From high on the stupa of Swayambunath
temple above Kathmandu the all-seeing eyes of Buddha look
out over the great white wall of the Himalaya stretched along the
northern horizon. Eight of the
world's fourteen "eight-thousanders" ( mountains over
8000metres in height ) lie within the Hindu
Kingdom of Nepal. Although it is now 49 years since the first
ascent of an "eight-thousander"
( Annapurna by Maurice Herzog in June 1950 ) the approach routes
to their base camps still require
many days hard walking on primitive trails through medieval
villages and, in many cases, across
high, snow-covered passes.
However the network of trails linking the
villages ensconced in the remote valleys of this isolated,
himalayan country and the traditional porter system for
transporting trade goods might well have
been tailormade for today's tourists ( even would-be Everest
summiteers, are categorized on their
entry visas as tourists ).
The vast majority of the population eke out
a subsistence level existence in small rural
communities and as soon as they can walk children start to use a
namro ( head strap ) and doko
( conical wickerwork basket ) to carry loads of firewood or
fodder. Although yaks and ponies are
used in some parts of Nepal for transporting goods the use of the
namro is commonplace. Long trains
of professional porters carry gigantic loads from the roadheads
to markets such as Namche Bazaar,
the capital of the Sherpas, high in the heartland of the Solu
Khumbu. A standard load is
30 kilograms for both men and women but men can be asked to take
double, or even heavier, loads.
Cargo carrying helicopters are a recent threat to their business
but are unlikely to replace the
namro in the foreseeable future.
Many of the caravanserai and lodges used by
these porters for their lunch and overnight stops have
now been commandeered by independent backpackers for use in so-called
"tea-shop" trekking - OK if
you are immune to bed and stomach bugs. The two most popular
routes, Everest Base Camp ( known as
the "yak route" ) and Annapurna Circuit ( known as the
"Coca Cola trail" ), can both be undertaken
as "tea-shop" treks.
While some consider that carrying their own
rucksacs helps them to get fit and acclimatize ( not a
view I share ) and others say they do not like to use people as
beasts of burden I have found that
many backpackers do not know how little it costs to employ a
porter and would gladly do so to save
sore backs, aching feet and 'sahib's knee'. None of my climbs and
treks would have been possible or
so enjoyable without the stalwart support and cheerful company of
my porters. "Good food, better
pay, more interesting and easier than other jobs", asserted
Mohan and Lal Bahadur on my recent
return visit to the Annapurna Sanctuary. They were happy to be
employed. Usually the number of
porters looking for work exceeds the number of loads available as
many have come to rely on
trekking for hard cash to buy supplies and equipment for their
family farms.
The alternative to "tea-shop"
trekking is camping or "organised" trekking where each
group is
self-sufficient and carries its own food, camping and cooking
gear enabling access to remote,
uninhabited, wilderness areas such as the spectacular Hongu
Valley in the Everest region and the
isolated "Hidden Valley" in the Dhaulagiri Himal.
After the first few days the routine
becomes well established:- bed tea, washing water - kitbag
packed, tent down - porters off - breakfast - trekking - rest
stop - trekking - lunch stop -
trekking - rest stop - trekking - set up camp.
On my first trek I was amazed, and relieved,
at the variety and quality of the meals produced by
our cook, Dendi, and his kitchenboys from his open, wood fires -
a trekking group, like an army,
marches on its stomach - indeed it was a British army officer,
Colonel Jimmy Roberts, who pioneered
and established trekking in Nepal. His training is still in
evidence - cooking utensils are cleaned
and polished before and after all meals and periodically layed
out for inspection.
Trekking staff usually start off as porters
and work their way up to the top job of sirdar - the
foreman in charge of a trekking group. My friend Ang Zangbu, the
managing director of Highland
Sherpa Trekking, began his career as a porter before serving his
apprenticeship as kitchenboy,
cook and sirdar.
Porters are the
least well
equipped for high level treks and the better agencies provide
them with
warm clothing and footwear. Many do not and porters have frozen
to death on the high passes. They
are however the backbone of all major treks and climbing
expeditions - even the redoubtable
Reinhold Messner, the first person to make solo ascents of all 14
of the world's eight-thousanders,
used porters to reach his base camps.
