Kate Humble Explores Nomadic Culture | Nomad Compilation | TRACKS

foreign [Music] I've always been fascinated by nomads constantly on the Move that's the most beautiful Journey surviving in some of the world's most remote wildernesses where it's a removal fan when you need it and living cheek by Zhao with nature it's always seemed a wildly romantic existence [Music] it's the most magical place but it's no easy life this is this is Cole but makes you feel physically sick and in today's modern world they're under increasing pressure [Music] I'm going to live with three groups of Nomads in Mongolia [Music] Siberia and with Nepal's last Nomads the router Namaste these hunter-gatherers once lived deep in the forest [Music] but today there are less than 150 router people living as Nomads and the pressure for them to settle is mounting I just want all these people to go away and leave them alone as they're facing increasing threats from the outside world [Music] oh for over 900 years the dark steeply wooded Hills of central Nepal have been home to the famously secretive router foreign they are a group of people who traditionally have lived very remotely from settled people in Nepal these are people that really live life on the move but in recent years they've been leaving the forest and settling within Nepali Society all except one small group very little has been written about them we don't think that anyone has ever filmed them for television before and getting access to them has been a very long and careful negotiating process it's a two-day Journey Into the Heart of Southwestern Nepal to a small District called dialect where I'm hoping to travel with the country's last nomadic group the route a move every few weeks around this their traditional territory which is roughly the size of Wales [Music] 17 router communities once roamed Northern India and Nepal but today only one remains a small group of around 140 people laughs I've been told that their current Camp is somewhere down in this Valley from what I can gather the a quite private people so I don't know really what sort of reception to expect the route I live by three guiding principles no settlement no education and no agriculture [Music] foreign I'm Keen to know how they can hold on to these beliefs as they come into closer contact with more mainstream Society [Music] wow [Music] so that's where they are that little Camp of cloth covered shelters this is it this is the entire Rowdy population of Nepal right here you can also see how close they are to the houses up on the side here they're camped right on the edge of people's rice paddies there's always suspicion between settled and non-settled people I mean you know we only have to look at our own country in the way that people view Travelers given that there are so few of them left and that there seems to be this shift towards living much closer to settle people does this spell the end of the last nomadic tribe of Nepal foreign this way thank you Namaste you have to shake your hand no okay [Music] we've pre-arranged our filming and we're compensating the router for their time but there's an uneasiness in the camp and no one's very keen to engage with me [Music] [Music] foreign I want to know first who taught you to carve the banana thank you [Music] I don't want to buy it yet maybe another day [Music] oh tobacco it seems at the moment that I am being seen a little bit like a human ATM and everything is about money everything you know that's a nice Bowl yes you can buy it you know I'll be welcoming to you if you pay me which is I suppose not that surprising really given that there's been so little uh contact with foreigners it's going to take time to win their trust Bart as is often the case it's the children who seem the most intrigued [Music] [Music] the router are moving away from the deep forest where they had no need for money but now as they enter the cash economy they're some of the poorest people in one of the poorest Nations on Earth [Music] [Music] the crew and I are camping a short walk from the routes settlement foreign day at one point I I tried to shake a woman's hand and she absolutely wouldn't have anything to do with me no eye contact she physically turned away and that's that's uh quite hard to deal with but it would be lovely to feel at some point that there is a genuine connection and interaction that isn't just paid for [Music] today the router have decided to move [Music] foreign [Music] it's not clear why they're moving but with such simple dwellings and very few possessions it's a quick process packing up camp ing the router may not own much but it often takes two days to carry their belongings to the new campsite you tell me what to do um okay so what would you like me to do excellent it's all going very very well it is so frustrating I want to help and make friends but to the router I still represent only one thing [Music] I feel very guilty not carrying anything particularly when you see these little kids walking up with their human loads but at the moment they so still don't really know what to do with me and I suppose I don't really know how to break the barriers down okay go ahead [Music] she looks very very pregnant and although this pole weighs nothing just feel you want to take it sure okay and then a small breakthrough I thought that if I waited long enough at the side of the road looking empty-handed someone who would eventually give me something to carry it feels like a tiny tiny step to being allowed in these Hills are at 1700 meters above sea level so walking with heavy loads in this heat and humidity is incredibly tough [Music] it's all going quite well I've gained a pole and a goat yeah it's hard work we're doing this in the hottest part of the day I'm trying very hard not to show any sign of weakness whatsoever when you've got little things like this probably carrying more than their body weight while we rest one of the most respected Elders mine Badu tells me about their moves [Music] um foreign used to hunt monkeys and forage for food in the forest but over the past decade with the cultivation of more and more land they're becoming increasingly reliant on trade foreign [Music] [Music] after four hours of tracking we arrive at the new camp which looks remarkably like someone's Farm let me just pop that down there are four route a Chiefs each elected by the community one of them Ein Badu has asked me to go with him to collect wood each time they move the route a rebuild their simple shelters taking what they need from the surrounding Forest so this is what the villagers are afraid of all the router now spreading out and cutting trees down now you might think why don't they bring everything with them but given that they carry everything by hand and having just carried a few poles myself I can understand why they just think well you know it'll all rot down we'll just leave it there but equally you can see why the villagers must think what a waste of wood you need more we're going this way here this one it's illegal for nepales to fell trees they're only allowed to take dead wood from the forest floor so it's going to fall this way okay so we go that side but the government has granted the route a special permission to take what they need it's easy to see how that could lead to conflict thank you foreign [Music] [Music] and he doesn't mind that you come and set up your camp on his land do you pay him something to use the land ing [Music] agriculture is vital to Nepal's struggling economy but as more land is cultivated the router increasingly encroached onto farmed land provoking tension between two very different ways of living I'm Nita bamshi and her family have farmed this land for the past 10 years did they ask your permission to stay on your land ings I've been with the router for three days now it's hard getting to know them but I am starting to understand their sense of identity they are enormously proud of who they are and there is something Regal about them in their filthy clothing and their matted hair and yet you know the women walk through that camp-like princesses they've got this incredible bearing about them they look magnificent and if anything is going to keep them as router as these you know highly mobile highly proud obstreperous difficult impossible to understand people it is going to be just the essence of them of what it is that make them router [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] the next day the router Gathering yet more wood but this time to make handicrafts in the past they Bartered their boxes and bowls for food but today they're mostly sold for cash it's not enough to live on so in 2009 the Nepali government began to give each router a monthly cash allowance of six pounds the router are clearly becoming dependent on the cash economy biabadu another Chief is one of the best Carvers in the community can you tell me what you're making me [Music] um to shoot David has six children his two eldest boys Deepak and Kapil are already becoming accomplished Carvers do you teach Kapil and Deepak how to carved [Music] in raote culture only the men carve but everyone gets involved in trading and they seem happy enough for me to help finish these bowls for Market foreign [Music] we're taking the bowls to the local Village of godabas where a Trader is waiting to buy them [Music] yeah good idea [Music] foreign I head off with beer Badu's Sons it's a two-hour walk to the Village at yet more ridiculously steep hills [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is quite a walk to Village Shops thank you I thought I was reasonably fit and reasonably strong and I couldn't beat a five-year-old it's funny out of their Camp the atmosphere is very different people seem to be a bit more open and friendly towards me um generally a bit more chatty a bit more eye contact from the women a bit of smiling maybe it's just the excitement of being near a shop with tobacco and fizzy drinks now radar waiting for the router is from another District 200 kilometers away the bowls will be refined and decorated for the European market where they'll sell for up to 40 pounds each how much will you pay for the bowls foreign the cash from the sale of the bowls is used to buy rice flour vegetables and tobacco [Music] did the sale go well today did you did you get some good money yeah and what will you do with the money now right away as the router moved closer to the settled World they become more what do you think about things like mobile phones or televisions and the same for phones as well do you think your life uh would be better if you lived in a village like this one settled [Music] this is so surprising to hear wherever I go it's always the younger generation that wants new technology to modernize but here it seems these ratte boys genuinely hold their Traditions dear [Applause] foreign [Music] and on that farm he had a dog e-i-e-i-o and then you do the noise that the dog makes yeah yeah the mood in the camp has definitely become more relaxed and if singing Old MacDonald helps I'm not proud on that farm he had a bakra e-i-e-i-o yeah everywhere [Laughter] old MacDonald had a farm e-i-e-i-o and on that farm he had a what's the word for Cockrell brilliant [Music] helping with the move selling bowls with the boys and now singing Old MacDonald really seems to have broken the ice [Music] maybe a little too much Tulsi is Deepak and kapil's Aunt she's been asking me um about whether I've got a baby or not she's a widow her husband died a few years ago from what they think was malaria how many children do you have three and this is your youngest one youngest daughter and then the other two you have Sons Sons or daughters in round two families is it um good to have daughter or son or it doesn't matter you're almost as pretty as your mum [Music] when her husband died Tulsi lost her main source of income as only the men are allowed to carve bowls to sell she does receive the monthly government allowance but it's not enough to sustain her family but the route a are a close-knit community tulsi's brother-in-law birbadu and his sons Kapil and Deepak helped to support her foreign 's Woody stem leaving a softer chute guys the phone funds are boiled in salted water with chillies and then left to go cold Tulsi and her children will eat them with plain boiled rice this evening and a few days some sort of acceptance [Music] thank you thank you for today it was a really special day [Music] [Applause] [Music] this morning it's all change the router have decided to move again the decision to move is taken by the whole group but the Chiefs have the final say an advanced party has already scouted out a new campsite slowly the whole community embarks on the six-hour Trek I'm helping Tulsi [Music] the route they usually move when their Camp becomes unclean if the water supply isn't good enough or after a death in the group this time they want to move to a site with more space foreign Festival of the Hindu calendar Desai they want a campsite that will sustain them for the duration of the 15-day celebration I suspect had been given the kids load I'm carrying firewood probably not that much 15 kilos but this hill is a killer even for the nimble-footed rowdy [Applause] tell you what where's the removal van when you need it the one thing that is coming through unequivocally during the time that I spend with these people [Music] is that there nomadism is right at their heart this is their life and it's hard but it's what makes them tick and I really get that [Music] after three hours we arrive at the halfway mark my small load's been hard enough but tulses is nearer 40 kilos about the weight of a 10 year old child [Music] being with people like this makes me feel just so inadequate they're so strong and resilient and they kind of fit with this landscape and they don't think that what they do is extraordinary this is just their life and if I or You 've got the impression at all that they don't want to go crops because it's all a bit of an effort and they like the sense of Freedom don't be fooled that they are in any way idle or lazy what I've seen today can only be achieved by people who really really know what hard work is [Music] the routes new camp on these man-made Terraces is surrounded by a busy road it feels a long way away from their traditional settlements deep in the forest [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] [Music] making Valiant attempts to build tool Siege shelter and I'm trying to help as much as I can but Tulsi is clearly a hard task master and is demanding perfection [Laughter] over the last decade as other route a groups have settled they've become subsumed into mainstream Society but these last Nomads attract attention wherever they go you know [Music] is employed by the district to take care of this small communal plot of land [Music] um foreign [Music] foreign foreign foreign you should listen to your wife maybe and perhaps you should just get off that hill and go somewhere else where everyone else can just get some peace I am certainly that's okay it's a very tense afternoon I can't say I'm surprised site that they've moved to is so public and there are a lot of people who are threatening them in one way or another there was one man in particular who works in the forestry around here is incredibly upset that they've cut down the trees and I have to say I can totally see his point but I am really torn so I feel incredibly protective it's really odd but I just think I just want all these people to go away and leave them alone um so [Applause] it's really silly but I was looking at you people's face when his father be a Badu and this other man were just yelling at each other and he just looked he looked distraught really distraught and as much as as much as the route they say but they will always live this life and they're proud of who they are you wonder whether eventually they'll either be forced somehow to conform or they'll be forced back into the forest and away from Villages again [Music] when people come and they shout at you and they want you to go away does that happen a lot of um registered [Music] foreign [Music] today is the start of the Hindu festival Desai the routes own belief system is a mixture of Hinduism and animism the ancient belief that all things in nature animals plants and the elements possess a spiritual essence [Music] rerouteau family a special payment of 65 pounds with which they buy a goat for Slaughter and enough food for the 15 days of Celebration right here [Music] the chief District officer sagamani parajuli has arrived to make the payment s would the government like in the long term to see the router become a settled people yes we have to convince them to be settled their life will be easier comfortable do you think they would really be willing to settle we have to convince them in future I hope they will come to the mainstream social life it will be better and gradually they will not remain barefooted all the time I hope within two to three decades their life will be drastically changed hand towards your Delight I think it would be a shame it's pretty clear that by handing out this cash The Nepalese government is trying to entice these last nomadic router into becoming settled I think it would be enormously sad if the router would just to be absorbed into conformist Nepali Society the world has become so homogenized and when you meet and spend time with people like this you realize that there is a great deal of value in diversity but My worry is that with such a small group of them just 140 still living like Nomads what chance do they really have it may in the end be a combination of all those social and political pressures and the Vats they become used to having a bit of cash in their pockets that may undermine this extraordinary way of life but the identity of being a router is extraordinarily strong there is a real pride in their Heritage and I don't think they're going to let that go lightly foreign [Music] s the tension of yesterday is forgotten and the router begin their decide celebrations [Music] for the last two weeks they've had me singing Old MacDonald and I have tried so hard to get them single dance for me and they're like nope we don't do it we don't do it um there is just something wonderful about this atmosphere with the light sailing and this wonderful smell of a very fragrant smoke in the air this has this very simple joy about it and I think that is very much a facet of routine life they have their challenges and put up with a lot of prejudice and negativity hey I'm Betty how are you okay yeah it's great yes they just have this fantastic exactly generosity of spirits particularly when I had a bit of Chan which I think might be flowing quite hard tonight thank you [Applause] this is my last night with the routine and tomorrow I'm going to be heading back to Kathmandu and then home and for some reason that I can't really explain they don't seem to be the sort of people that you say goodbye to so I'm just going to lead them to it to celebrate their side and then to pack up their things and move on foreign [Music] feel physically sick traveling with a family of reindeer herders in one of the most extreme places on Earth life in this freezing Wilderness has always been tough but now they're facing the global threats of climate change and heavy industry the Amal Peninsula is one big gas reserve foreign I've always been fascinated by nomads constantly on the move that's the most beautiful Journey surviving in the world's most remote wildernesses where's the removal van when you need it and living cheap by jowl with nature it's always seemed a wildly romantic existence it's the most magical place but it's no easy life it's sort of cold that makes you feel physically sick and in today's modern world they're under increasing pressure [Music] I'm going to live with three groups of Nomads in Nepal Namaste Mongolia and now within the Nets in Siberia these reindeer herders have always lived life on the margins but today giant Global threats are encroaching on their traditional migrations can they hold on to their ancient way of life foreign [Music] peninsula in Northern Russia a vast and Frozen Wasteland jutting deep into the Arctic Circle home to the nomadic reindeer people the nanettes in their language yamal means end of the world and if anywhere feels like that it's this place minus 26 is the air temperature but with the wind chill it's minus 35.3 [Music] I have never been in the Arctic Wilderness in the teeth of the winter I feel inadequately prepared for life in a landscape like this and in temperatures like these it's truly impossible to imagine how any human being could or would choose to live in a region like this the nanettes have survived in these extremes for Generations but now they're facing serious threats that could undermine their traditional way of life like so many places in the world this is an environment that's changing rapidly particularly with regards to climate in 2013 a dramatic temperature rise in mid-winter led to the death of thousands of reindeer but it isn't the only threat to these people the discovery of huge reserves of gas in the northern peninsula brought in machinery have brought in roads have brought in railways this massive infrastructure supporting the gas industry is squeezing and blocking the Nanette's migratory routes I'm hoping to find out how they're coping as these pressures stack up against them it's early December and our journey begins at the edge of the Arctic Circle in the town of salakat from here six-wheel drive trucks called trekles are taking us 200 kilometers further north we've arranged a rendezvous with a Nanette's family who are migrating South across the tundra the baron permafrost of the Amal peninsula we've been making our way painfully slowly along this very difficult Road and suddenly the truck in front of us which is carrying all the fuel and a lot of our equipment lost an entire Tire this is the size of the thing that we're dealing with so core Sergey and Igor are now having to try and work out how they can get this back on the trailer somewhere as night falls the temperature drops to -40 attempting a repair in these conditions is perilously difficult the trailer didn't get fixed last night and we ended up here which is one of these strange trading posts next to the railway it was midnight and everybody decided that if there was anywhere to stay we would give up for the night we did actually find a part which is miraculous and Sergey and he got welding it onto the trailer but we spent the night here in a shipping container everybody crowded in together frankly if we manage to get to get an Annette's camp today I think it'll be a miracle [Music] this remote Trading Post serves as a Depot for gazprom the Russian energy giant exploiting the gas Fields here and as one of the many reindeers slaughterhouses that are dotted across the peninsula [Music] in recent years many nanettes have been forced to leave their nomadic lives some of them have ended up working here I heard there was um very bad weather for reindeer last year and that's a lot of herders like yourself lost a lot of animals foreign foreign foreign it's a truly heartbreaking story one that's been repeated across the tundra in 2013 over 15 000 reindeer died and over 60 families were ruined is there something one thing that you would hold responsible for that that you would blame for that the people is foreign with the trailer repaired there's over a hundred kilometers to go and the temperature is a staggeringly low minus 54. [Music] [Music] basically um we tried to leave the trading post and almost instantly the charcoal got a puncture and as they were fixing that the diesel started to freeze in both vehicles so nothing is working I think the real concern is that if we try and head off even further into the Wilderness we might be stranded in the middle of nowhere foreign to make matters worse the delays mean we've missed our rendezvous with the Nanette's family we had planned to stay with no choice but to head back to our starting point the town of salakat being up there at that Trading Post gave me a real sense of you know of another way of life I just felt deeply saddened by the way that those people's lives had turned out those men were killing reindeer day in day out that was their job and those were people whose whole lives had been about living with living alongside and looking after reindeer that would destroy the most robust of human Souls having missed the meeting with our original family we need to find another group who will take us in [Music] our quest for a new reindeer herding family has begun in a different Chapel this one running on petrol so hopefully it won't freeze up despite the fact that it is absolutely bitter again outside -35 we head for another slaughterhouse where we've been told Nanette's families are delivering their reindeer [Music] is this is the place The Slaughterhouse is over there foreign [Music] at this time of year the nanettes come in from their camps in the surrounding Tundra to sell some of their animals [Music] the cash they earn will buy what they need to survive the year ahead maybe we'll go up and see it's an extraordinary but sad sight as the reindeer are rounded up into pens ready for Slaughter every part of the animal is used the meat is sold into a profitable Global Market while the fur is made into clothing indescribably cold it's sort of cold but makes you feel physically sick if you exert yourself in any way and it feels like I'm sort of I've jumped into this otherworldly scene of kind of life and death it is hard to describe when your brain is Frozen you can feel my eyelashes freezing to my cheeks foreign [Music] Peninsula is home to the world's largest reindeer population with 600 000 animals looked after by 15 000 nomads rather sad that my first view of the reindeer here is the ones that are about to be slaughtered but I suppose what they also represent is the survival for another year of the people who own them with the reindeer rounded up their owners take a break inside a communal building there are several families here but one seems particularly friendly so Natasha who who lives with your family and um will you be migrating uh again when you're finished here Natasha would you allow me to come and learn from you about uh than the next way of life women are in charge always [Music] we set off for the family's Camp Natasha and her daughter guiding the way while kostia travels back on his Sledge foreign it's an hour's drive through the snow and across a frozen River that's okay you know you're doing good driving Daniel don't worry [Music] foreign [Music] for you oh it's beautiful look nice Natasha and Costa are nearing the end of their 500 kilometer seasonal migration at the moment they're moving every few days foreign with two other families next door is Yeager Costa's brother and in the third tent or Chum is their friend Vitali okay okay these traditional Chums are all that protect these families from the harsh Siberian winter a simple wooden frame is covered with reindeer skins and that's it without a fire it's as cold inside as out and right now that's minus 38. what a place to be can't they say harsh and Bleak about this landscape and it seems amazing but um little pyramids of snow are enough to keep whole families alive in conditions as harsh as this I think the thing that always strikes me is just how how paired die on their lives are you know this is it cost you has to move the herd to New Pasture so while his neighbors round up the reindeer to pull the sleds he prepares the harnesses foreign [Music] once a female reaches puberty it's considered bad luck if she steps over ropes poles and even men's boots it's believed to bring Misfortune to the family and their herd so Acosta when I see this should I lift it up and put it over like this so I have to walk around it and that's just for women for men it's okay you can step you didn't hit it on my heart okay [Music] these ancient beliefs are part of the Nanette's animist Faith they believe everything in nature possesses a spiritual Force when women start to menstruate they become directly connected to this Force known by the nanettes as sire May [Music] [Music] Costa and his neighbors share over 300 reindeer and like their ancestors they rely on them for food warmth and transport the three families own individual animals but they all share the workload amazingly costia jaego and Vitali can tell each animal apart even at several hundred meters [Music] oh you got it good yeah the Nanette's animals are semi-domesticated cousins of wild Reindeer the bulk of the herd is for trading while some are used to pull sleds a few are believed to be sacred and will not be killed until they're too old to walk can you all explain to me how important reindeer are to your life foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] we're taking the herd out to New Pasture for the night it's a four kilometer ride [Music] and the ground looks incredibly rough but it's actually quite a smooth ride and they move a lot faster than you think the men's days are ruled by caring for their reindeer making sure they get enough food and protecting the herd from predators like foxes Eagles Wolverines and wolves [Music] actually it's quite heavy I don't quite know how we're going to get through here we're going just flashing through some trees foreign [Music] after half an hour we arrive at a clearing the reindeer scraped through the snow to reach the liken below remarkably it's all that sustains them through the long winter months what's up hahaha the nanettes need to be constantly on the Move migrating up and down the peninsula to ensure that their herds have enough to eat to be out here with these people having had all the trials and tribulations we've had and what was really really lovely was just seeing how costume completely understood his reindeer his dogs the landscape you know I've only just met him I think I've lost my heart and this little puppy you did well didn't you little tail you can see he's clearly learning from the other dogs and when the other dogs are all going oh this one's quick see go and do it again foreign together the family on one side the crew and I on the other [Music] ever I'm not quite sure what time it is in the morning they've been amazingly hospitable these two um they absolutely refused to me and the things that we die we spent the night here in the gym and um I think this is where we're gonna be foreign [Music] most days the men tend to the reindeer whilst the women look after the home and these strict gender roles also extend to the dress code foreign pets is completely unacceptable so I need to wear a skirt so do you both make all your clothes foreign [Laughter] foreign so when your sons are older will you do the same for them okay so I put it in like that again [Laughter] look at us we are the best looking girls on the tundra what do you think yeah Natasha and Costa's Camp is next to the gas prom Railway this afternoon the director of the 350-mile train track is coming to visit [Music] the railway has blocked some of the Nanette's migration routes as the reindeer and sleds struggled to cross the track the gas industry has also been accused of damaging feeding grounds Alexandra melanchuk and his family are here on a PR exercise to find out how this heavy industry is affecting the Nanette's lives so Galena and Galena is this your first time up to this area first time and Alexander you you work up here you're based up here your work videos when the Soviet state collapsed in the 1990s multinational corporations flooded in to explore the tundra for its huge gas reserves in 2011 gazprom the Russian energy giant began to exploit them at 41 billion dollars it's the fourth most expensive energy project in the world and a vital and strategic part of the Russian economy how did you meet Costa and Natasha foreign [Music] to compensate the nanettes for blocking some of their migration routes the railway has made concessions was any um compensation given to uh to the nomadic people in this area um the gas industry pays each Nanette's adult 20 pounds a month and funds Development Across the tundra foreign do you think that this is good progress for the people of the tundra um it was a very interesting little visit I thought the most telling thing about him was uh how extraordinarily well-media trained he was there was a man who was never ever ever going to answer a question straight there are no doubt some benefits for the nanettes the tax revenues raised by the local government from the gas industry are helping to finance schools and medical facilities in the yamal district what scares me is that these are big powerful Industries and I suspect pretty Unstoppable is this a way of them seemingly to be doing the local people here a favor when actually what they're doing is gently eradicating their culture with gas production plan to treble over the next 15 years the impact on the nanettes is only just beginning [Music] it's very early in the morning and the family are on the move it's migration day the absolute essence of nomadism for me it's incredibly romantic it's sort of thing that as a child you know I wanted to be a nomad or a gypsy or in the circus you know somebody who was constantly on the move Costa Natasha their neighbors and their reindeer are heading for new pastures and I'm going with them everything has to be packed up and put on a specific sled look at him [Music] literally five minutes ago everyone was sitting around very relaxed having tea and then suddenly the whole thing is dismantled in what seems like moments it's like trying to maneuver giant chopsticks foreign it's taken three hours to pack three families and their entire lives onto 33 sleds the migration is a colorful Affair the sleds are decorated with bells and red leather tassels and the reindeer wears special harnesses it's a very beautiful thing what's it made out of foreign foreign [Music] [Music] with everything finally packed we're off thank you [Music] [Applause] we head down the ice Road alongside the railway with the herd following behind foreign [Music] have traveled nearly 500 kilometers South since September and now are only a few weeks away from their winter grazing grounds [Music] dusks falling as we head off the road and onto the wide open Tundra foreign at the new camp just as the wind picks up [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] relationship between them and their reindeer because it's a symbiotic relationship which allows people and animal to to be up in this really wild place and to not just to scratch a survival but live a kind of enviably successful way of life here [Music] foreign [Music] it's quite funny I just caught Natasha having a little moment with some of her reindeer she's a complete softy when she comes out here with bits of bread and feeds some of her favorites including you doesn't she hmm I haven't got any bread you're a reindeer you're supposed to eat Lycan the reindeer are meticulously cared for because the Nanette simply can't live without them thank you reindeer meat is the staple food and one animal can last a family up to a month [Music] so posture is uh killing a reindeer um now [Music] and he stuns the animal first with the ax on the top of the head um and then he stabs it in the back of the head and then straight into the heart and the animal's dead already [Music] this is a non-breeding male that's been kept specifically for meat nothing will be wasted foreign and the fat and awful while it's still warm it's a delicacy to drink the blood which is salted to stop it congealing very small costume but the biggest treat is the warm raw liver so I take all of it like this and can I have half of it worse than you pull this use the right shirt it's quite a mental process to uh to eat this I'm caught so enjoying it terribly much but it's actually a very mild taste and an oddly kind of quite a crisp texture you sort of um expect liver to be soft because I've only ever had it cooked before the families gather round reindeer carcass to eat their fill but they've asked us not to film any close-ups in the past the nanettes have been portrayed badly in Russian and foreign media sometimes being called Savages and even vampires for eating raw meat but why wouldn't you eat the meat while it's fresh and warm in this cold it'll be frozen solid in minutes [Music] foreign [Music] ettes make almost everything they need their sleds harnesses Chums and all their clothing whilst costume works on some antlers that he can sell Natasha is making sowing thread from dried reindeer sinew foreign [Laughter] [Music] don't tempt me hello it's one of Natasha and Costa's Sons their three sons are away at school it's the legacy of the old Soviet system which provided education for all nanettes most children have to board as their parents are constantly on the move is it hard to send your children away to school and do they then come back and and spend the holidays here with you and papa now how old will she be when she goes to school [Music] foreign [Music] she would love I think to have gone to University and although Koster and Natasha feel very rooted here to the tundra it would be interesting to see what choices their children make and I suppose the reality is will they be actually be able to make that choice or will gas extraction and climate actually take that choice away from them I don't know [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] it's my last morning living alongside Natasha kostya and their family thank you so much for all your help thank you for Lending me your beautiful coat I've become genuinely fond of the whole family so leaving them is going to be hard okay Papa nay a gotcha this is a life that is incredibly difficult not just because it's so cold you know we're north of the Arctic Circle this is a life on the edge [Music] nomadic families all over the world are are adapting evolving if you like to include parts of the modern world that suit them but I get the feeling here that they've done all those things but there is such a big outside influence that is also chipping chipping chipping insidiously away at their lives and that is the fact that the Amal Peninsula is one big gas reserve [Music] [Laughter] [Music] frankly a few nomadic people are not going to be able to stop that level of development and I really hope I'm wrong but I'm just not sure and that makes me feel genuinely sad [Music] next time I journey to Mongolia the most magical place to live with a family of Nomads who are adapting to the modern world deep in the Gobi Desert [Music] but life in this Wilderness is still dominated by the power of nature like any good Mongolian spring day starting to snow storms and predators constantly threaten their nomadic way of life I can't stand here and say don't kill that wolf it's not my place too [Music] I've always been fascinated by nomads constantly on the move I suppose a visual Journey surviving in some of the world's most remote wildernesses whilst the removals are many needed and living cheek by Zhao with nature it's always seemed a wildly romantic existence the most magical place but it's no easy life this is so cold that makes you feel physically sick and in today's modern world [Music] they're under increasing pressure [Music] three groups of Nomads in Siberia Nepal Namaste and now in Mongolia with a family of herders who are adapting to the 21st century deep in the Gobi desert clearly this is a way of life that is very very precious but life here is still dominated by the power of nature as storms and predators constantly threaten their nomadic way of life I can't stand here and say don't kill that wolf it's not my place to thank you [Music] mongolia's wild and Untamed Gobi is the largest desert in Asia it just looks like the sort of bleakest emptiest landscape and the idea of of living here and making a living here is um hard to imagine yet it's been home to families of Nomads for centuries I'm on my way to stay with one of them it's just going to be really eye-opening I think to to discover this partnership between them and their livestock and this landscape that has allowed them to thrive for this long [Music] but mongolia's Nomads have had a checkered history in 1924 the country fell under communist rule for nearly 70 years nomadism was banned and the herds were collectivized [Music] but with the arrival of democracy in the 1990s an incredible one-third of mongolia's population chose to return to their nomadic routes [Music] today it's been once again their way of life is under threat the country is going through an economic boom fueled by mining which is tempting Nomads towards a more prosperous and settled way of life there is something very romantic about the idea of nomadism often it isn't romantic when you see the reality of it often it is an incredibly hard life it's a 600 kilometer Journey from ulambatar mongolia's Capital to the southern half of the vast Gobi Desert and deep into the three Beauties mountain range [Music] what's keeping Nomads here the family I'm staying with move four times a year with the seasons at two and a half thousand meters above sea level this is their spring camp I'm Kate Kate hello okay and thank you for inviting me to stay with your family is 78 and the head of a large family she has 10 children her youngest daughter ordna lives with her and can I have a look around will you show me around exactly okay youngest son batok is staying with them to help with the busy cashmere wool Harvest [Music] [Applause] oh look at these the family owned an impressive 200 goats 150 sheep and over a hundred Yaks and horses so these cashmere goats he's hungry you can just see uh some lovely black and brown and white dots on the hillside ah Terry's Judd and that's all the adults coming in so all these little ones are going to get a feed in them so it will get very noisy [Laughter] the animals are like the family's bank account their meat and milk providing food and their wool and income in Mongolia their key to nomadic success or failure then are there many wolves in this area yeah and yeah I'm not allowed any more goats at home but I might have to make an exception they all live in this communal tent known as a gear it's their kitchen living room and bedroom has this always been your home um foreign grew up during the Communist era working on a State Farm with her husband who died two years ago their return to nomadism in the 1990s revived a long heritage and timid proudly displays her family's heirlooms in the roof of the gear foreign [Music] this ring belong to my husband's grandmother and inside there is engraved the uh the word twelfth and she was married on the 12th of September my parents also got married on the 12th of September and me and my husband got married on the 12th of September so three generations got married on the same day so it's very special yeah laughs [Music] [Laughter] [Music] life is fragile out here in the Gobi it's vital to keep their animals safe especially at this time with the newborns like this gorgeous two-day-old foal the first of the year church if those family heirlooms remind them of their past this new foal is a potent symbol of their future [Music] the most magical place [Music] the film crew and I are camping a few hundred meters up the Valley from the family [Music] clearly this is a way of life that is is very precious and they're here with dignity they're not living in abject poverty there just seems to be a huge amount of sort of well I think pride is the only word I can think of really in the in in the way that they live this life [Music] foreign [Music] first morning waking up in the Gobi there we are morning thanks everyone [Music] two it's not a sound quiet I haven't even wash my face for you I'm so sorry meeting the family yesterday which is always quite nerve-wracking because it's a big leap you're kind of stepping into their lives and hoping that they might take you in and and ask but it was just a really lovely lovely start [Music] every morning begins with rounding up the animals the relationship between man and Beast is the Bedrock of nomadism and goes back millennia foreign [Music] put timid and her family enjoy some of life's modern amenities too and what do you run off here [Music] [Music] the adult goats and sheep are separated from their young so they can graze on the surrounding mountains oh [Music] the 4x4 was perfect for fetching water but to follow the herd nothing beats a horse this is the most extraordinary saddle I feel very perched up very Uprising rather elegant but only when I'm standing still so you want me to keep the rain short okay okay yeah yeah and feet forward right if I can walk by the end of today it'll be a miracle okay Mongolians are famed for their horsemanship and like ordna most learn to ride from the age of four back in the 12th century it was horsepower that helped Mongol warlord Genghis Khan create one of the largest Empires the world has ever known [Music] goat punch sheep today we're using horses to help keep an eye on the livestock and to protect them from predators foxes wolves and snow leopards that roam these Bleak mountains so Yama in the English so what is Yama Yama uh goat you see yeah so we've been teaching each other and on and more horse so uh yeah so we've had a little language lesson I'm practically local right oh my goodness ordna spends much of the day watching The Flock but also finds time to do her beautiful and intricate sewing did timid teach you to sow so do the men so as well will your husband so cool actually in my husband he's better than me he's good he has a sewing machine so is it always your job to come out with the Sheep yeah foreign I haven't met your son yet does he not live with you and timid man age so who looks after them in Dallas Akbar um ordna's children aged 15 and 13 only come home during holidays and for special occasions so did did you do the same thing [Music] under the old communist system a strict education policy helped achieve one of the highest literacy rates in the world [Music] it continues today but to get an education children must still go to local towns and cities and as those cities grow young people are being drawn to the modern world and away from their nomadic culture [Music] foreign [Music] foreign foreign I suppose what I'm gradually unpicking about this way of life is you know ordna went to school but she's chosen to live this life you know no one's stopping anybody progressing but I think they are aware that their knowledge is Meaningful um that it does allow them to survive and it allows them to live a life that they choose they want to live this life they have an option to be somewhere else and yet they want to be here [Music] foreign 's Sons daughters and grandchildren have come together every year the family unites to castrate the young male animals position yeah it's for you [Laughter] now I can come and sit beside you first it's the young stallions how often do your family all get together when do you see everybody oh my God next the goats and Lambs all the smoke around here as far as I can gather is is almost like a sort of healing smoke um part again very much part of this ceremony it's a lot easier than a horse [Laughter] with a quick blessing the Lambs released it may look harsh but batsox doing it with real respect for his animals [Music] it's a rite of passage think of it that way foreign -rich testicles are believed to have health-giving properties but the real treat is to boil them in salted water with yellow rice to make a rich soup there's a lot here I think I've got more than my share um it's like hundreds I've got so these you just do that really delicious okay now you've done it I'm gonna have to do it mine's bigger than yours this one like that and don't make me laugh it'll be a disaster okay ready that's quite good it's not chewy at all it's very soft and rather delicious oh my goodness my poor little lambs at home good we've got very fine testicles at the moments here and now maybe I will okay no no no no no you must be of everyone else [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] 15 kilometers down the valley to visit ordna's sister Surin she and her husband single are still in their winter quarters in a sheltered spot on the edge of the mountains tomorrow they're moving to their spring camp [Music] [Laughter] like most Nomads in the Gobi Surin and single move to the same spring camp every year it's deep in the mountains and at this time should be full of fresh grass looking around there are animals every everywhere it must be quite hard herding them around here it looks like they can go right up into the mountains you must be very fit yeah okay [Laughter] thank you [Music] with a busy day ahead everyone's lending a hand surin's brother-in-law sarahgo has brought his truck [Music] oh do you want to answer it put it on the back the gears an amazingly simple structure with a canvas outer to protect against the wind and the rain a warm felted sheep's wool liner and a wooden frame to hold it all up so what next [Music] isn't it funny men always have to pack the car always [Music] last on the truck are the youngest animals that can't make the arduous Journey on foot so clever [Music] there is something lovely about that ability to be able to up sticks and go whenever you feel like it as long obviously as it's the day of the dog the or the horse I think it's taken less than four hours to pack the entirety of Surin and Senegal's home once a herd of yaks would have carried it over the mountains today it all fits onto cerago's truck but their most valuable possession the herd is still driven the traditional way by horse [Music] this is a wonderful experience but it wasn't this romantic view that brought so many Nomads back to this way of life after Communism collapsed in the 1990s High inflation and food shortages made life in towns and settlements unbearable so families like surins chose to return to nomadism in the desert [Music] four hours heading steadily uphill finally fresh Mountain pasture it's been a day-long 10 kilometer ride over the mountains to get to the spring camp [Music] oh very good homemade cares like this one are found across Asia it faces South so it gets the warmth of the Sun and is away from the prevailing bad weather agare is often given to a young couple when they get married and they'll use it for the rest of their life are you happy with your new uh with your new home with your new spot products I could I could live with this view I have to say it's pretty special it really is foreign foreign the next day back at chimitz there's sad news under cover of Darkness wolves have killed the beautiful young foal do you lose a lot of your livestock to wolves he in the back there were 100 . if you find where the wolf is what will you do foreign [Music] also believes that Predators bring some benefits foreign [Music] I simply don't know he's the one that lives here he's the one who's livestock are being killed I can't I can't stand here and say don't kill that wolf it's not my place to [Music] [Music] jimid's eldest daughter's Camp is just 500 meters down the valley [Laughter] has asked me to help comb her cashmere goats after China Mongolia is the world's largest producer of Kashmir it comes from grooming out the goat's winter hair for Nomads like titsaga it's an important cash crop foreign [Music] [Music] sells for around 70 000 two bricks or 25 pounds with her flock of 250 goats sitzagar can earn up to four and a half thousand pounds a year tell you what in another few days you're gonna have to do this to my hair as well [Laughter] [Music] as we comb the goats the weather outside turns [Music] during spring in the Gobi Mongolians talk of having Four Seasons in one day turning from a blue sky to a snowstorm in minutes foreign but this Blizzard's nothing compared to the harsh Winters when Fierce storms known as Suds often sweep in decimating herds in 2010 a severe storm was estimated to have killed a staggering eight and a half million animals thousands of herding families were forced to abandon their way of life sitsuka may earn good money from her cashmere but one bad winter could wipe her out do you hope that this way of life will continue say for your grandchildren's generation foreign [Music] basically it's a white out so um I'm all wrapped up in every layer of clothing I possess last night it was a wild night and had around 3 30. dogs were going absolutely mad which made me think I wonder if that means that there's a lot of wolf activity I just wonder with all the commotion that was going on last night whether they did come back batok decided to leave the foal carcass out for the wolves with Cubs to feed the chance of them returning was high so it was an opportunity for us to put out a night vision camera to see if we could catch the wolves in action um I just wanted to show you what the camera found that song do you want to come and see so you can see this is the foal here you can hear the dogs but Watch What Happens foreign foreign foreign [Music] we're heading off to the local town of dalan zaggad to sell some of the family's Cashmere it's a three-hour drive through the mountains and Spirits are high okay have a feeling this is going to be a dangerous day going to the big city with two nomads the last time they were in town was over three months ago so before you had a car would you go by horse to the town to sell the Cashmere foreign [Music] with a population of 18 000 like many urban areas in Mongolia it's growing rapidly as the younger generation is tempted by modern city life but it's also home to former Nomads whose livelihoods were ruined by the storms in 2010. foreign ER and cerago are meeting a Kashmir Trader by the side of the road Mongolian cashmere is said to be the finest in the world the combed hair will be processed into the fine and highly prized yarn in the capital ulambatar already [Music] that's 250 pounds for 10 kilos of goat hair [Laughter] since the end of Communism the production of Kashmir has grown to become mongolia's second largest industry [Music] mongolia's economy is booming and not because of Kashmir large mineral deposits have been found beneath the Gobi and Mining has become the country's biggest industry it's estimated that it will grow by 30 percent over the next few years this newfound wealth is having a negative impact on mongolia's nomads do you think that more and more people will be tempted away from nomadic life and go into Mining and into industry and move to the cities foreign mm-hmm it's hardly surprising that young people are being tempted away when the mining sector pays up to two thousand dollars a month 13 times what most herders can make foreign foreign [Music] but this family has a large and valuable herd as well as goats and sheep they are the proud owners of a fine collection of horses and yaks [Music] Yaks are supremely adapted to life in this harsh landscape they used to carry the family's possessions when they moved camp but with four by fours and trucks doing the hard work now Yaks are kept as a symbol of Pride and Prestige as well as for their milk and wool that's a fantastic Turkish magnificent magnificent scenery there is nothing cooler than a yeah in two days time there's a yak Festival in a neighboring Valley and the whole herd will be on show [Music] you look out at these you know seemingly Barren Hills and think how on Earth do you keep livestock alive you know these animals are as canny as their owners when it comes to making a living out of this landscape it's lovely to watch [Music] the family have invited me to go with them to the yak Festival but I need to be properly dressed ordna has made me a Dell a traditional Mongolian Overcoat part of [Music] um it's amazing it's very very clever your daughter so do you think I look okay for the yak Festival I won't let your family down cool um attached [Music] it's the day of the much anticipated Yak Festival [Music] just how Mongolia manages its transition to a modern global economy yet maintains its Rich nomadic Heritage is a difficult Balancing Act but festivals like this set up by the regional government to support Nomads and to encourage tourism are a step in the right direction and they're a wonderful opportunity for nomadic families to come together do you speak English I do speak English I want to speak English you you are and doing it very well I understand English yeah do you understood I understand completely very good over 300 Yaks have been herded into the valley the festivities begin with Yak Rodeo [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] somebody [Music] next is a competition for all the family what do you want me to do I'm good that you are here foreign [Music] [Music] and now like any good Mongolian spring day it's starting to snow [Music] and in the grand tradition of all Country Fairs there are prizes Galore [Applause] female yet timid looks so delighted look how proud she looks together this whole festival is about restoring Yak herding to this province and and remembering how important these animals are to the nomadic families here [Music] but most of all I've just had a real sense of how nomadic families may live these very remote and often isolated lives but it doesn't mean that there isn't a really strong sense of community and tradition and culture and today has been all about that foreign [Music] with the festival over my time with chimid and her family has come to an end too [Music] for what are they called foreign it seems like you've managed to um to partner in a very successful way tradition and Modern Life without uh affecting um the the sort of Heart of nomadic life started um is it a good life you know it's just been the most fantastic privilege uh to to be here and I just wanted to say thank you oh that's ahead thank you [Music] [Music] there's no doubt that Nomads across the globe are under threat and the odds are stacked against their extraordinary way of life but here in Mongolia at least I'm cautiously optimistic this is modern nomadism with all its Traditions with all its cultures absolutely intact but these are people who are not shying away from the modern world at all timid and her family have shown me that there's a place for Nomads today and I'm really hopeful that their descendants will be here in centuries to come thank you for everything this is clearly not an easy choice of life and I think that's what makes me admire them even more they are nomads and they're fantastically proud of that and they seem almost as much part of this landscape as the mountains and the birds of prey and the wolves [Music]

Channel: TRACKS - Travel Documentaries

Views: 550,860

Keywords: Kate Humble series, Siberian nomads, TRACKS - Travel Documentaries, authentic experiences, cultural anthropology, documentary journey, highland steppe, immersive travel, indigenous peoples, nomad communities, nomadic traditions, off-the-beaten-path, outdoor lifestyle, snow and ice, sustainable living, sustainable tourism, traditional communities, travel series, tribal communities, tribal lifestyles

Id: CBbWv1uoW4Q

Length: 153min 32sec (9212 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 17 2022