Singali La by George Thengummoottil

There are things we can do. And we do these whenever we can—travelling, trekking, birding, and so on.

Then there are things we only dream to do—tough, high-altitude trekking, extreme adventure, marathons, and long-distance cycling, to name a few.

For these, we have friends.

Friends who take up such arduous tasks and successfully complete them.

One such friend is George Thengummoottil. We met him through a common friend during our Wayanad sojourn. The humble and unassuming George has done some of the tough and most remote treks in the Himalayas, rising above his limitations. Not just that. He has filmed the trek so that others like us can have the vicarious pleasure.

Here is one such film which takes you to the magnificent landscape of Himalayas – Singali La.

In this hard trek, which started from Yuksum town in Sikkim, the landscape acts as a soothing medication to his eyes. Some parts of the trail are hardly touched by humanity. Apart from rare flora and fauna, George finds a lone human being also as he approaches Indo-Nepal border. One half of this man’s house is in India and the other in Nepal. He makes yak cheese in the traditional way and does a 3-day trek twice a year to the Kalapani market in Nepal to sell the produce and visit his family.

George’s expedition ends in Singali La National Park.

Here’s how George charged his camera gear as he climbed the mighty Himalayas with no access to power for days. http://nofilmschool.com/2016/11/how-to-build-cheap-solar-camera-charger-for-adventure-filmmaking

This is first in the series of posts introducing some of our friends who continue to inspire us.