The Bonpo tribal people (former Buddhist followers) of the area are unique in their cultural and social traditions. The Tarali people of Dolpa speak Kaike language, which is believed to exist only in Dolpa.

Perhaps, impressed by these unique features of Dolpa, the famous filmmaker Eric Velley chose the district for visualizing his Oscar nominee Caravan. He selected Thinle of local Saldang as the main character. Caravan is famous internationally, especially in France and the film is still shown in cinema halls of major cities of France.

"Caravan has helped promote the beauty and lavishness of Dolpa among the French, and I came to trek this area after seeing the film," says one of the members of a French trekking team at Kagani village.

Cultural Attractions

130 gombas of which 25 are major gombas including the famed Shey Gomba. Saldang, Dho, Chharka, and Bhijer VDCs have some of the oldest Nyingmapa monasteries in the Himalayan region. Most of the Nyingmapa monasteries of Saldang and Phoksumdo are over 700 years old .

Also, some of the oldest Bon-po monasteries in Nepal (Yungdung Gomba in Kaigaon, Pumma and Thashun Gomba in Phoksumdo) are in the region. Bon-po faith represents the adaptation of Buddhism in the old indigenous religion of western Tibet (Gurung 1980). Shen-rab is the supreme teacher in Bon-po.
Another aspect of Dolpa culture is the unique trade and transhumance based livelihood strategies of Upper Dolpa exemplified in the film "Caravan". While much of northern Dolpa is the domain of Buddhism, areas in southern Dolpa such as the temple of Bala Tripura Sundari in Tripurakot VDC are revered by both Hindus and Buddhists and large number of devotees come from the surrounding region.