Only few have been able to explore the mysterious caves, since Upper Mustang is a restricted area of Nepal that was long closed to outsiders. Today only a thousand foreigners a year are allowed into the region.
Today Mustang is depicted as “the end of the world” and is culturally isolated from Chinese-occupied Tibet.
The new discoveries now show that Mustang was “for many, many hundreds of years absolutely central—a vibrant, dynamic, culturally rich, and religiously diverse settlement.”
