TALK BY RICHARD LYSTER

The Mondays at Seven programme at St Clement’s on July 18 will present a slide show/talk by Richard Lyster, an attorney from Durban and a former Commissioner of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

This is his background to his presentation:

“The "slide show" is an informal set of pictures, which I took in May this year, when I did a hike to the base camp of Mount Everest in Nepal. The walk to base camp takes about 16 days (there and back), and takes you through the Khumbu Valley of Nepal, where about ten of the world's highest mountains are to be found.

“The trail that you follow is over a thousand years old, and was established by Tibetan and Chinese traders coming to Nepal and India. It is still used by thousands of ordinary Nepalese people, mainly from the Sherpa and Thamang tribes, as a commercial trading route, because there are no roads at all in the region, on account of the extreme terrain. It is also used by Tibetans who come to trade in Nepal. The only means of transport is by foot, and goods are carried not only by people, but also by mules and yaks.

“The route goes through the fertile lower Khumbu valley, with its terraced millet, buckwheat and potato fields, up to the glacial terrain in the vicinity of the Mount Everest base camp. Base camp is not a camp in the real sense. There is nothing there, except a shifting glacier. Every spring and autumn, climbers who intend to summit Mount Everest hike to base camp and erect their tents on the glacier, and begin their long process of acclimatization for the summit, which takes over three weeks. The trip affords nature lovers, hikers and photographers an opportunity to spend time in the world's most dramatic scenery.”

St Clements is situated at 191 Musgrave Road on the righthand side a short way down Musgrave after the St Thomas Road intersection. Mondays at Seven run between 19h00 and 20h00. Booking is advised on 031 202 2511. There is no cover charge but there is a donations box to support presenters.