1. Highs and Lows in the Himalayas
An Introduction to Nepal
Virginia E. O’Leary, Ph.D.

2. Everest

3. Annapurna

4. Cho Oyu

5. Dhualagiri

6. Kanchenjunga

7. Lhotse

8. Macchapuchhre

9. Ama Dublam

10. Manaslu

11. Makalu

12. Two overlapping triangles, the smaller bearing a stylized moon and the larger a white, 12-ointed sun.

13. Nepal
Nepal is a small, landlocked country located between two giants, China on the north and India to the south, east and west.
Its total area is 147, 181 sq miles. It is slightly larger than Arkansas.
The climate varies from cool summers and severe winters in the north to subtropical summers and mild winters in the south.
The terrain ranges from the flat river plain of the Ganges in the Terai, through the central hill district, to the rugged Himalayas.
The lowest point is Kanchan Kalan 70 meters above sea level to Mt. Everest, 8,850 m, the highest peak in the world and still growing.
Natural resources include quartz, hydropower, scenic beauty, small deposits of lignite, copper, cobalt, and iron ore.
Sixteen point 7 % of the land is arable.
Severe thunderstorms, flooding, landslides, drought and famine depend on the timing, intensity and duration of summer monsoons.
Deforestation (overuse of wood for fuel and lack of alternatives); contaminated water (with human and animal waste), agricultural runoff, and industrial effluents, wild life conservation, and vehicular emissions are all pressing environmental problems in the tenth poorest country in the world. It is also located on a major fault line and is due of a large earthquake any time….
The population is 28,563,377 (July, 2009 est)—the 42nd in the world. 37 % of the population is under 14. The median age is 20.8 (19.8 for males, 21.7 for females). The population growth rate is 1.28% and the bith rate is the 80th in the nowrld, 23.1% live births per 1,000. The death rate is 6.97/1000 (132nd in the world.
17% of the population live in urban areas…with a 4.9% rate of annual change due to economic conditions and the result of the insurgency.
The infant mortality rate is shockingly high, 47.46/1000 (55th in the world).
Average life expectancy is (64.3 m and f).
Major infectious disease food and airborne diseases=bacterial diarrhea, Hepatitis A, and typhoid fever. Vectorborne diseases = Japanese encephalitis, malaria and dengue fever.
Nepal is 80.6% Hindu, 10.7% Buddhist, 4.2% Muslim. It is the only official Hindu state in the world.
Less than 50% of the population is literate (62.7% males, 34.9% females). Males stay in school an average of 10 years, females 8 years. Only 3.4% of the GDP is spent on education (133 rd in the world).
Currently, Nepal is a Federal Democratic Republic. It is about to miss its deadline to draft a new constitution…May 2010.
It was unified in 1768 by Prithvbi Narayan SHAH. Its capital is KTM.

16. Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the word
Nepal is among the poorest and least developed countries in the word. Almost one-third of the population lives below the poverty line. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. The average income per capita is 1200 dollars. Forty-six percent of the population is unemployed. Industrial activity mainly involves the processing of agricultural products, included pulses, jute, sugar cane, tobacco and grain. In 2009 remittances from foreign workers abroad increased 47% to 2.8 billion while tourist arrivals decreased only 1% compared to the previous year (about 350,000 visitors). Nepal has considerable scope for exploiting its potential hydropower but political instability hampers foreign investment. Additional challenges include technological backwardness, landlocked location, civil strife and labor unrest, and susceptibility to natural disaster.

20. My Nepali Odyssey Begins
I was 9 years old when Maurice Herzog’s best selling book Annapurna was published. I read his account of the first ascent of an 8,000 meter mountain, the tenth highest in the world on June 3, 1950 with Louis Lanchenal when I was 12. Herzog and Lanchenal climbed without supplemental oxygen. Because the climbers were wearing light boots for the final ascent and Herzog lost his gloves, and the fact that they were forced to bivie overnight during the descent in a crevasse with one sleeping bag (there were four of them)—all suffered severe frost bite. Both climbers lost all of their toes and Herzog most of his fingers. The consequent gangreen required the expedition doctor to perform emergency amputations in the field without anesthetic.

34. Preview of Highs and Lows
1. History
2. People and Culture
3. Economy and Education
5. Art, Dance, Music and Architecture
6. Development Dilemmas