Puma’s Mother Group is normally on hand to greet the few visitors who make it to this remote mountaintop but on the day I arrived they were performing traditional songs and dances of the Gurung caste in southern Nepal. Instead, on the morning of my departure the mothers trickled into Aama’s compound and climbed over … Read more
The idea of sustainability, first proposed in 1854 when Henry David Thoreau published Walden, has come to mean a way of living that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. In today’s developed countries, where the acquisition of material possessions is highly valued, achieving … Read more
It was the 6th of Karthik in the year 2067 by the Nepali calendar but despite the future-sounding date, I had been thrust back in time. I had come to the village of Puma, high in the Annapurna Himalayas, to experience a home stay in Nepal. Sitting cross-legged on a carpet rolled out over the … Read more
Our hand-hewn dugout canoe bumped against a muddy bank that materialized out of the soft fog hanging over the Rapti River in Chitwan National Park. Regretting that we had to leave the ethereal, misty river so soon, I gingerly walked the length of the narrow wooden boat, trying not to upset its delicate balance and … Read more
Like an old-fashioned 8mm movie rolling and flickering in an antique projector, the scene on a busy Kathmandu street unfolded frame by frame. I was on a bus bound for Chitwan National Park in southern Nepal for a three-day, two-night safari. The trip was supposed to take five hours but already we’d been sitting in … Read more
