The Summit Prince of Braga: A journey in Nepal's Annapurnas (Footsteps on the Mountain travel diaries Book 6)

The Annapurna Circuit was enjoying a record year, with more tourists than ever before. In the big tourist lodges in Manang, trekkers were having to sleep on the floor.

Slightly to the north of the Marsyangdi Valley just off the bustling tourist trail, a narrow gorge guarded by sheer cliffs hundreds of feet high leads to a hidden valley high on the Tibetan plateau, a region remote enough for Khampa guerillas to use it as a hideout when they were fighting Chinese Communists in the 1970s.

This is the Naar Phu valley, a land of mediaeval villages hewn into rock, isolated Buddhist monasteries and snow-capped mountains. It's an area once closed to tourists, but now open to explore for those with restricted permits.

It's a place of surprising colour which Mark Horrell was privileged to explore, but it wasn't the only highlight of a remarkable trek, which saw one of the best views the Himalayas have to offer, a knife-edge summit, and the bleak and lonely Tilicho Lake, reputedly the highest lake in the world. Oh, and some crazy horse racing. There were so many highlights; all he needed was someone to show him a way through it all.

The Summit Prince of Braga is his travel diary from a journey through a hidden part of Nepal's Annapurnas, and will appeal to any lover of trekking and climbing in the Nepal Himalayas, or of mountain literature in general. The book includes many of the author's photographs from his journey.