By EMMA WHITE In a backyard blanketed with tall grasses and fronds, Navin Prasad Acharya gently prised open a buzzing box before him. Hundreds of bees flew out, swirling around the top of the container. Slowly Acharya selected a shelf of wax comb, called a frame, and took it out, his hands mere millimeters from…
By KAEDENCE EAMES Sneha Shrestha was working at a trekking agency in Thamel when the idea for Sneha’s Care first came to life. She didn’t quite have the money to open her shelter yet, but she carried dog biscuits in her purse to feed any street dogs she passed. Sneha’s Care, a shelter primarily fit…
By HATTIE BATCHELDER Deep in Nepal’s Annapurna Conservation Area, trekkers are surrounded by dense forests, mist-covered trails, and lively teahouses. The region is famous for its dramatic mountain scenery and biodiversity, but another resident is impossible to ignore. Tiny vampires lurk in the dewy leaves and the cracks of the rocky trails, blood suckers otherwise…
By HENRY DOELLINGER Dogs bark as boxes of medical supplies and large nets are loaded into a white four-by-four truck with a cage in the place of its bed. Himalayan Animal Rescue Trust veterinary doctors Sagar Ghimire and Prakash Chaudhary looked over a list of rescue calls, ready to start their weekly roundup. By 10…
By NOAH EPPS In the mid-1970s, the crocodile-like gharial was nearly extinct from its traditional range. Conservation efforts in Nepal have stabilized their decline, but climate change-related weather irregularities still threaten the vulnerable species. The gharial is a critically endangered crocodilian species native to the Northern India subcontinent. It is known for its long, beaklike…
BY JULIAN CLEMMER Getting around Nepal can be tricky. Busses, cars and trucks all weave in and out of traffic. Driving on the left-hand side of the road keeps American pedestrians on their toes crossing streets. The passenger vehicles driven on the streets of Nepal are often much smaller than their American counterparts and two-wheelers…
By HAVEN SAGER Tara Upreti was 12 years old when her father died from a heart attack. His death changed the trajectory of her future. Upreti was born and raised in Subhang, Panchthar, a small, green-hilled village in eastern Nepal. She grew up in a family of sustainable farmers that consisted of five sisters, three…
By MARLEY BARBOEISEL Since 1972, the Lama Thanka Painting School has stood in Baktapur, Nepal. Here, aspiring painters are able to learn from masters the art of creating Thagka paintings. The art involves creating a canvas from cotton or silk, then using paint made from rocks and acrylic to cover it in Buddhist deities and…
BY RILEY COMSTOCK Asmit Man Buddhacharya and his family have been the caretakers of the Swaynambhunath temple and its “Stuppa” for hundreds of years, he says. Buddhacharya himself has grown up there, and seen many changes; including changes in the monkeys. The Swaynambhunath temple in western Kathmandu, also known as “The Monkey Temple,” is a…
By VIVIANNE OSTHEIMER Baldri owns a small jewelry stand on a touristy street in Kathmandu. He’s a friendly salesman with a smile that’s missing a few teeth. In recent years, Baldri says unforeseen circumstances have impacted his business: first COVID, then political turmoil in Nepal as youth-led protests toppled the government. Promise runs another store…