 |
|
Photos |
Introduction |
Introduction |
Nepal, the biggest of the three Himalayan kingdoms, has captivated the imagination of westerners for well over a hundred years. Located amids the highest mountains on our planet the visitor will find a large variety of climates, wildlife and landscapes ranging from tropical jungle in the Terai to the icebound summit of Everest. Nepal is a multilingual country, Nepali being the lingua franca of its hospitable and cheerful people. English is widely spoken, though and the foreign visitor shouldn't have any problems getting around.
The following pictures were taken during two trips in 1991 and 1995 in Kathmandu and along the Annapurna Circuit. |
Annapurna |
Annapurna 1 (8091 m) was the first of the fourteen 8000 m peaks to be successfully climbed: in 1950 a French expedition managed to send two members (Maurice Herzog and Louis Lachenal) to the summit. Herzog payed a high price for his victory, he lost most of his fingers and toes due to frost bite. His well written account of that expedition (Maurice Herzog: Annapurna) is readily available at Kathmandu and Pokhara book stores.
The Annapurna Region offers the visitor picturesqe mountain villages, waterfalls, Rhododendron forests, the brown land, white peaks and dark blue sky of the Tibetan Plateau and the deepest gorge in the world (Kali Gandaki near Tukche: between the summits of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna 1 a drop of nearly 6000 m). Images of James Hilton's Shangri La come to mind when traveling through this magnificent land (James Hilton: Lost Horizon(1933)). |
Trekking |
The Annapurna Region has become very popular with foreign visitors in the past few years. There are basically three tekking routes:
The necessity to acclimatize can't be stressed enough; people who ignore the early symptoms of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) may face serious and in some cases even fatal medical conditions. Having said this, relax, enjoy the photos and plan your trip to the Himalayas. |
 |
 |
|---|---|
|
|