The Zagros consist of parallel ranges of mountains about as high as the Alps. You have to walk right up and then right down all of them on the migration – but that hardly seems to matter, since on the tops it’s like you can see the whole world below and around you.
This unmarried woman is walking fast. Notice her light plastic shoes – my walking boots were ridiculed as too heavy to be practical.
We were in a ‘flock jam’ here. With only one pass over the highest mountains, all the families are forced to converge from their many grazing paths. Of course, on a road, the stock can’t feed so everyone tries to move on as fast as possible.
The sheep and goats walk with the shepherds, and are usually separate from the donkeys, horses and women. Animals who break legs on the steep and rocky ground, however, are carried for perhaps half a day; then splinted with a handy stick and made to walk – although they will be given extra fodder and …
Morteza is relaxing at the midday halt, in his more everyday striped undertrousers. On the migration, we all slept close together on the ground with the herds around us, although we usually found a less rocky place than this for the night. Note Morteza’s cartridge-belt.
Terasi was the oldest man in our walking group and he always wore the traditional black overtrousers – demonstrating the respect due to him at his age. All Bakhtiari men wear felt hats, coming down from the time of the first Iranian dynasty, the Medes (8th century BCE).
Along the way, we met lots of other families, all migrating. Only one of these women is married – it is the unmarried girls who wear the layered and brightly coloured dresses. It is usual for the smallest child to carry the all-important kettle – ready for action as soon as they halt.
Four days after we started walking, we met up with the two other families who the Faridgi usually migrate with. Here, some of us are shown getting ready to cross a small river. The boxes contain chickens and chicks – I was always told how important it is to cover these with the old jumpers, …
Morteza is with his youngest daughter Akram and their dog here, just at the start of the migration. Most Bakhtiari dogs are ferocious and not fully domesticated – this one is brave as well as smart, and I once saw him fight off seven other dogs who had all joined forces to attack him.
Water traditionally – and still now – is transported in goat-skins. These keep water and doogh (the traditional yoghurt drink) beautifully cool in the hottest weather. I took ages learning how to properly tie the skins closed.