Dolpo is a region in Nepal. The Dolpo people (or "Dhol-wa" in their own language & "Dolpo-pa" in Tibetan) live in the Himalayan range of Dhaulagiri near the Tibetan border. The Dolpo-pa have a culture closely linked to Tibetan culture. Since the occupation of Tibet, the Dolpo district of northern Nepal has been considered the last enclave of pure Tibetan culture left on earth. Dolpo lies at the same latitude as Cairo, but there the similarity ends. Dolpo is enclosed by a horse-shoe of soaring mountain peaks, higher than 21,000 feet. The cold, high desert of Inner Dolpo has been the home to people of Tibetan stock since the early centuries of the Christian era. In our own time, Tibetan refugees continue to trickle into Dolpo. Here in one of the poorest corners of one of the poorest countries on earth, Tibetan culture is undisturbed.