Nanda Devi

Hugh Thomson read English at Cambridge University. One of Britain's leading explorers of Inca settlements, he has led many research expeditions to the Peruvian Andes and has discovered several Inca ruins. He has documented his travels through Peru in The White Rock: An Exploration of the Inca Heartland and Cochineal Red: Travels through Ancient Peru. Another of his books, Tequila Oil: Getting Lost in Mexico, was serialized by BBC Radio 4. For The Green Road into the Trees, he returned to Britain to write about his own country. It won the inaugural Wainwright Prize for Nature and Travel Writing. Hugh is also a film-maker and has won many awards for his documentaries, including Indian Journeys with the writer William Dalrymple, which won the Grierson Prize for Best Documentary Series, and the acclaimed Dancing in the Street: A Rock and Roll History, for which he won a BAFTA nomination. With journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, he directed Afghanistan Unveiled for CNN and C4, a devastating indictment of the Afghan treatment of women. His recent BBC series Treasures of the Indus explored the Buddhist heritage in Pakistan and Mughal influence in India. More details can be seen at www.thewhiterock.co.uk ]