They say the Himalayas are the king of mountains. When I was preparing for the trip, I considered myself very lucky to have the opportunity to see and experience these lofty mountains up close. Now that I have completed my adventurous journey, I feel even luckier than before.
The day after our arrival, we set off at dawn to visit the nomads. No one could say exactly where they camped, we only relied on our own and our driver's intuition. We started up along the Indus. We could only move slowly and with difficulty, as the road was very dusty and stony. After a long way the valley began to widen a little. At a point we noticed animals grazing in the valley. We knew that where there are pashmina goats and yaks, there will be nomads as well. Our intuition did not deceive us, we saw the white tents a little higher in the valley.
A Tibetan nomadic tribe set their camp in the valley for these cold winter months. Even then there is some dry grass in the valley for the animals. The nomads of the Himalayas return to certain places from time to time. They mostly live in tents, but they also build simple houses and pens, which are only used temporarily. In most cases, the houses are built of stone or carved bricks.
There are no trees in this region. In fact, there is not even a bush, only short grasses grow, so they use dried dung for burning. The dung is collected in sacks from pastures and stored in large piles next to houses or placed on top of stone fences.
Within the small community of nomads, everyone has a task. Men and older boys drive the animals out to graze early every morning and return only after dark. In the morning, the women milk the yaks and clean the pens, and during the day they are active around the house. The task of the older children is to collect the dry dung from the pastures and to supervise the younger children.
Despite the cold the children played outside . One of them was flying a dragon. The strong wind tugged at the home-made plastic kite, and the boy laughed. Three small children were playing a petanque-like game with the tops of some cans. The target was a white stone and they tried to hit the stone with tin cans. Two little girls were riding bicycles on the stony road. The older boys tried to break in a small horse in the pasture. The horse tried to escape, but the boys were outnumbered. The children got very dirty in the big dust. The color of their skin was barely discernible, only their teeth turned white when they laughed. They looked really happy.
When the men return with the animals in the evening, life around the tents comes alive. Women heat lentils for lactating goats and tie them around their mouths. While the mother goats are munching on the warm lentils, they are nursing the kids. Children, young and old, take part in herding the goats. They are herded into stone pens next to the tents, while the animals obey even the tiniest child. The elderly wait for the animals in the pen and check whether there are any injured among them.
By the time the sun goes down, the work outside the house is finished. At this time, families move into their tents or houses and the children listen attentively to the stories that the adults share before going to sleep.
When these intimate family moments began, we set off for our accommodation in Chumathang. We made this trip every day during our stay: we left for the nomads at dawn and returned to the accommodation after dark. Day by day we got to know these simple but outstanding people and their culture more and more.
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