Highest inhabited place on the planet
When the BBC aired Human Planet in Jan 2011, the Do-Tarap Mountains were mentioned as highest inhabited place on earth.
In the year 2000, just after leaving college and determined to experience the wilderness, I visited Do-Tarap.
People here are of Tibetan origin, but became a part of Nepal after the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese in the 1960s. Mainly they live as nomads, depending on their cattle, which they raise on the meager grass that grows above the tree line. People work extremely hard in this harsh environment. When they die, their body is taken to the burial mountain, where they are chopped into pieces and offered to the birds.
Dolpo, which is located on the northern slope of the Himalayas, used to be integral part of Tibet and had very close ties with the kingdom of Mustang to the east.
The American writer Peter Matthiessen in his book “Crystal Mountain” wrote – “Dolpo, all but unknown to westerners, is said to be the last enclave of pure Tibetan culture… its people [enjoy] a way of life that cannot be differ much from that of the Ch’ang Tatar out of the central Asia, who are thought to have been the original Tibetan, and their speech echoes the tongue of nomads who may have arrived two thousand years ago.”
I lived there for seven months, getting to know the people and place, with mutual appreciation and good humour often overcoming the language barrier. The many cups of yak butter tea and barley wine in the over-smoked living area allowed me to bond with the villagers in a very intimate way. During “casual” strolls over the neighbouring mountains we felt no pollution and never even saw a flight passing our way, apart from rescue helicopters. Wind raged every afternoon without failing! I was getting a bit cozy until the chief of the village asked me if he could find a husband for me! It would take a book to write my story, perhaps my photographs had better do the job.
All images are scanned from film.
Read MoreIn the year 2000, just after leaving college and determined to experience the wilderness, I visited Do-Tarap.
People here are of Tibetan origin, but became a part of Nepal after the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese in the 1960s. Mainly they live as nomads, depending on their cattle, which they raise on the meager grass that grows above the tree line. People work extremely hard in this harsh environment. When they die, their body is taken to the burial mountain, where they are chopped into pieces and offered to the birds.
Dolpo, which is located on the northern slope of the Himalayas, used to be integral part of Tibet and had very close ties with the kingdom of Mustang to the east.
The American writer Peter Matthiessen in his book “Crystal Mountain” wrote – “Dolpo, all but unknown to westerners, is said to be the last enclave of pure Tibetan culture… its people [enjoy] a way of life that cannot be differ much from that of the Ch’ang Tatar out of the central Asia, who are thought to have been the original Tibetan, and their speech echoes the tongue of nomads who may have arrived two thousand years ago.”
I lived there for seven months, getting to know the people and place, with mutual appreciation and good humour often overcoming the language barrier. The many cups of yak butter tea and barley wine in the over-smoked living area allowed me to bond with the villagers in a very intimate way. During “casual” strolls over the neighbouring mountains we felt no pollution and never even saw a flight passing our way, apart from rescue helicopters. Wind raged every afternoon without failing! I was getting a bit cozy until the chief of the village asked me if he could find a husband for me! It would take a book to write my story, perhaps my photographs had better do the job.
All images are scanned from film.
