Under The Himalayan Sky

In the 1970s, the Nepalese government established an agreement with New Zealand for help in setting up a national park in the Mt Everest region of the Himalayas. Bruce Jefferies, an Assistant Supervising Ranger with New Zealand’s National Park Service, took off for Nepal with his wife Margaret, and three young children. They had little idea of what to expect in this remote, high-altitude environment. Under the Himalayan Sky is Margaret’s memoir of the time the family spent in Khumbu (Mt Everest), with no running water or electricity, largely cut off from the outside world, living on the traditional local diet of potatoes and tea. In spite of what might be perceived as hardships, the family embraced life amongst the colourful and hospitable Sherpa people. Margaret’s story paints a fascinating portrait of this region of Nepal in the early days before large scale tourism and trekking opened it up to the outside world. (Front Flap Text) Sagarmatha National Park is a stunningly beautiful part of Nepal, which includes the world’s highest mountain. It also home to the Sherpa people who originally traded goods across the Himalaya and lived a traditional life of agro-pastoralism. These were some of the reasons the park was listed as a World Heritage Area in 1979. Today, 35,000 tourists and mountaineers flock to the park every year. Their expectations of modern comforts are largely met by large lodges, electricity, cafes, helicopters, running water and easy access. Few visitors pause to reflect on how this magnificent park, and the lives of its people, were when it was established just over 40 years ago. The changes since then have been profound. This book offers a glimpse into that earlier traditional way of life, which has rapidly succumbed to commercial pressures and globalisation.