We didn’t encounter rebel forces or grenades on the road to Jiri, although we were keenly aware of this possibility during the three roadside checkpoints. After five days of eye-clinic work in Jiri, we began the four-day trek east through the humid lowlands of the Solu Khumbu toward Phaplu, the location of our second cataract camp. We trekked through valleys, over passes, and through tiny villages deep in Maoist territory. Our posse of “climbers-without-borders” accepted that we were being watched from trees, and in my mind-riot paranoia I envisioned trigger-happy Maoist rebels peering at us though riflescopes.
When we arrived in the small village of Kenja, palpable tension hung over desolate streets. Unlike the friendly kids whom I’d met in Jiri, the only two children I saw frowned back through the glass of my 200mm lens, certain our intentions were malevolent. Painted graffiti on the walls of a once-vibrant teahouse presented the unsettling slogan “Long live the people’s war.”
“When the gun goes into the hands of somebody who doesn’t understand the value of life, it could be like having a monkey with a sword,” explained Pema Sherpa, our expedition’s translator, as we hiked past the Phaplu airport, a key stronghold for the RNA at the edge of town. Coils of barbed wire and camo-clad RNA troops guarded the airport. Curfews were still enforced, and I later learned that 29 people had been killed here two years prior in a battle between RNA and Maoists forces over the airstrip.
Eight of the world’s 14 8,000-meter peaks — Annapurna, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Everest, Kangchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, and Manaslu — are in Nepal, and an estimated nine percent of the country’s GDP comes from tourism, an industry that has suffered a huge drop-off as Nepal struggles for political stability. My conversations with local Nepalese only confirmed my apprehension.
Mingma Sherpa, a retired climber in his early 40s who works in western Nepal’s Annapurna region, near the city of Pohkara, spoke of how Maoists now largely control this area, which is second only to the Khumbu in tourist visitation. To enter the region, climbers, trekkers, and expedition sirdars are encouraged to “donate” 5,000 rupees per person (approximately $150 U.S.) to the Maoists. A “receipt,” which must be carried at all times, is then issued. In theory, visitors will not be double taxed.