Wild Himalaya: A Natural History of the Greatest Mountain Range on Earth by Stephen Alter

Author:Stephen Alter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-07-21T22:00:00+00:00

chapter 33

BESTIARY OF A DIVINE MADMAN

Flying across Nepal and into Bhutan, we can see nine of the world’s highest mountains, each of them over 8,000 metres. This aerial panorama begins with Dhaulagiri and the Annapurna massif, punctuated to the east by Manaslu’s twin exclamation points. Off in the distance, beyond Nepal’s border with China, stands the crumpled spire of Shishapangma, which appears much smaller than lesser peaks in the foreground. Ten minutes further on, the towering profiles of Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse and Makalu slip by the wingtips of our Drukair jet.

On the first day of 2019, the winter atmosphere is brilliantly clear. Stretching towards the northern horizon is the tawny expanse of Tibet. As we fly on, Kanchenjunga now appears, strands of snow unravelling from its summit. Moments later, the Chumbi Valley breaks the white chain before giving way to Jomolhari, Jichu Drake and an imposing barrier of other mountains in Bhutan, including Gangkhar Puensum (7,570 metres), the highest unclimbed summit on earth. For religious and cultural reasons, as well as security concerns, Bhutan has banned all mountaineering within its borders, leaving several major peaks inviolate. While policies like this may frustrate alpinists they provide the last best hope of protecting those few areas of Himalayan wilderness that remain.

Descending into the airport at Paro we follow the same flight path as Guru Rinpoche, who was carried here on the wings of his consort after she turned herself into a flying tigress. As our plane skims over pine-clad ridges we spot her lair, perched on a cliff face overlooking the valley—Taktsang, popularly known as ‘the Tiger’s Nest’. This is where Buddhism first touched down in Bhutan when the great teacher, also known as Padmasambhava, arrived in the eighth century to dispel shamanistic and occult beliefs or practices while spreading a message of compassion and non-violence. Two centuries later, the poet-magician, Milarepa, visited Bhutan and meditated at Taktsang where he composed some of his 100,000 songs of devotion and enlightenment.

Bhutan is the last surviving Himalayan kingdom, a political relic of a feudal age when chieftans ruled from fortified dzongs, twenty of which still stand in different districts of this landlocked nation. Not only are the highest peaks in Bhutan inaccessible but also large areas of forest that cover roughly seventy per cent of country. With a remarkably small population of only 700,000 citizens, the kingdom can afford to set aside extensive tracts of land as protected sanctuaries. Approximately half of the country has been designated as national parks or wildlife corridors, covering every altitudinal zone from semi-tropical lowlands bordering Assam to areas well above the treeline. Unlike most Himalayan regions there are places in Bhutan where Homo sapiens have never set foot. An array of endangered species such as red pandas, musk deer, hispid hares and pygmy hogs are found here. In 2017, the Ugyen Wangchuck Institute for Conservation and Environmental Research counted 103 tigers in Bhutan. The most encouraging aspect of their presence is that camera trap images show the

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