Die neuen Nomaden von Kirgisistan

Bachit is a clever shepherd. The 40-year-old Kyrgyz has long since realized that something crucial is changing in his homeland, the Tien Shan mountains on the border with China: The peaks, which are up to 7,000 meters high, are thawing rapidly compared to earlier decades. This is a consequence of global warming, with as yet unimagined global effects. Bachite has adapted to the new situation: For several years now, he has been driving his huge herd of cattle from the village to a 3000-meter-high summer pasture in May - and is facing increasing difficulties in the process. 360°- GEO Reportage accompanies the nomadic Kyrgyz family and their 600 animals on their adventurous trek through gorges and raging mountain streams. The Kyrgyz Bachit lives from traditional pasture farming. The meadows around the villages are eaten away after the winter and the animals have to be led to new land. Therefore, every year in May, Bachit gathers his herds of cows, sheep, horses and yaks, and moves to a summer pasture 3000 meters above sea level. This is because, thanks to the warming of the climate, today even the high altitude pastures are greened. All the household goods are tied up on two ancient, fully loaded trucks that drive ahead of the slower-moving cattle train. Bachit and his men escort the herd uphill for 120 kilometers. Many of the young animals are injured on the way and have to be transported the rest of the way on the truck. It is particularly dangerous to cross the raging mountain streams, whose water masses increase from year to year due to the rapidly melting glaciers. For four months, the shepherd lets his herds graze on the high alpine pastures of the Tien Shan Mountains before the whole trek descends back down into the valley to spend the winter in the village. For Bachit, the nomadic life according to old Kyrgyz tradition is paying off. He has seen the climatic changes as an opportunity and has become a wealthy man as a result. But he, too, wonders: How will the progress of the glacier melt affect him in the future?