Portering–“it is such a hard life…”

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Portering in the Nepal Himalaya is deadly serious business. It involves enormous toil for little gain; it brings on premature aging. It is among the most primitive uses of human physiology — the hauling of loads for long distances on sheer "manpower".

In Nepal, the porters are the subsistence farmers, men and women mired in extreme and general rural poverty. In a country where underemployment is endemic, the Himalayan peasants have few means of earning cash other than by bearing wickerwork baskets up and down mountain trails: oil and salt for the village merchant, pipes and tin roofing for development projects, firewood for hill markets, fodder for cattle, provisions for trekking parties and mountaineering gear for expeditions.

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Himal Southasian
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