Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
NOMADS
If you get off the beaten track around Nam-tso you might get a peek at the otherwise in-
accessible life of Tibet's drokpas,seminomadic herders who make their home in the
Changtang, Tibet's vast and remote northern plateau. In the Changtang, the drokpasare
known as Changpa. You will also get the chance to visit a drokpacamp on the trek from
Ganden to Samye.
Nomad camps are centred on spider-like brown or black yak-hair tents. Each tent is
usually shared by one family, though a smaller subsidiary tent may be used when a son
marries and has children of his own. The interior of a nomad tent holds all the family's
possessions. There will be a stove for cooking and also a family altar dedicated to
Buddhist deities and various local protectors, including those of the livestock, tent pole
and hearth. The principal diet of nomads is tsampa (roasted-barley flour) and yak butter
(mixed together with tea), churpi(dried yak cheese) and sha gambo(dried yak meat).
Tending the herds of yaks and sheep is carried out by the men during the day. Women
and children stay together in the camp, where they are guarded by one of the men and
the ferocious Tibetan mastiffs that are the constant companions of Tibet's nomads. The
women and children usually spend the day weaving blankets and tanning sheepskins.
With the onset of winter it is time to go to the markets of an urban centre. The farmers
of Tibet do the same, and trade between nomads and farmers provides the former with
tsampa and the latter with meat and butter. Most nomads these days have a winter home
base and only make established moves to distant pastures during the rest of the year.
The nomads of Tibet have also traditionally traded in salt, which for generations was
collected from the Changtang and transported south in bricks, often to the border with
Nepal, where it was traded for grain (as documented in the film The Saltmen of Tibet).
These annual caravans are fast dying out. Traditional life suffered its greatest setback
during the Cultural Revolution, when nomads were collectivised and forcibly settled by
the government. In 1981 the communes were dissolved and the collectivised livestock di-
vided equally, with everyone getting five yaks, 25 sheep and seven goats.
Until recently drokpasnumbered around 500,000 across the plateau. Government in-
centives are forcing the settlement of nomads, further reducing their numbers and graz-
ing grounds. The black 'nomads' tents' you see along the road to Nam-tso are now little
more than facades for the nomads' new homes - prefabricated white shacks. The intro-
duction of the motorbike has further transformed nomad life. Pressure also comes in the
form of enforced migration dates and winter housing, as well as attitude changes among
