Although the city area of Nepal has been surged by the modern amenities and the process is on for many places of Nepal, yet Nepal is made of villages which follow an old and distinctive way of living. There are many small villages and valleys which have remained obscured in hills and mountains.

Like many of such villages, Khumjung is one of the remote area villages. It is a small monastery village located in the northeast of Nepal.

About Khumjung

Khumjung is a small monastery village located above the Namche Bazaar located about 85 miles northeast of Kathmandu. Khumjung is inside the Sagarmatha National Park, a World Heritage Site. It is at an elevation of 3,790 meters above the sea level and is near to the Mount Khumbila (5,761 meters). It is the traditional village along with another village Khunde. These two village Khunde and Khumjung comes together in the mention of other one’s name. Khumjung and Khunde is two village with rock walls dividing stony fields have beautiful landscape views on all the sides.

Although the village is remotely located, Khumjung provides all the modern communications facilities like internet, mobile and landline phone. It is a thinly populated area with 551 individual households and 1912 people living in as per the census of 2011, however, with the growing popularity of this place, people of Khumjung now prefer to stay in the village and do tourism business like hotel and lodges.

Places to visit in Khumjung

Khunde Hospital

Built in 1966 by Sir Edmund Hillary, this is a very old hospital in this area. It was funded and operated by the Himalayan Trust until 1976 which now is supported by Sir Edmund Hillary Foundation and is located at the top of the village. You can visit this place to know more about the locals and the health condition of this place, and if possible provide some small donation to the hospital. This hospital mainly treats locals, but it also provides emergency care to the trekkers.

Khumjung Hilary School

Khumjung School is a historic school which was built back in 1960 by one of the first Mount Everest climbers Sir Edmund Hilary. Originally this used to be called as “Hillary School,” but later got changed to Khumjung Hilary School. At the start of this school, there were just two classrooms, but now it has pre-school, primary and secondary sections as well with more than 350 students studying.

Khumjung Monastery

Khumjung Monastery of Khumjung is located at an elevation of 12,400 feet, by the sacred peak of Khumbila. Khumjung Monastery is a historical monument built around 400 years back. It is the center of the Sherpa culture and religion.

This historic monastery of Khumjung was heavily damaged during the earthquake of April 2015. It was beyond repair, and most of it had to be demolished. It would have been a great loss of that place and the Sherpa community, but the people of Khumjung got united a created a volunteer group with Sherpa leaders and railed everyone and guided the rebuilding of gompa as a true community effort. Every household of Khumjung contributed at least two weeks of labor, donations were collected from the village and other places too, and after a great deal of effort the new monastery has been established and opened.

The Abbot of Tengboche Monastery came and conducted the opening ceremony along with other highly intellectual Lamas. The opening day was full of celebration. Sherpas showed their tradition, culture and hospitality, warmly welcomed the guests and thanked them for being a part of the ceremony.

Yeti Scalp

Yeti Scalp

Well, this is not a place, it is a yeti scalp indeed, which is kept in a cabinet of Khumjung Monastery of Khumjung. To have a look at this rare piece, you need to make a very small amount of donation to the monks of that monastery, and they will take out a small, glass-fronted box which contains a scruffy-haired dome. And, do remember, no matter how fat the donation is, you are not allowed to touch it or anything, the scalp stays right in the box.

As per the story of a village, this relic came from one of the “abominable snowman” of the Himalayan legends. It was found by Edmund Hillary and journalist Desmond Doig in 1960 when they were on an expedition to look for evidence for the big-footed beast. The scalp was found in the home of an old woman of Khumjung, who kept it as a good-luck charm of the village and was resistant to give it away. Edmund had to donate to the monastery of Khumjung and local school to take that scalp to examine as the villagers believed that taking that scalp would cause a disaster in the village.

Later after the examination, it was found that the scalp has been fashioned from the hide of an animal, most likely a goat-antelope native to the Himalayas. The scalp was returned after being examined. Khumjo Chumbi, the monk who was in charge of watching the scalp while it was taken to be examined, said, “We don’t believe in giraffes and lions in Nepal because there aren’t any there. Likewise, you don’t believe in Yetis because you have none in your country.” There is one duplicated scalp just like the original in The Explorer’s Club of New York City.

God knows the truth about the scalp. However, it is worth a visit after all.

How to reach Khumjung?

Khumjung is one of the very popular spots for the trekkers of Everest Base Camp. You can visit the place as a small detour from your planned itinerary of the Base Camp trek.

As you follow the usual trail of Everest Base Camp, you will each the Khumjung village as a part of the side trek. After you start your trek taking a domestic flight from Kathmandu to Lukla and trek from Lukla to Phakding, you will arrive at Namche Bazaar. Lukla is a very popular place in this trekking mainly because of its airport. The airport of Lukla is located at the great height and the view you will see while landing at this airport is spectacular. You can enjoy some time in this beautiful place after the flight.

Then as you arrive at the Namche Bazar from Phakding, then it is where you can side trek and reach the village of Khumjung. Namche Bazar is a famous tourist hub of Khumbu region at an elevation of 3,440 meters. It is mainly popular as a place for altitude acclimatization and gateway to the High Himalayas. Namche Bazar has enough lodgings and stores enough to meet the trekkers need.

When you reach Namche Bazar and stay for some more days before heading to the higher altitude region, it will be a waste of time to stay in your hotel room rather you can opt to hike up to Khumjung as well as Khunde. This short trek will be worth visiting where you will encounter the Sherpa people and their unique culture, get a chance to be close to these charming mountain people and experience their hospitality. You will also taste the authentic local cuisines in these region made from the firewood. And, not to mention the breathtaking views of the glorious mountains.

After this short side trek to Khumjung and returning to the Namche Bazaar, you will continue your planned itinerary to the Base Camp of Mt. Everest. From Namche Bazaar, you will trek to Tengboche (3,870 meters), where lies the largest monastery in the whole Khumbu region i.e., Tengboche Monastery. From Tengboche, you will trek to Dingboche, a Sherpa village and popular spot for trekkers and climbers for staying an additional day for acclimatization at an elevation of 4,360 meters.

Then you will reach Duglha from Dingboche. Duglha is at an elevation of 4,600 meters. Continuing your trekking, you will reach Lobuche (4,940 meters). From Lobuche comes Gorakshep (5,210 meters), taking you to your ultimate destination, the Everest Base Camp at an elevation of 5,364 meters. From Gorakshep, you can go to the famous Kala Patthar which only takes about 2 hours uphill. Trekkers visit Kala Patthar, the only hilltop vantage point, to get the closer, better and magnificent view of the Mount Everest.

Khumjung Nepal

From Gorakshep, you will trek back down to Pheriche (4,288 meters) and Namche Bazaar. Then from Namche, you will arrive at the Lukla, from where you will take a flight back to the Kathmandu and head to your home or the next destination.