Photos

Silkroad travels: Pamir
During our approach of the village Alichur we saw our first Yaks. Yaks have been brought to the Pamir by Kyrgyz sheperds. Wakhi sheperds are spending their summer in the Pamir with sheep and goats. The picture reveals the low productivity of the soil at this altitude (3845 m). The combination of long frost periods, dryness and salt brings steppes or deserts.
Domestic Yaks are really likable animals. You can ride or put a load on a Yak. It gives milk, wool, meat, bones for making enclosures. In some cases the young Yaks are held close to the house or yurt with a string on a pole. The mother Yaks then automatically return at night to take care of their young. In other cases the sheperds follow the free roaming herds with a motor cycle so they can milk them.