Life on the jailoo
Every summer, thousands of families still move their herds to high pasture. What that migration actually involves.
Jailoo means summer pasture. Each June, families load bedding, stoves, the disassembled frame of a yurt and several months of supplies onto trucks and move several thousand metres up into the mountains with their animals.
A working day
It starts before six with milking and ends after the herds come back down at dusk. In between there is cheese to press, kymyz to churn, and animals to move between grazing areas. Guests who want to help are welcomed; guests who want to sit and watch the weather move across the valley are equally welcome.
Why it still happens
Not nostalgia — economics. The high pastures produce better milk and better meat, and the system has worked in these valleys for a very long time. It is changing, though: motorbikes have replaced some horses, and solar panels now sit on most yurts.