Nepal, Dolpa — Shey Phoksundo National Park
Ninety-Five Percent Pay in Kathmandu
A park ranger on entrance fees paid a mountain range away, and a development plan still waiting to start.
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A Two-Week Notice, No Guarantee
The vice-chairman of Dolpa's Chamber of Commerce on local businessmen ready to invest, and the missing guarantee holding the whole system back.
Read more →Nepal, Dolpa — Juphal
Seventy-Five Rupees a Tent
The only local hotel owner in Juphal on a house he never meant to rent out, and the rubbish that won't stop piling up.
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The Only Trained Guide in Dolpa
A local guide on porters brought in from Everest, five percent English fluency, and schools kept afloat by tourist donations.
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The Agencies Never Ask
A Village Tourism Guide on avalanche deaths blamed on outside guides who didn't know the terrain.
Read more →Vietnam, Sa Pa
Too Cute to Stay in School
An elder on hill-tribe girls who leave school at six to sell souvenirs, and customs that fade a little more with every busload of tourists.
Read more →The Netherlands, Achterhoek
The Campsite That Outgrew the Farm
When the farm stopped paying its way, she started a small campsite instead — and it's doing better than the farm ever did. Now she wonders whether farming, her husband's life's work, will be the thing they eventually give up.
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A Wastebasket, Ten Years On
The Vice-Chairman of Dolpa's District Development Committee on money that stops in Kathmandu and lodges closed by organised tour groups.
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One Hundred Thousand Rupees a Kilogram
The Chief District Officer on herb-collecting income that dwarfs a year's wages, and Dolpa's case for staying a hidden treasure.
Read more →Nepal, Dolpa — Dunai & Juphal
Credit at the Outsider's Shop, Debt at the Local One
The chairman of a local tourism-development NGO on a language gap that won't close and a habit keeping local shopkeepers from getting ahead.
Read more →Nepal, Dolpa — Dunai
The Hotel That Operates at a Loss
A teacher and programme director on roots pulled up as firewood, and children singing Hindi songs instead of their own.
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From Selling Alcohol to Leading Treks
Dolpa's only active female Village Tourism Guide on a new life after leaving the alcohol trade.
Read more →Nepal, Dolpa — Juphal
Fifty-Five Kilos to Dunai
A local porter on being undercut by labour from the Everest region, and the one job on the mountain that comes with life insurance.
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