Shadow Hunters: The Nest Gatherers of Tiger Cave

by Eric Valli

Photographers Valli and Summers (Honey hunters of Nepal, 1988) explore the mystery of Thai sea caves, where men risk their lives clambering up 400-foot bamboo scaffolding in search of swiftlet nests, prized ingredient in an Oriental delicacy.

112 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1990

About the author

Éric Valli is a French photographer and film director.

Valli specializes in mountain scenery and is an expert on the Himalaya Mountains. In 1999 he directed the adventure film Caravan about survival in the Himalayas starring Thinle Lhondup, which became the first Nepalese film to be nominated for a Best Foreign Film Award at the Oscars.

Valli has also shot a documentary with Diane Summers on the honey hunters of Nepal documenting honey hunting by the Gurung tribesmen of west-central Nepal. In it, they enter the jungle in search of wild honey where they use indigenous tools under precarious conditions to collect honey.

Valli has received three World Press Awards for his work Chasseurs de Miel (1988), Chasseurs des Ténèbres (1991) and Les enfants de la poussière (1991).