Landscape Photography Magazine

“Making a living as a pro photographer is no easy task. Some times you can be lead to dangerous and unexpected places, beyond your wildest dreams. Simon Watkinson shares his story”

Leaving Kathmandu airport for Lukla left me with the odd twinge of nerves and my stomach churning. The night before, sitting in the comfort of my hotel room, I did the foolish thing of  ‘YouTubing’ Lukla airport – the most dangerous airport in the world. There were many clips to choose from. The one that stood out and left me cold was the one that showed a plane crashing into the cliff face, killing every one on board. Needless to say, I had a sleepless night, running the flight through my head time and time again and thinking of my family back home in Derbyshire. The reason for flying into Lukla was a commission to shoot high quality trekking lodges for the Yeti Comfort Lodge Company. I have carried out some tough assignments before now, but I had no idea how tough this one was going to be or how the events that unfolded nearly resulted in my death.

There was an unsettled buzz of apprehension and nerves amongst the small number of passengers as we sat on the small aircraft. I think everyone else must have done the same as me the night before and watched the YouTube videos. In the back of our minds we knew there was a slim chance of becoming another Lukla statistic. I listened in to some of the conversations going on around me and the only topic was the landing; it seemed that everyone was trying to…