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Nepal:
Land of Mystery / Abode of Snows
The country of
Nepal is about the geographical size and latitude of Florida
at 54,718 square miles and 28° north. Within its borders
it holds some of the most culturally and geographically diverse
terrain of anywhere in the world.
There are at least
thirty major ethnic groups in Nepal with nearly as many languages
and dozens of subdivisions with in those groups. The people
along the border areas of the north and the south have long
had cultural influence and exchange with neighboring countries.
In the middle of Nepal the exchange has been slower and so
the development of a unique cultural identity and the acceptance
of Nepali as the mother language has been stronger in these
areas. It is also from this area that the famous Nepali Ghurka
soldiers originate. Because of the geographic and linguistic
separation of these people, each has developed its own customs,
social rules and culture. Any trip to Nepal is about discovering
these people as much as it is about discovering a new places
and seeing the mountains, for the people of Nepal have always
had a strong geographic identity.
Geographically
Nepal is divided into four major regions: The high Himalaya,
composed of gigantic peaks and glaciated valleys; the lower
Himalaya, encompassing the fertile valleys around Kathmandu
and Pokhara and containing green forests and steep slopes;
the low river valleys and forests of the Terai, also known
as the Siwaliks; and the northern Gangetic plains of the Terai.
Each area has its own unique climate, habitats and cultures,
and to explore these different areas is to get a feel for
the tremendous diversity of a country mostly known for its
mountains.
Nepal has very
few roads due to the severity of the terrain and limited resources
to construct them. Commerce has historically taken place along
established trails connecting villages and valleys in one
area with another. Treks generally follow or connect these
routes. When accessing mountains our routes have generally
been pioneered by some of the earliest explorers to Nepal,
but are often not major routes of travel for the Nepalese
in their day to day lives.
Your trek will
be an experience you will never forget. Imagine waking up
every morning to cup of hot milk tea, looking out the door
of your tent, and seeing what seems to be clouds looming in
the distance. Upon closer inspection you realize that, even
though you are at 14,000 ft., that they are not clouds at
all. The are, in fact, mountain peaks. They are so immense
that is difficult to comprehend their scale fully. After climbing
out of your sleeping bag and feasting on a breakfast of porridge,
or Tibetan bread and eggs, you pack your daypack with your
essentials and hike along traditional trade routes through
villages, over ridges and into valleys. In the spring, the
blooming rhododendrons and magnolias will fill the air with
flowery aromas as you enter the lower valleys. Sometimes these
flowering trees are as big as houses, 30 or 40 feet high.
When you pass through
a village and pausing for a break you will soon be surrounded
by local children interested to meet such a stranger as yourself.
The attention you receive in these remote villages will soon
become very familiar to you and how one should act, the do's
and don'ts of these encounters will become part of your personal
knowledge and an important part of your experience in Nepal.
Eight out of the
ten highest peaks in the world are in Nepal. As you work your
way deeper into the mountains, to the foot of these peaks,
you realize how inaccessible these mountains really are, how
much work is required to get here not to mention live here,
and your whole perspective on how you live and how others
live changes. Your sense of place in the world changes and
you truly feel the exhilaration of being alive.
A typical day trekking
in Nepal might include walking for a few miles with a Buddhist
monk and learning each others language, or talking about family,
or the Dalai Lama. It might involve an exchange with a local
school teacher about the relative drawbacks and benefits of
your respective cultures, or it could be reaching the summit
of a 21,000 ft. Himalayan peak: the most difficult thing you
have ever done, completely exhausting, but profoundly gratifying
with expansive views of the worlds highest peaks.
These and countless
other personal experiences are waiting for you in Nepal.
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