Mallika Leuzinger (India/ Switzerland, AC 07-09)
2500 metres above sea level, at the feet of the Panch Chuli and shouldered by the Nanda Devi, Munsiari is a typical Uttarakhand village. It is hardly densely populated, and quite a steep way up from any major urban settlement; indeed my first impression of it was of an untouched, unknown valley, asleep in its forests, its open meadows and crystal-coloured streams. I didn’t expect to revise this opinion when I made my latest journey up there, worrying instead about the hairpin bends, the dust and the gravel that threatened at any moment to send our bus rattling off into some crevice.
