Himalaya Bound

Following his vivid account of traveling with one of the last camel caravans on earth in Men of Salt, Michael Benanav now brings us along on a journey with a tribe of forest-dwelling nomads in India. Welcomed into a family of nomadic water buffalo herders, he joins them on their annual spring migration into the Himalayas, a superb adventure that explores the relationship between humankind and wild lands, and the dubious effect of environmental conservation on peoples whose lives are inseparably intertwined with the natural world.The migration Benanav embarked upon was plagued with problems, as government officials threatened to ban this nomadic family—and others in the Van Gujjar tribe—from the high alpine meadows where they had summered for centuries. Faced with the possibility that their beloved buffaloes would starve to death, and that their age-old way of life was doomed, the family charted a risky new course, which would culminating in an astonishing mountain rescue. And Benanav was arrested for documenting the story of their plight.Intimate and enthralling, Himalaya Bound paints a sublime picture of a rarely-seen world, revealing the hopes and fears, hardships and joys, of a people who wonder if there is still a place for them on this planet.

A gorgeous work of literary journalism that follows a nomadic family’s fraught migration to the high Himalayan plains, as a changing world closes in around them. Following his vivid account of traveling with one of the last camel caravans on earth in Men of Salt, Michael Benanav now brings us along on a journey with a tribe of forest-dwelling nomads in India. Welcomed into a family of nomadic water buffalo herders, he joins them on their annual spring migration into the Himalayas, a superb adventure that explores the relationship between humankind and wild lands, and the dubious effect of environmental conservation on peoples whose lives are inseparably intertwined with the natural world.The migration Benanav embarked upon was plagued with problems, as government officials threatened to ban this nomadic family—and others in the Van Gujjar tribe—from the high alpine meadows where they had summered for centuries. Faced with the possibility that their beloved buffaloes would starve to death, and that their age-old way of life was doomed, the family charted a risky new course, which would culminating in an astonishing mountain rescue. And Benanav was arrested for documenting the story of their plight.Intimate and enthralling, Himalaya Bound paints a sublime picture of a rarely-seen world, revealing the hopes and fears, hardships and joys, of a people who wonder if there is still a place for them on this planet.

For forty-four days, Michael Benanav, an American writer and freelance photographer for The New York Times, lived and travelled with the Van Gujjars, a forest-dwelling tribe of nomadic buffalo herders in northern India, on their annual spring migration to the Himalayas. He went to document their traditional way of life, but there was trouble on the trail: the Uttarakhand forest department threatened to block nomadic families, whose ancestral summer meadows are within Govind National Park, from the pastures they rely on for the survival of their herds. A fascinating account of life on the road with nomads, this book tells the story of one family's quest to save its buffaloes, and itself. More than a rare glimpse into the hidden world of a tribe of vegetarian Muslims who risk their lives for their animals, this is an intimate picture of the hopes, fears, hardships and joys of people who wonder if there's still a place for them on this planet. It's an important exploration of the relationship between humankind and wild lands - and a tale of friendship that bridges two very different cultures.

The Himalaya, Asia's jagged backbone, lured photographer Andrea Baldeck on four journeys covering thousands of miles from northern India to western China, the distillation of which is Himalaya: Land of the Snow Lion. This volume opens a window onto an ancient enduring culture, bound by shared ethnicity and religion and challenged by daunting geography. Portraits, landscapes, architecture, and still-life images convey the texture and rhythm of this mountain life, which is ever more threatened by the forces of geopolitics, migration, and modernization. In a series of succinct essays accompanying the images, the artist invites the viewer to imagine aspects of life and travel in a region where a remote, starkly beautiful environment test and tempers all who call it home.

The crash of the Indian plate into Asia is the biggest known collision in geological history, and it continues today. The result is the Himalaya and Karakoram - one of the largest mountain ranges on Earth. The Karakoram has half of the world's highest mountains and a reputation as being one of the most remote and savage ranges of all. In this beautifully illustrated book, Mike Searle, a geologist at the University of Oxford and one of the most experienced field geologists of our time, presents a rich account of the geological forces that were involved in creating these mountain ranges. Using his personal accounts of extreme mountaineering and research in the region, he pieces together the geological processes that formed such impressive peaks.

‘A tour de force of luminous writing.’ Mark Cocker, Spectator

BHUTAN is a smaller companion volume to the world's largest published book, the 5x7' photographic book called BHUTAN. This book opens to nearly three feet, and offers an eyeful of imagery from several expeditions across the legendary mountain kingdom. Teams from MIT and Friendly Planet traveled extensively with two young people, Choki Lhamo (age 14, a girl from Trongsa who aspires to be a doctor) and Gyelsey Loday (also 14, son of the head lama in far-off Phongmey). This book shares a bit of their beautiful corner of the world. Proceeds are largely tax-deductible and are donated to help Bhutan's schools and scholars.

An inspirational larger format book providing an overview of 20 memorable treks in the Himalaya. A stunning collection of all the best trekking ideas throughout the Himalayan range, they include such well-known classics as the treks to Everest, K2 and Kangchenjunga base camps, and the Annapurna and Manaslu Circuits. The ultra-long Lunana Snowman Trek and a kora around sacred Mount Kailash in Tibet are also included. There are epic glacier treks like that to Pakistan's Snow Lake; following in the footsteps of Shipton and Tilman towards Nanda Devi, and the approach to Gangkar Punsum - the world's highest unclimbed peak located in remote Bhutan. Unlike a conventional guidebook, detailed route descriptions are not included; the book is, however, an excellent planning resource for those who wish to venture into the Himalayas. It looks at each route in turn and provides a snapshot of what makes the trek special, helping you choose the best routes to walk. Perfect either for planning, or for the armchair explorer.