3.5*

Over the past year, Ella Maillart has become not just one of my favourite travel writers but also a bit of a heroine of mine.

The Land of the Sherpas is an account of her trip to Nepal in 1951, just shortly after the country opened its borders to foreign visitors for the very first time.

Maillart's writing style really lends itself to discovering the landscape and the people as she pays much attention to details and describes what she sees rather than making comparisons to items or scenes that may be familiar to her readers.

This short report is not as extensive and contemplative as her other books but nonetheless it was interesting to accompany her on a journey that must have been among one of the first of its kind for a European. ( )