Plucking Apple at Marpha

The village of Marpha is located at an altitude of 2,650 meters in the Kali Gandaki valley of the Annapurna Conservation Region in Mustang District in northern Nepal. Keeping in mind its remoteness and its barren terrain, one must say that the village is suitably named (‘Mar” stands for hard-working and ‘pha’ means people).

The region is no place for those with a soft life in mind! It is inhabited by the redoubtable Thakalis, a clan that is as industrious as it is enterprising. Before 1959, most of the locals were in the salt trading business, dealing with China and Tibet. Tourism and mule rearing have also always been important occupations here.Today, many locals, belonging to almost every household, are somehow or the other engaged in the farming of apples.  Marpha’s apple pies have become world famous (at least in the world of trekkers who have been to the area). In fact, so reputed are Marpha’s apple pies, that the Jomsom Trek is often referred to as ‘The Apple Pie Trek’. Lots of tourists passing Marpha have been delighted to find such succulent pies in so remote an area of the world