiri massif in the trans-Himalayan rain shadow. Shey Phoksundo National Park, established in 1984 and at 3,555 km² Nepal's largest national park, covers much of Dolpa (extending into Mugu) between 2,130 m and the 6,885 m summit of Kanjiroba; a 2019–22 DNPWC/WWF survey estimated about 90 snow leopards inside it, alongside grey wolves, musk deer and Himalayan black bears. Its centrepiece is Phoksundo Lake at about 3,612 m, generally billed as Nepal's deepest lake — though its measured maximum depth of 145 m is actually less than Rara's 167 m, a discrepancy the standard sources never reconcile.

Around 79.5% of working Dolpalis farm for a living, supplemented by trade and seasonal harvests in the high pastures. Chhetris are the largest group (47.4%), followed by Magar (12.1%), the Tibetan-speaking Dolpo people of the upper valleys (12.0%) and Kami (9.4%); 70.6% of residents are Hindu and 27.8% Buddhist, and Dolpa retains one of Nepal's few communities still following the pre-Buddhist Bon religion (1.06% at the 2021 census). The district grew 1.47% a year over 2011–21 — among the fastest in Karnali — while literacy, at 67.0%, remains one of the country's lowest.

The district headquarters Dunai, in Thuli Bheri Municipality on the Thuli Bheri river, anchors the accessible south; the usual approach is a short flight from Nepalgunj to Jufal airstrip followed by days of walking. Dolpa had no road at all until a 118 km highway first reached the district in 2018. Its eight local levels — two municipalities and six rural municipalities whose names (Dolpo Buddha, She Phoksundo, Chharka Tangsong) map its Tibetan-Buddhist north — administer a territory larger than some provinces, and the Lower and Upper Dolpo trekking circuits around Phoksundo are among Nepal's most prized remote routes.