NEPAL
Visited October to December 1995
ONE OF THE POOREST COUNTRIES ON EARTH
In 2021 the average annual income was about $1,225. It had a population of about 3,311,000 people. About 78% of the people live in tiny hamlets and villages. Twenty-five percent of Nepal is above 14,000 feet. It has eight of the world’s highest mountains.
It’s about the same latitude of Miami Florida.
OUR FIRST NIGHTS CAMP
Later that night ... A dazzling milky way arches over the sky on a dark moonless night
MANASLU IS THE EIGHTH HIGHEST MOUNTAIN IN THE WORLD
In the next 24 days we’ll be hiking 220 miles around this awesome mountain. In 1995 the trail we hiked on had been open for two years. It had averaged 400 trekkers a year. The nearby Annapurna trail averaged about 30,000 trekkers that same year.
‘WE’ are:
11 trekkers (6 women and 5 men) … 5 Sherpas ... 3 Cooks ... and ... 15 Porters
OUR FIRST THREE DAYS ARE TROPICAL
Narrow trails wind their way through villages and wide open spaces. Nepal has one of the highest densities of terraced land in the world.
THE BURI GANDAKI
On the fourth day we begin ascending one of the deepest gorges in the world. Here’s the view from our trail.
WE COME ACROSS A HOT SPRINGS
Our last bath for the next 20 days.
STEEP TRAILS TO CLIMB
WILD RIVERS TO CROSS