Inside Komic, India’s High-Altitude Village With Half Oxygen

Komic is a small village very high in the Himalayan mountains of India.

The air has much less oxygen than at sea level.

People who have lived there for generations have adapted to the thin air.

The weather is extremely cold, and trees have difficulty growing.

Villagers build houses with very thick mud walls to stay warm.

They burn dried animal dung for cooking and heating because there are few trees.

Snow can block roads for almost six months, making travel difficult.

Even so, the villagers help one another and have built a life in this remote place.