Martoli Village

Rest day at Martoli, an almost derelict village on an old moraine at the junction of the Valley that goes up to the famous Nanda Devi. The few villagers are all adult and mainly very old it seems to me. This village used to thrive on trade with Tibet before the Chinese/Indian border closed. It is a great place for grazing the mules but nowadays the mules mainly carry kerosene and other supplies to the border for the troops stationed there and return to the valleys without anything.

Today there has been some activity around the small temple of Nanda Devi as a group of pilgrims arrived there to be blessed before going out on the steep hillsides to gather a medicinal plant. They arrived here on bare feet having travelled 6 days, playing their drums and chanting. (See extra)The temple priest invited a friend and myself into the tiny interior of the temple when we walked up to it, a special moment. Tomorrow is a big puja for Nanda Devi just before people return to the plains for the winter and 6 of us take the wild path up to Nanda Devi base camp.