Kathmandu, October 5: As the Dashain festival approaches, commercial activity in sheep and mountain goat trading has begun to pick up in Mustang. In this connection, herds of sheep and mountain goats have arrived in Jomsom from Upper Dolpa.
Sheep and mountain goats have also arrived in Jomsom from Upper Mustang. Dolpa-based trader Sher Bahadur Rokaya said more than 1,000 sheep and mountain goats had arrived in Jomsom with him and five of his associates.
It took Rokaya more than a week to travel from Dolpa to Jomsom. He said he had been engaged in the trade of mountain goats for the past 30 years. This year, he brought the animals to Jomsom after making a risky journey through the snow.
Rokaya left Dolpo Buddha Rural Municipality for Jomsom on September 25 and arrived in Jomsom on the evening of October 3. The sheep and mountain goats are currently being kept at a public ground in Gharpajhong Rural Municipality, Mustang.
According to Rokaya, the route from Dolpa to Mustang was covered in snow. He said heavy rainfall and snowfall had made the trekking route connecting Mustang and Dolpa extremely difficult.
Rokaya said he had purchased the mountain goats from farmers in Dolpo Buddha, Shey-Phoksundo and Chharka Tangsong rural municipalities of Upper Dolpa and brought them to Jomsom. He said that since the Chongra fair held near the Nepal-China border was closed, he had to purchase the mountain goats in Dolpa itself this year.
He said preparations were underway to bring more than 8,000 sheep and mountain goats from Dolpa to Jomsom this year. The team led by Rokaya reached Jomsom with the animals after crossing snow-covered terrain, extreme cold and hazardous trails. Rokaya said that although he had suffered a partial loss in the trade during Dashain last year, he had made a substantial investment in mountain goats this year.
According to sheep and mountain goat trader Sher Bahadur Rokaya, fewer mountain goats are being brought down to Jomsom from Dolpa this year compared with last year. More than 11,000 mountain goats were brought from Dolpa to Mustang last year.
Rokaya said transporting the mountain goats to Pokhara would become even more difficult if roads and trekking routes were blocked by floods and landslides.
“All our property has been invested in the mountain goats. It would be good if the government could make the route back to Dolpa accessible in time for Dashain,” he said.
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