Himalaya Bound: One Family's Quest to Save Their Animals-And an Ancient Way of Life
A gorgeous work of literary journalism that follows a nomadic family’s fraught migration to the high Himalayan plains, as a changing world closes in around them.

Following his vivid account of traveling with one of the last camel caravans on earth in Men of Salt, Michael Benanav now brings us along on a journey with a tribe of forest-dwelling nomads in India. Welcomed into a family of nomadic water buffalo herders, he joins them on their annual spring migration into the Himalayas. More than a glimpse into an endangered culture, this superb adventure explores the relationship between humankind and wild lands, and the dubious effect of environmental conservation on peoples whose lives are inseparably intertwined with the natural world.

The migration Benanav embarked upon was plagued with problems, as government officials threatened to ban this nomadic family—and others in the Van Gujjar tribe—from the high alpine meadows where they had summered for centuries. Faced with the possibility that their beloved buffaloes would starve to death, and that their age-old way of life was doomed, the family charted a risky new course, which would culminating in an astonishing mountain rescue. And Benanav was arrested for documenting the story of their plight.

Intimate and enthralling, Himalaya Bound paints a sublime picture of a rarely-seen world, revealing the hopes and fears, hardships and joys, of a people who wonder if there is still a place for them on this planet.

Laced with stories of tribal cultures from India to Yellowstone, from Jordan to Kenya, Benanav deftly wends through the controversial terrain where Western ways of protecting the environment clash with indigenous understandings of nature. Himalaya Bound celebrates and mourns an ancient way of life, while revealing an unlikely battleground in the fight to save the earth.
1126983003
Himalaya Bound: One Family's Quest to Save Their Animals-And an Ancient Way of Life
A gorgeous work of literary journalism that follows a nomadic family’s fraught migration to the high Himalayan plains, as a changing world closes in around them.

Following his vivid account of traveling with one of the last camel caravans on earth in Men of Salt, Michael Benanav now brings us along on a journey with a tribe of forest-dwelling nomads in India. Welcomed into a family of nomadic water buffalo herders, he joins them on their annual spring migration into the Himalayas. More than a glimpse into an endangered culture, this superb adventure explores the relationship between humankind and wild lands, and the dubious effect of environmental conservation on peoples whose lives are inseparably intertwined with the natural world.

The migration Benanav embarked upon was plagued with problems, as government officials threatened to ban this nomadic family—and others in the Van Gujjar tribe—from the high alpine meadows where they had summered for centuries. Faced with the possibility that their beloved buffaloes would starve to death, and that their age-old way of life was doomed, the family charted a risky new course, which would culminating in an astonishing mountain rescue. And Benanav was arrested for documenting the story of their plight.

Intimate and enthralling, Himalaya Bound paints a sublime picture of a rarely-seen world, revealing the hopes and fears, hardships and joys, of a people who wonder if there is still a place for them on this planet.

Laced with stories of tribal cultures from India to Yellowstone, from Jordan to Kenya, Benanav deftly wends through the controversial terrain where Western ways of protecting the environment clash with indigenous understandings of nature. Himalaya Bound celebrates and mourns an ancient way of life, while revealing an unlikely battleground in the fight to save the earth.
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Himalaya Bound: One Family's Quest to Save Their Animals-And an Ancient Way of Life

Himalaya Bound: One Family's Quest to Save Their Animals-And an Ancient Way of Life

by Michael Benanav
Himalaya Bound: One Family's Quest to Save Their Animals-And an Ancient Way of Life

Himalaya Bound: One Family's Quest to Save Their Animals-And an Ancient Way of Life

by Michael Benanav

Hardcover

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Overview

A gorgeous work of literary journalism that follows a nomadic family’s fraught migration to the high Himalayan plains, as a changing world closes in around them.

Following his vivid account of traveling with one of the last camel caravans on earth in Men of Salt, Michael Benanav now brings us along on a journey with a tribe of forest-dwelling nomads in India. Welcomed into a family of nomadic water buffalo herders, he joins them on their annual spring migration into the Himalayas. More than a glimpse into an endangered culture, this superb adventure explores the relationship between humankind and wild lands, and the dubious effect of environmental conservation on peoples whose lives are inseparably intertwined with the natural world.

The migration Benanav embarked upon was plagued with problems, as government officials threatened to ban this nomadic family—and others in the Van Gujjar tribe—from the high alpine meadows where they had summered for centuries. Faced with the possibility that their beloved buffaloes would starve to death, and that their age-old way of life was doomed, the family charted a risky new course, which would culminating in an astonishing mountain rescue. And Benanav was arrested for documenting the story of their plight.

Intimate and enthralling, Himalaya Bound paints a sublime picture of a rarely-seen world, revealing the hopes and fears, hardships and joys, of a people who wonder if there is still a place for them on this planet.

Laced with stories of tribal cultures from India to Yellowstone, from Jordan to Kenya, Benanav deftly wends through the controversial terrain where Western ways of protecting the environment clash with indigenous understandings of nature. Himalaya Bound celebrates and mourns an ancient way of life, while revealing an unlikely battleground in the fight to save the earth.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781681776224
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Publication date: 01/02/2018
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Michael Benanav writes and photographs for the travel section of The New York Times and other national publications, including Sierra and Lonely Planet. He has also worked as a mountain and desert guide in the American West. He lives in northern New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Family Tree vi

Map of Migration Route ix

1 Into the Forest 1

2 Over and Out of the Hills 30

3 Waiting by the River 49

4 Under Arrest 84

5 The Fork in the Road 115

6 Not the Life of a Fool 137

7 The Forest Gate 150

8 Many Days to Dodi Tal 157

9 The Storm 185

10 The End of the Trail 201

Epilogue 213

Selected References 227

Acknowledgments 229

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