Gurkha Selection
28 images Created 7 Dec 2015
I photographed the selection of Gurkhas at various locations in Nepal during 1996/97 on assignment for Le Figaro, a French magazine.
While there, I visited recruiting stations in the hills each November, at altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas.
That year, only 160 of the best succeeded in the journey to the UK. The Gurkhas have been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
While there, I visited recruiting stations in the hills each November, at altitudes ranging from 4,000-12,000 feet. After initial selection, 7,000 are accepted for further tests from which 700 are sent down here to Pokhara in the shadow of the Himalayas.
That year, only 160 of the best succeeded in the journey to the UK. The Gurkhas have been supplying youth for the British army since the Indian Mutiny of 1857.
