Male Bullfrog
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| Male Bullfrog |
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The Annapurna Trail Nepal It's been almost 20 years since I walked, counter clockwise, around Nepal’s
Annapurna Range, in the Himalaya. The trail, called the Annapurna Circuit extends over 200 miles (322 kilometers), most of that either uphill or down, following the courses of rivers, passing through small villages on ancient trails in the company of donkey caravans, yak
herders, pilgrims, farmers, schoolchildren, and fellow trekkers. It
takes about a month, starting in a sultry, almost rain forest
environment, ascending through terraced farmland and on past the
timberline up to Thorung La, a mountain pass nearly 17,769 feet (5,416 meters) high,
and then on down to the lowlands again. Once, near Manang, a village not far from Tibet, I encountered four girls carrying large baskets of dried dung to be used as fuel. They stopped for
a moment to rest and were singing snatches of songs. I asked them if
they wouldn’t mind my recording a few of their tunes. Here’s a
translation of one of their songs: For transporting bulk goods to the remote villages, there are caravans
of donkeys, often with colorful bridles and bells hanging from their
necks. You’ll hear them ringing faintly from far off. Then suddenly
the caravan will round the bend, and you'll be in the midst of a dust
cloud of donkeys and their herders, whistling and shouting to keep them
on the move. The whistles and shouts blending into the cacophony of bells—pure trail music. And then, just as quickly, they're gone, leaving a haunting whisper of
sound. The high point of the trek, altitude wise, is Thorung La, a mountain pass with an elevation of nearly 17,769 feet (5,416 meters). Under the supervision of Sherpa guides, you've spent almost two weeks gradually acclimatizing to the altitude. So when the time comes to cross the pass, you're ready for it. One of my strongest impressions is of the difficulty of breathing at the
highest altitude. We lowlanders are attuned to a certain "density" of
air. Up in the nether regions, when you breathe in, you don't receive
the amount of air you're programmed for. It's sort of like drinking a
whole glass of water and ending up with only a few sips. Gradually
you learn to economize your breathing and your movements, as you find
your own rhythm to make it to the top. A few days after traversing Thorung La, while dining at an inn in the
village of Marpha, I was jolted by a clash of cymbals and a discordant blare of what sounded like trumpets in an adjacent room. It turned out that the proprietor
of the inn had invited a lama to hold three days of puja—vigilant
prayer and ritual observance—during the holiday of Dharma Mandal. After receiving permission to enter the room and record, I saw Lama
Lobsang Tempa intoning a chant from a sacred text. Next to him in a
line sat four novice monks, barely in their teens. From time to time
they joined in playing cymbals and reed instruments. Everyone followed the proceedings with their own copy of the text, the older boys chanting
softly in unison. At certain intervals the youngest novice replenished
everyone's teacup. The ceremony had the curious quality of being
informal, unpretentious, and at the same time, quite precise. Later, after he’d finished the evening’s puja and had a bit of dinner, the lama
granted me a brief interview. In response to one of my questions, he
said: “Once we come into this world, we must die, isn't it so? We die
and our external bodies might not exist, but our souls will still be
here, accompanied by what good or bad we have done with our lives. What
will you take with you?” A few days after traversing Thorung La, while dining at an inn in the
village of Marpha, I was jolted by a clash of cymbals and a discordant blare of what sounded like trumpets in an adjacent room. It turned out that the proprietor
of the inn had invited a lama to hold three days of puja—vigilant
prayer and ritual observance—during the holiday of Dharma Mandal. Tourism has become one of Nepal’s primary sources of income, and there
are a number of options open to would-be trekkers. You can show up in
Kathmandu and hire a guide, find your way to a trailhead and trek it
yourself, or work with a trekking agency, which will help you
handle all the details of the journey. I went the agency route and
never regretted it for an instant. On the trek my companion and I slept in tents, had our baggage carried by porters, and had our food cooked for us. It was wonderful. There are also inns and small restaurants
along much of the route. A number of trekking agencies have extensive experience in Nepal, including Mountain Travel Sobek (www.mtsobek.com) and Wilderness Travel, (www.wildernesstravel.com) both based in Northern California. The company I worked with,
Geographic Expeditions (www.geoex.com) (no relation to National
Geographic), was first rate. The typical cost of a trek today, is approximately U.S.$100 to $200 per
person per day, depending upon the size of the group. —Jim Metzner
Text and Recordings: Jim Metzner Special thanks: Michael Klemens and Amphibian Watch of Maine Pulse of the Planet is presented by the DuPont Company, with additional support from the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities. © 2000 Jim Metzner Productions and the National Geographic Society. All rights reserved. |
