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“What… you mean I have to trek up THERE?!?”

Our Everest Base Camp trek takes place wholly within Sherpa territory. The word “Sherpa” means “People who come from the East”, and the Sherpas in Nepal are actually Tibetans who fled political unrest some 400 years ago and settled in this lovely but barren region, the Solu Khumbu valley.

Sherpas practise Tibetan Buddhism devoutly, as evidenced by the proliferation of massive “mani stones” (stones carved with the mantra “Om mani Padme Hom”) everywhere.

Sherpas became famous when Mount Everest was first climbed 54 years ago, as the first men to reach the summit were a New Zealander (Sir Edmund Hillary) and a Sherpa (Tenzing Norgay). Since then, Sherpas have profited greatly from tourism, and from earning a reasonable income by becoming porters and climbing guides. They are so proficient in mountaineering now that it is the Sherpas that race ahead on Mt Everest and set up all the fixed ropes that foreign climbers will then use to reach the summit.

Their villages are delightful - clean, neat and with huge well-constructed stone houses with roofs painted in cheerful greens or blues. All this in a setting of steep cliffs forested with pine trees, and with gorgeous alpine wildflowers in the spring (as it was during our trek). Higher up the scenery changes to a more barren and desolate but still wonderful landscape of rocks, stunted shrubs and wide open spaces. Of course, the most majestic peaks in the world tower over the villages all along the way - it’s sometimes quite unnerving and surreal to see a stunning snow covered peak suddenly reveal itself when the clouds part.