Crowd at Saga Dawa festival

Mount Kailash as seen from Lake Mansarovar

Chiu Monastery 

Senior monks on their way to preside over the Saga Dawa ceremonies. 

Pilgrims en route to Kailash help their transport through the sand

Kailash in snow

En route to Kailash

Breakfast on the Roof of the World

High altitude camp

TOC transport (J. Hipgrave)

The Oriental Caravan's support vehicle fords one of the many rivers along the way

Filling up in one of only two filling stations for a thousand kilometres

Lake Mansarovar (tib. Mopam Tso)

Mt Gurla Mandhata (7728m)

The western shore of Lake Mansarovar

Lake Pelkhu

Pilgrims dig for sacred medicines on the approach to Drolma La pass (5700m) 

As a symbol of leaving their old lives behind pilgrims discard old items of clothing, or even body parts, before crossing the Drolma Pass, thereby

Pilgrims during the early stages of the circumambulation pass one of Kailash's distinct four faces

Two hours out from Darchen, the start point of the kora, pilgrims come across the first of many massive walls that seem to protect the mountain

Couple, possibly from the Golok region of east Tibet

The Oriental Caravan's Chief Caravaneer, having completed the 3-day circumambulation, sits sinlessly with friends who helped him along his way

Conditions underfoot were sometimes icy. During our six day stay at the mountain there were six fatalities, mainly due to the altitude

These men were prostrating around the mountain on ice. The 16-day prostration around the mountain ensures escape from samsara for those who undertake it

An old man spins his prayer wheel as he makes his way around Kailash

Lungta 'wind horse' prayers are thrown into the air at the time of the raising of the prayer flagpole

Oriental Caravaneers 

'Dra Lha Sol' - the tradition of throwing tsampa (barley flour) as an offering

Almsgiving earns religious merit for the donor

Horse riders

Enthusiastic flour throwers

This pilgrim with protective wooden 'clogs' on his hands prostrates around the Saga Dawa flagpole

After the ceremonies horsemen show off their skills around the Saga Dawa pole

Girls on the Barkor in Lhasa

Red coral salesman at 'Khampa corner' in Lhasa

Elderly pilgrim