Dolpo

Across the Himalaya, the needs of the north and south met in a trade shaped by the mountains. Salt gathered from lakes on the Tibetan plateau was carried south by caravan and exchanged for grain grown in Nepal’s lower valleys. For generations, Dolpo traders and their yaks crossed high passes with these essential goods, linking communities that depended on different resources.

The photographs follow this exchange as a passage through formidable terrain. From a distance, people and animals form a fragile line across snowbound slopes; up close, hands secure sacks and handlers move beside heavily loaded yaks. The shifting scale brings the labor of the caravan into view against the vastness of the Himalaya. The mountains are both the route and the force that makes every step arduous.

As roads and modern transport brought other sources of salt within reach, the long barter journeys gradually lost their place. This work attends to a trade route in decline, recording the people, animals, loads, and mountain paths that sustained it. The caravan appears as more than a striking sight in the high Himalaya: it is a living connection between two regions, formed by exchange and maintained through the difficult work of crossing.