Script:
People going up mountain, Prayer flags + mountains Boy lifting load.
They’re making the exhausting and dangerous journey up the Himalayan mountains in search of the world’s most rare and expensive herb.

Up sof boy whistling for ponies.
This is Dolpa - with no roads, few jobs – and reliant on food aid - it’s the poorest and least developed region of Nepal.

The population here is about to triple as more than 50,000 people travel, along these trails - with ponies to carry their supplies. They’ve already been walking for seventeen days – and for the next six weeks they’ll be camping

Tent pictures, yarchagumba in vision.
on these mountains to harvest Yarchagumba – a valuable and extraordinary substance – known as Himalayan Viagra - the herb of life.

Empty village+ closer shot of house + shot of shut shop.
Entire villages migrate for the harvest, locking up their homes and leaving the schools deserted.

Jaya Bahadur, District Education Officer, Dolpa. Speaking in pigeon English.
Subtitles recommended.

“There are 503 students in 19 schools, but now there are no students in any of the schools. All the students have gone to collect yarchagumba. Yarchagumba is an important income source in Dolpa, so they all want to collect yarchagumba to earn money”.
Question; “Is it the holidays at the moment – or is this school term”

Answer: “It’s not a holiday. All the teachers are waiting for the students to come back to school.”

Mountain gv + child on stretcher
Script: In the rush, many ignore the dangers of altitude sickness. This boy’s being carried home after he started coughing up blood. His younger brother died the day before.

Lama praying for dead man.
Script: The Buddhist lama is praying for this man’s soul in the next life. He died from exhaustion and cold.

Paljung making fire in tent
Paljung has come up from the valley with his family. He’s making breakfast before setting off to work. He’s only twelve – and for the first time his parents have brought him

Walking up hill with family
with his younger sister Noomba to harvest yarchagumba. For most of the year they have no income – they survive on what little food they grow. Now they’re hoping to strike it rich.

C/U’s picking caterpillars, people crawling and searching, yarchagumba in vision.
The dead caterpillars lie buried in the soil - all you can see from the surface are tiny brown stalks among the grass.

Crawling on the ground looking for yarchagumba + up sof + caterpillars + puts yarchagumba in his pouch

Up sof children speaking in Dopali - Subtitles:

Paljung says – “Come and see what I’ve found… It’s so beautiful – do you want to touch it”?

Noomba say’s – “Oh yes, please. How precious it is.” (Raises it to her forehead as a sign of honour / blessing) “What a blessing for us.”

The life cycle of yarchagumba is not fully understood. But what we do know is that at the beginning of the monsoon, spores of the cordiceps mushroom land on the head of caterpillars from the Lepidoptera family. The parasite then works its way into the insect’s brain, soaking up its energy before killing it.

They are only found at high altitude in remote parts of the Himalayas but the worlds best Yarchagumba comes from here in Dolpa.

Chinese emperors from the Qing (pronounced “ching”) dynasty were the first to use it and more recently three world records were broken by Chinese athletes whose diet was supplemented with the herb.

Children run down hill
Paljung and Noomba will collect around 20 caterpillars a day. They sell them for a dollar each to the traders. In Dolpa, a dollar is the daily wage for a skilled worker.

Children in trader tent, up sof trader

His family hopes to sell 1000 caterpillars by the end of the season, this represents a fortune.

up sof trader counting money, Boy takes money
Eventually each caterpillar will be sold for up to thirty dollars – the main markets are China, Singapore and Taiwan. The trade is worth about 2 and a half million dollars to Dolpa. The government should make ten percent of this in taxes.

Maoist symbol, National Park office burnt by Maoists

But Maoist rebels, who want to replace the monarchy with a Communist Republic, have taken over most of Dolpa – forcing out the government agencies – destroying their buildings and killing their officials. Now they’re taking the yarchagumba tax for themselves – starving the government of its income.

Singapore trader setups with laptop
This is Nepal’s main yarchagumba exporter – he’s come back home to Dolpa for the harvest. His business has been damaged by the Maoists.

Nagendra Budhathoki, Yarchagumba exporter. Speaking in English
“The Maoists make money out of yarchagumba by imposing tax on traders and by collecting entry and harvest permit on the pickers and by harvesting the yarchagumba themselves and by imposing fines on local people and last year they made a huge amount of money by looting around 200 kg of yarchagumba.”

Argument between locals and Maoists
With so many people on the mountain the local Dopali are furious that people from outside this area have come in to harvest their yarchagumba. With the government forced out, the Maoists are in charge – so the locals want the Maoists to send the others back.

Woman shouts and cries out
You might as well kill us all – how can we feed our children if you allow others in, she shouts.

Maoist argument – pushing woman
With feelings running high, the Maoists’ decide to confiscate the men’s knives. The more people picking the crop – the more tax the Maoists can claim - so they’re reluctant to turn anyone away.

Interview Maoists – Comrade Deepak. Speaking in Nepali - Require Subtitles or voice over.
“We make a lot of money from the taxes people pay on yarchagumba. It’s the main source of income for our party.”

Cleaning yarchagumba, Maoist soldiers
Altogether, the Maoists earn more than 3 million US dollars a year from the herb. The funds pay for their army which is cheap to run: these two soldiers like many others - are volunteers. They don’t wear uniform – and expect locals to house and feed them. Their weapons are often basic – even home-made.

Comrade Nir-mal and comrade Binod

Question; “Is that a grenade in your pocket.”?
Answer; “Yes a grenade.”

Question; “Can I see it”?

“How are you going to use that?”

Answer; “It’s for fighting against the government.”

I repeat; “It’s for fighting against the government”?

“Yes”.

Razor wire and soldier pix
In Dunia, one of the few government controlled areas in Dolpa, the chief military official refuses to admit the Maoists are running the yarchagumba business.

Mr Shankar Koirala – Chief Government Officer for Dolpa, speaking in pigeon English, subtitles suggested

“There is no Maoist interference, because we always provide high security in this district… because of that there is no Maoist influence in this area.”

Question – “And if you go up to Upper Dolpa”?

Answer - “We always monitor the situation. If we need to, we will go to every part of the district.”

Question. – “So no problem?”

Answer – “No problem”

Soldiers
But the truth is - more than 90 percent of yarchagumba is smuggled out, with no tax paid to the government. And when people do pay the official tax – the Maoists punish them.

Donkey convoy
One trader told me his donkeys were kidnapped - they were carrying his crop - worth a million dollars.

Robbed trader clip, Speaking Nepalese, subtitles or voice over required
“The donkeys were carrying my yarchagumba. Eleven of them were stolen by armed Maoists. But they didn’t harm my wife and children.”

Sorting yarchagumba in silver box
But despite the risks, it’s still good business. The price of yarchagumba has soared in the last ten years. It’s up by a staggering 4000 percent and is now half the price of gold.


Nagendra Budhathoki, Yarchagumba exporter: speaking in English.
“A friend of mine went to Japan and went to one restaurant where they where selling vegetable soup with three yarchagumba floating on top, and the price was 100 dollars per bowl.”

Raaj Waiba, Owner of ‘Tea World’ - makes tea and drinks it
Script: Here in Kathmandu, the herb is processed and sold as a miracle health drink – and even as a treatment for cancer patients. It’s only in the last three years that it’s been legal to collect Yarshagumba in Nepal – until then, it was a protected species. (up sof full power)

Raaj Waiba, Owner of ‘Tea World’, speaking in English
“The main property gives you like energy unlimited – like a Viagra. So I call it a natural Viagra from the Himalayas. Man it gets you really sexy, I guess.” (Laughs)

Processing plant pictures
Studies by Beijing Medical University have shown a 64% success rate among men suffering from impotency after taking a course of yarshagumba. It’s recommended that it’s first dried, powdered and mixed with milk before being consumed three times a day. The Tibetans suggest combining it with sparrows head and the urine of a snow frog. But whatever the concoction, the best thing is there are no side effects.

Yaks being loaded up, Man putting load on yak – stripy sack on top
and walking up narrow track to go to Tibet. Yaks climbing steep path by lake.

These yaks are carrying a valuable yarchagumba consignment. They’re heading away from the government areas - towards China. The Maoists have already taken their cut -- leaving the government without a penny – and further weakened by the loss of income.

Children going into tent
In Dolpa, a family’s wealth is measured by the number of children who can pick yarchagumba.

Family in tent – child hands money over to father – big fire:
For Paljung’s family, the political situation is beyond their grasp. They’re only looking to survive - unaware they’re fuelling a war - which is destroying their country.