Lost Cave Temples of the Himalaya

This documentary is the first of two which explore the cave temples found in Mustang, which is now a part of Nepal, though it was previously an independent kingdom. The second part will be shown next week.

Most of the temples are in very inaccessible places up steep cliff faces, and many of them have been abandoned by the local population, who cannot access them.

In 2007 Liesl Clark filmed her husband Pete Athans and climber Renan Ozturk as they tried to access some of these caves, and record them for the first time.

They had only a month to do the work on this visit, and they get off to a poor start being obstructed by snow blizzards.

Eventually they get some fine weather and began the exploration in earnest, turning up long lost paintings and artifacts from the caves, including manuscripts.

Later they are joined by an archaeological crew, both local and foreign, as they access more of the caves.

The locals are not always happy with them trespassing on their property, and there is an incident where they are stopped on the edge of a cave, and money is demanded.

They have to pay up to gain entrance, and when they do get inside the cave is empty and worthless, which the local leaders find amusing.

One very nice thing about the film is that Liesl and Pete take their young children along with them, and they seem to be perfectly adapted to the life. Like all young kids they are little explorers in the making.