Hire a Porter, Not a Slave!

international | environment | opinion/analysis Friday December 16, 2005 00:03 by Mairead NiCarthaigh devstmags at gmail dot com

Reporting from Everest Base Camp, Nepal

On carrying out the Everest Base Camp trek in April 2005, one trekker anticipating the trek with months found herself to be disgusted at the exploitations of the people of Nepal and the environment surrounding one of the most beautiful and talked about landscapes in the world.

During April 2005 there were over 20 expeditions in Nepal attempting to conquer
the highest climb in the world, Mount Everest. There were many more
holiday trekkers attempting the twelve day trek to the Base Camp where
all the expeditions camp before making the ascent. Trekking season is
an immense boost to the Nepali economy with many of them making a
fortune out of the tourists where they sell packages for a few hundred
dollars making multi millionaires in Nepal within the last fifty years
since it began. However, it also creates a demand for porters who
flock to the trekking routes to compete with each other in price to
earn a wage. This year because of the trouble in Nepal between the
government and the Maoists tourism was down by sixty percent so the
competition was high and the price was low. Many trekking companies
don't pay a fair price to the porters and pocket most of the fee for
themselves. The most remote villages lie on the trek, hardly enough
lodges to cater for the tourists during peak season but they are
getting bigger every year to meet the demands of the Western tourist.
Everything is transported by foot so what goes up must come down but
unfortunately this is not always the case and Sagarmatha National Park
where Everest lies is becoming more and more polluted each year.

On deciding on the Everest Base Camp trek I was initially thrilled to
have the opportunity to see base camp and meet some of the climbers.
It fascinated me that people would risk their lives to reach the
summit of the highest mountain in the world, what a sense of
achievement they must go through. What next for them?! However, the
obscenities and exploitations I encountered along the trek painted a
different picture to my expectations and by the time I got to Base
Camp I was so disgusted by my fellow trekkers and the expeditions that
I was even ashamed to be there, just adding to the problem. When I
travel I would rather leave just footprints behind.


The trek itself was the most magnificent part with the richest
landscape imaginable. There are other treks which apparently are much
more beautiful and quieter but EBC is the busiest for the trekkers
because of the obvious reason that they are going to reach the bottom
of the top of the world. Tourists barely
talk about how amazing the walk to base camp is and it is a walk,
there's a path the entire way. The word 'trekking' doesn't define the
rural Nepalese mode of transport. The word seems to glorify a long walk which the locals carry out on a daily basis. They salute everyone they pass on the trail
with 'Namaste' which is a blessing and are rarely in a rush unless they
have 'urgent' supplies for the expeditions. One of the first
questions asked by every tourist on the trek is 'How many days did it
take you so far?' We were questioned many a time on what took us so long as we stopped off many a time to embrace our surroundings. In the end we spent twenty one days on the trek when to Base Camp and back usually takes an estimated twelve days. But of course many tourists just want to tip the pole, snap their photo and return to more civilised territory.

The issue of the porters is always cause for debate. On entering
Lukla the starting point of the trek there is a sign 'Hire a porter,
hire a friend', and it means it! Porters not only carry your bag but
if you're camping they pitch your tent or if you decide to stay in a
lodge, usually on the base camp trek, the porter camps outside. Porters are always fed after the
tourists and many lodges won't put up porters. On the EBC trek the
expedition porters have to pay full price for their dinner so resort
to eating Dal Bhat, the cheapest dish on the menu consisting of a
mound of rice, a few vegetables and lentil soup which gets more
diluted the higher up the trek you go. When they cannot afford this
they eat packets of dry noodles. They are not paid until the end of
the expedition so may have to get an advance from the guide.
Frequently they just break even after living off their own money
throughout the trek. Porters cook your meals for you and clean up
afterwards. If you have a guide you will order your food through him
wherever you eat down to ordering an extra spoon and your porter, not
the staff of the lodge will bring your food from the kitchen for you,
clear it and then eat themselves. You may disturb during his dinner!

I witnessed large expeditions addressing each of their numerous
porters by 'porter' unable to distinguish one porter from another by
asking their names. Many tourists on the trek have no interest in the
Nepali culture and cringe at their primitive ways (well primitive
according to their standards). You hear plenty of people talking of
the pampering they will have when they return to Katmandu which they
would rather wait for as opposed to resorting to the bucket shower. Despite the water shortages in Katmandu tourists will have
numerous baths which they feel they greatly deserve after they paid
someone to carry their bag, cook their food and pitch their tent. All
they had to do was walk, maybe climb a few hills and take pictures.

Most of the porters make their journeys in flip flops or canvas shoes.
I cannot recollect one porter wearing a pair of boots. Their load is
balanced on their spine with a strap over their forehead to hold it up
so they are bending forward all the time. They only get to appreciate
the scenery when they stop for breath. The rest of the time they are
looking at their feet. They even work through the night in unlit
terrain, many without torches to fetch supplies for the expeditions.
Somehow tourists have an idea that they are super human and this work
is built into their culture which is ridiculous when they are smaller
in stature than most Western men. You will rarely find a porter over
fifty. In fact Nepalese life expectancy is in their early 50s. Many
porters and Sherpas die every year on expeditions, more than the
climbers themselves and this is usually from altitude sickness which
comes as a result of over exertion. Porters on the expeditions go ahead of the climbers and
line the trail with rope and set up camp for them. Usually it is only the last stretch where the climbers go solo. Everest in
fact is only difficult to climb because of the altitude, there are
plenty more technical, beautiful and fulfilling climbs all over the
world but the glory of conquering Everest is indeed a unique prize!

The porter situation is gradually improving as awareness is being
raised of their exploitation. However, as the number of expeditions
increases every year more and more young men leave their wives and
families for three months twice a year to earn on average 250 Nepali
rupees a day (US $2.80). It costs about US $30,000 to climb Everest; an
expedition will hire a porter for 3 months. So it costs on average US $252 (independently hired porters can earn at most US $700) plus tip which the porter will depend on, to pay someone to carry your burden which is supposed to last them
through the off peak season. The porters carry anything from 30kgs
and commercial porters can carry up to 100kgs. Of course there would
be no demand for these commercial items if the tourists didn't crave
coffee in the morning and beer in the evening. This is what's
debatable, are we aiding the economy by hiring a porter even if we do
treat him well or are we creating the problem by providing a market in
the first place. The trekking industry has only taken off since
Hilary and Norgay conquered Everest in 1953. Since then life has changed for the people of rural Nepal and some of them have become millionaires overnight but the sight of Western luxuries has created a want in these people and perhaps it is not neccessarily for the better.

But this is not just about the porters it is also about the
exploitation of the mountain itself. Chomolungma or Mother Earth as
the Tibetans call it. A sacred mountain in which pilgrims climb in
offertory to the mountain. A detail the ambitious mountaineers choose
to ignore. It is only possible to remain on the summit for several
minutes as the weather is so bad surrounding the peak so the best view in the world is hardly embraced at all. There is a constant snow cloud off the
summit of Everest which the locals believe to be as a result of her
exploitation by trekkers! It is indeed strange there is not a similar
cloud off any of the surrounding mountains. With winds up to 200mph,
constant avalanches, the desolation of base camp, the cold nights I
cannot comprehend why people risk their lives and others to put
another plaque on their wall. There is nothing to see at Base Camp
besides rocks and tents. It is full of plastic wrappers and bottles
which will be lost among the rocks forever. Being a common tourist to
Base Camp one is subjected to hostile treatment with each expedition
cordoned off and instructions to walk around the tape despite the rock
being hard work to scramble over already. At present there are 125
dead bodies on Everest left to rot. Apparently it's bad luck to touch
them. A sight for snow blindness!

It was most rewarding seeing all the different landscapes along the
trek but heart breaking each day to see the result of the trekking
industry. With expeditions climbing from both the Nepali and Tibetan
sides it is a constant race to reach the top and pitch your national
flag. It certainly is rewarding for professional climbers to reach
the summit when it's been their life goal but many a porter's life is
taken for granted in the process and surely that's not worth all
that glory. We can fulfill the slogan 'Hire a porter, Hire a friend' and embrace the trek much more by cleaning up after ourselves, helping out, learning their names and actually befriending them and not treating them as slaves.