April, 1988
Review by Satis Schroff, K. Dixit
The Himalaya has always been a good source of stories for international glossy magazines, but most of their reports have tended to glamorize the region´s "Shangri La" aspects. With time, and the ecological decline of the region, that stereotype has begun to change. Things have come full circle this year with the National Geographic and the German magazine, Geo, both doing special issues on the Himalaya that are puff pieces no more.
Both publications peer under the rug and take a look at what´s really going on, including environmental destruction, the conflict between subsistence living and nature conservation, and the physical and cultural pollution wrought by tourism.The coverage of the two publication differs significantly, reflecting the demands of their European and North American audiences. The Geographic touches all the bases but skims over them in its text, letting the pictures talk. Geo, on the other hand, intermixes its well known two page colour spreads with detailed information on cultural, environmental, and political affairs {this last, the Geographic shuns like it were a bumble bee).
Talking of bees, the cover feature in the Geographic is a stupendous effort by photographer Eric Valii, who records the story of a honey hunting Gurung patriarch who dangles from towering cliffs on slim ropes to get at beehives. The photo essay depicts life on the edge of survival and its haunting images will serve to remind us of the reality in the hinterland.
Departing from practice, the Geographic´s November issue has not one but six pieces on the region. In a lead article entitled "The Mighty Himalaya: A Fragile Heritage", Geographic staffer Barry Bishop mulls over how the landscape has changed since he traversed Everest in 1963.
Another article takes the reader down the Tsang Po (Brahmaputra) from Mount Kailash to the Sunderbans. There is a report on the "woeful harvest" of wood in the still pristine Kama Valley in Tibet. The pride of place is reserved for ihe most detailed map of Everest ever made. The 300 sq mile map was prepared under the direction of cartographer Bradford Washburn, who used geodetic data from the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India (1849-50) as well as infrared imagery recorded by the American space shuttle.