by Dina Mufti, Researcher, Arctic/Mountains team

Part I.   Getting In …

I know the Himalayas and thought I knew what to expect, but working on Human Planet has taken me on a whole new journey.  

Our destination – Dolpo, a Buddhist enclave near the Tibetan border.    A place so high that trees can’t grow, and electricity is a dream.  The adventure begins right away.   On the flight from steamy lowland Nepal, we rise through precipitous peaks in our Twin Otter plane, almost touching the mountains.   Our organisational maestro is Tenzing Sherpa (no relation to the other Sherpa Tenzing, it’s like being called John Smith in Nepal) –  a fixer so accomplished he could lead an army.  In the remote Himalayas, nothing less will do.

On the flight Tenzing explains that flying at dawn avoids the winds that could blow us into a mountainside later in the day.   Suddenly, waking up at 4am doesn’t seem so bad.   Everyone is blown away by the jaw dropping views.  Then a tiny runway appears through the parting peaks.  We descend quickly and land, bouncing hard in our seats.  As we get out, Nick our director says “Anyone seen the runway?”   It’s 50m long – possibly the shortest runway in the world, with a hump in the middle and either end dropping into an abyss.

We're at one end of the runway, the other is at the edge of the abyss behind us

 Now we have to trek  to our final location and it’s an epic mission.   We are joined by an army of porters,  mules and yaks all needed to help us carry the 500kg of equipment.   As we climb in altitude, the trail becomes steeper, loose underfoot – and one day disappears altogether….

We are climbing towards a 5000m pass, clambering up huge boulders.   At times I lean so far into the rock that my knees scrape.  The path is blocked by fallen trees angling steeply over a muddy slope and a raging river below.  I am grasping and straddling a trunk when Tenzing shouts ‘ DON’T MOVE’ and 20 mules, carrying the gear, tear back round the corner towards us.

Negotiating the trail

Something has spooked them ahead.   A loaded mule starts clambering over me but Tenzing screams and it backs off.  The rest slip down the muddy slope towards the river, scrambling to keep their footing.  I hear Nick  swear as he watches helplessly as our gear heads towards the torrent.  Then I start to slip too.  It seems a long time until I feel Tenzing’s steady hand grip mine and he shouts “OK”.

Somehow these tough mules manage to navigate the mud and get back up the slope.  We all marvel at them and everyone laughs at me clinging to the tree trunk like a slapstick comedy character.  Tenzing  finds another path and we go on, wondering what spooked them so badly.

Tenzing Sherpa pointing out some loose rocks

Ahead we find a landslide that has wiped out the path and the Sherpas making a human chain to get everyone across.  This is serious stuff.  One slip here and it’s just the river below, no muddy slope to find your footing – just loose rocks and a ledge as wide as my foot.  “Ok sister you can do it” … I take a deep breath and put one foot forward ….

Check the blog next week for Part 2, Getting Out..