GURJA KHANI

Title: GURJA KHANI

Subtitle: Hidden Village of the Himalaya

Author: Joy Stephens

ISBN:-9789937953603

pages:- 128

Edition: 2022

Binding: Paper cover

Through the Author’s eyes:

This book presents the photo-story of a unique Himalayan village. It is a snapshot in time; the record of a way of life which is vanishing fast. I first learned about the existence of Gurja Khani in 1974, on my debut trek in Nepal. While heading up the Jaljalla Pass from Dhorpatan I spotted a stone staircase heading northwards towards the snow peaks. My companion said it went to Gurja, a remote village of metal-workers in a high-altitude valley.

Gurja Khani not only has a stunningly beautiful setting, but its isolation has maintained a way of life similar to Nepali villages of 40 years ago. Every one of the men is a Bear Grylls, able to sleep under a rock overhang in sub-zero temperatures and light fires with flints. The women rarely have one moment of leisure, yet their ability to smile and crack a joke is undaunted.

Joy Stephens Joy Stephens is a social researcher who worked in Nepal with a variety of rural empowerment projects between 1974 and 1998. She met her husband, Duane Poppe, in Nepal and they raised their two children here. Since 2012 they have been visiting every year promoting the concept of fair-tread tourism, and together have written the guide book: Off-the-beaten treks in Dhaulagiri. Stephens is also the author of Window onto Annapurna, and In and Out of the Maasai Steppe.