Himalayan Gold rush 2011

Directed by Eric Valli

At an altitude of 5000 meters in the Himalayas is found Yarsagumba, a caterpillar-fungus that is worth more than its weight in gold. Thousands of Nepalese villagers trek up the mountains every spring, braving difficult temperatures and terrain, in search of this hard-to-find but invaluable commodity. Its trade in Hong Kong and China, where it is considered a medicinal mushroom and elixir of youth, amounts to billions of Euros every year. Watch the journey of this extraordinary creature from mountainsides to pharmacy windows, and the people who hunt it down.