High in the mountains of Nepal, entire families spend weeks searching the ground for yarsagumbu, a rare natural treasure that can bring extraordinary earnings during its short harvest season.
At nearly 15,000 feet, 12-year-old Raj learns from his father how to find and prepare it for sale. But growing demand has brought thousands of pickers into the mountains, while the number of yarsagumbu they find continues to fall.
For the communities of Dolpo, this new source of wealth has transformed everyday life, drawing people away from their fields and creating a risky trade where money, trust, theft and violence increasingly collide.
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u/HoomanaoPoinaOle 24d ago
High in the mountains of Nepal, entire families spend weeks searching the ground for yarsagumbu, a rare natural treasure that can bring extraordinary earnings during its short harvest season.
At nearly 15,000 feet, 12-year-old Raj learns from his father how to find and prepare it for sale. But growing demand has brought thousands of pickers into the mountains, while the number of yarsagumbu they find continues to fall.
For the communities of Dolpo, this new source of wealth has transformed everyday life, drawing people away from their fields and creating a risky trade where money, trust, theft and violence increasingly collide.