Climate change forces denizens of ancient Himalayan village to relocate

A stream which is the main source of drinking water flows through the settlement of the abandoned Samjung village in the Mustang region, 462km west of Kathmandu, Nepal. —Photos: NIRANJAN SHRESTHA/AP

The Himalayan village of Samjung did not die in a day.

Perched in a wind-carved valley in Nepal's Upper Mustang, more than 13,000 feet (3,962 meters) above sea level, the Buddhist village lived by slow, deliberate rhythms – herding yaks and sheep and harvesting barley under sheer ochre cliffs honeycombed with "sky caves” – 2,000-year-old chambers used for ancestral burials, meditation and shelter.