Wish You Were Here: Druk Path

I made this photograph of an elderly, semi-nomadic yak herder — one of our trekking guides, whom our crew affectionately called ‘Yak Man’ — on assignment along Bhutan’s Druk Path.  Here, he is demonstrating some of his herding techniques at the breathtaking, snow-covered Jimi Langsto Lake (3,880m/12,800ft) high in mighty Himalaya.  ‘Yak Man’ was the ultimate outdoorsman; he wore amazing handmade yak hair clothing, including a pair of homemade “sunglasses” he’d fashioned from yak hair.  When I reflect on my experience hiking in the fresh mountain air and surrounded by ragged peaks and ceaseless blue skies, I think of ‘Yak Man’, leaping and yelping and living truly free in the Land of the Thunder Dragon.

‘Wish You Were Here’
Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia
February 2020

Browse more of my iPhone photography from Bhutan on my website.