-The book is intended both as a history and an ecological overview of the Park and as a plea for continuing conservation of the rich legacy of Himalayan plants and animals -The pictures, taken by the authors and their collaborators, vividly illustrate the grandeur and diversity of the area -The book has universal appeal: to naturalists, scholars, resource managers, trekkers, arm-chair travelers The Great Himalayan National Park Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is one of the most important protected areas in the Himalayas, one of the World's great biological realms. The book is intended both as a history and an ecological overview of the Park and as a plea for continuing conservation of the rich legacy of Himalayan plants and animals. In addition to descriptions of the ecology, the book includes local history and culture and a review of current development in the region. The inscription of the Park into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2014 confirmed the Outstanding Universal Values of the area, which contains the most important and significant natural habitats for in-situ conservation of Western Himalayan biological diversity. The pictures, taken by the authors and their collaborators, vividly illustrate the grandeur and diversity of the area. The book has universal appeal: to naturalists, scholars, resource managers, trekkers, arm-chair travelers. Success and failure along the road to creating today's Park are discussed frankly to inform future management efforts and there are numerous examples of conservation in action that will motivate a new generation of naturalists and ecologists to continue the fight to protect the ecology of the greatest mountains on earth.

This book describes the geological formation, geography, and wildlife of the Himalayas, a mountain range that covers all or parts of Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Tibet.

The World Heritage Sites list created by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) aims to promote awareness and preservation of tangible and intangible cultural heritage around the world, sites that are considered to have outstanding value for all humanity, regardless of location. To date, UNESCO has named thirty-eight such sites in India, all of which are presented in this volume, together with commentary by architects and conservationists and stunning photographs by Rohit Chawla. The cultural sites selected in India are a rich repository of the country's long, layered history, bearing witness to the creativity and influence of multiple communities, crafts, and religions. The sites covered in this volume range across the length and breadth of India--from the earliest periods of rock art, Buddhist caves, and Hindu temples, Sultanate and Mughal forts, palaces, tombs and memorials, medieval Hindu and Islamic cities, step-wells, and observatories to Portuguese churches and Victorian and Art Deco ensembles to, finally, twentieth-century industrial and modern heritage sites. The natural and mixed-use sites include national parks of exceptional natural beauty and sites of long interaction between people and the landscape. India is a beautiful and lavishly illustrated publication for every traveler and lover of Indian culture.

Hailed as a "wondrous book" by Gretel Ehrlich, and winner of the Kekoo Naoroji Book Award for Himalayan Literature—a journey of healing that becomes a pilgrimage for the soul. Stephen Alter was raised by American missionary parents in the hill station of Mussoorie, in the foothills of the Himalayas, where he and his wife, Ameeta, now live. Their idyllic existence was brutally interrupted when four armed intruders invaded their house and viciously attacked them, leaving them for dead. The violent assault and the trauma of almost dying left him questioning assumptions he had lived by since childhood. For the first time, he encountered the face of evil and the terror of the unknown. He felt like a foreigner in the land of his birth. This book is his account of a series of treks he took in the high Himalayas following his convalescence—to Bandar Punch (the monkey’s tail), Nanda Devi, the second highest mountain in India, and Mt. Kailash in Tibet. He set himself this goal to prove that he had healed mentally as well as physically and to re-knit his connection to his homeland. Undertaken out of sorrow, the treks become a moving soul journey, a way to rediscover mountains in his inner landscape. Weaving together observations of the natural world, Himalayan history, folklore and mythology, as well as encounters with other pilgrims along the way, Stephen Alter has given us a moving meditation on the solace of high places, and on the hidden meanings and enduring mystery of mountains.

In his delightful The Valley of Flowers, mountaineer Frank Smythe takes you on a botanical expedition to the Garhwal Himalaya. Alongside the author, scale the steep craggy mountains and bathe in crystal clear pools; breathe in the scented foothills of the Himalaya and their carpets of peonies, roses, rhododendrons and gentian. Experience 'the keen, biting air of the heights and the soft, scented air of the valleys'. Climber and adventurer Smythe journeys through the Himalaya's Byundar Pass, climbs the Mana Peak, descends into the Byundar Valley, and comes terrifyingly close to an encounter with The Abominable Snowman. The Valley of Flowers is a pleasurable escape for any climber, walker, mountain lover or gardener, or indeed anyone who needs reminding of the beauty and serenity of the natural world.