Flowers of Annapurna

Speaker: Mike Small. The Annapurna Circuit is one of the great hikes of the world. More than 150 kms of trails pass from an altitude of 80m with subtropical rainforest to as high as 5500m high-alpine/ subarctic areas near the world's highest mountain pass at Thorung La. Culturally diverse, it is also a biodiversity hotspot as a result of the intersection of several floristic regions and extremes of precipitation and altitude. Floral diversity also results from numerous geological uplifts that formed the Himalaya and the monsoon after India collided with Asia 50 million years ago. This talk follows the trail and the flowers during the monsoon flowering season of 2024.