Photo Story: Life of Changpa People – Semi-nomadic shepherds of Ladakh

Spread along the eastern parts of Ladakh bordering Tibet are spectacular highlands of Changthang raising well above 14,000 feet. The region is known for its azure lakes trapped in the middle of mountains that reach out for the skies. The landscapes are brown and barren and yet charming in their silence and loneliness. In this high-altitude desert, you can travel for hours without seeing one tree on the earth surface. But the scrapes of grass that grows in parts of these landscapes support a diverse variety of life that includes a large number of bird species and a few resilient mammals like Kiang–the Tibetan Wild Ass. Also thriving in these arid cold desert landscape are a community of shepherds that have learnt to survive the extreme temperatures with a nearly self-sustained lifestyle.

Every October, we conduct a week long mentored photography tour that offers an unparalleled opportunity to a small number of photography-enthusiasts to experience the life of changpa nomads. We stay in changpa settlements and interact closely with them, photographing and documenting their lives and lifestyle. To be a part of this unique photography tour, visit “Ladakh: Life of Changpa Nomads Photography Tour” to know more details and sign up.

Changpa people–these residents of Changthang–rely on their animals for livelihood, nourishment and survival. Their pashmeena goats yield fine wool that sells at a premium and is used for producing cashmere shawls. Their sheep feed on the nutritious high-altitude plants that produce valuable wool. The yaks yield butter, and the yak wool and skin form important insulation that protects them from the extreme cold winters. Life here is challenging, but living here for thousands of years has taught them how to survive and flourish in these conditions.

The Changpa live in small settlements that usually house about a score or more families together. They stay in these semi-permanent dwellings for a few months until the season’s supply of grass remains available. With change in seasons, they migrate to another grassland that is usually a few days’ walks away. If situation is conducive, they return to the same settlement after a year’s cycle.

Once a migration is complete and the families settle into a place, everyday is nearly the same. The morning begins with bringing the sheep out from the pen and herding them into the mountains where the grass is abundant. The herders spend the entire day walking in the mountains, directing the sheep to places where the feed is good.

Just before dawn, and before they are released for the day’s grazing, goats are milked in the pen. They are tied together tightly facing each other for milking. The whole process of tying them and milking takes no more than fifteen to twenty minutes. Only a bucket full of milk is retrieved from a bunch of about fifty goats. Even during summer months, the mornings are very cold and arrival of sun brings a very welcome warmth. The Changpa people continue to stay in these mountains even in winter months, when the temperatures can plummet to -30C or below.

Some locations of Changpa settlements can be very picturesque, flanked with snow peaks that are more than 6,000m tall. A few of these locations are fertile marshlands covered with a thin layer of grass and streams crisscrossing the landscapes. They are also remote, and can be hours away from nearest permanent settlement. Visiting them and staying with them meant pitching our own tents next to their dwellings, which allowed us to spend the days with them and interact with them closely.

The traditional Changpa accommodation, called rebo are made of yak wool. Weaving these tents is a slow and laborious work and can take months to complete. But once complete, they survive for very long and are passed on from generation to generation. They are rarely put away as they get old; when part of the rebo wears off and requires repair, a rectangular portion is cut off and a newly woven segment is stitched into the tent. The nets are woven with space large enough to let a small fly pass through, which means it allows plenty of sunlight and wind. Yet, surprisingly, the tents are unusually warm and cozy. When it rains, it just flows off the tent’s surface and not a drop enters inside. Yak wool is magic!

In recent years, traditional rebo are being replaced by canvas tents and semi-permanent settlements made from stones and mud, and occasionally, tents made from discarded parachutes.

The Changpa people are Tibetan Buddhists by practice and most families are very devout. People often invite monks and nuns home for religious ceremonies. The rituals are often very elaborate and last for hours. While some prayers are offered on specific events in a family such as birth and death, they are also conducted for longevity, health and prosperity of the house.

Most villages with sizeable population in Ladakh usually have a monastery located on a crag outside the village. For the changpas, the monastery at Korzok Village on the bank of magnificent Tso Moriri lake serves as an important place of worship. The monks at the monastery serve as advisers and priests for much of changpa people spread across Changthang. Every year, during Korzok Gustor festival at the monastery, a large number of changpa descend into the village to celebrate, often dressed in their best and eager to meet their relatives spread across the landscape. The festival involves many celebration rituals including vigorous masked dances performed by the monks.

Even these days, it is not common to see permanent or semi-permanent structures in Changpa settlements. Nearly all the changpa of Ladakh spend their entire lives living in rebo or similar tents that allows them to keep moving from place to place as required by the availability of grass. One of the few places where we found mud and stone structures is in a small colony off the much trodden Leh-Manali highway. The good quality and abundance of grass here has allowed greater prosperity, and perhaps it is consistent availability of grass over the years that has enabled them to make permanent dwellings.

While changpa have to live in remote highlands and endure the tough weather, their life is slowly getting modernized. A lot of families now own four-wheelers that enables them to commute to the towns and access necessary materials from the outside world. Nearly every family now has cooking gas cylinders, even though they still burn dry shrubs for warmth and other necessities that require continuously burning fuel. Most settlements have access to some kind of a crude roads that allows them to bring in things that may not have been possible otherwise.

Historically, changpa have depended very little on outside world and have evolved a lifestyle that sustains them with resources available in the highlands. Their primary diet was based on barley, which grows in lower regions of Ladakh. Unusual as it may sound, salt was available from the high-altitude lakes in the region. The animals provided for meat. The sheep and yaks also provided wool and skin, which helped them stay warm in the bitter-cold winters. Even the shoes were made with animal skin. A hundred year ago, surviving in Changthang required that you depend as much as possible on local produce. In the past, a changpa man would be deemed to have come of age if he knows how to make good shoes, while a lady was expected to be a good weaver. Things have been changing slowly with the presence of roads. Rice and wheat have arrived in changpa diet. A lot of home needs are purchased from the market and trade has increased substantially.

The sheep and goats have amazing resilience to the extreme weathers in the region. They seem to be absolutely comfortable in temperatures that reach close to thirty during summers, and swings to negative thirties in winters. Winters are a time when everything freezes over, and a good season sees the ground covered in a layer of snow. The animals manage to scrape through the dry grass from last summer.

However, the years that see excess snowfall may lead to a major crisis. Precipitations that pile up two feet high snow may lead to situations where the animals no longer have access to the grass, requiring the changpa and the local government bodies to work towards procuring grass from elsewhere, which will be critical for survival of the animals.

A typical changpa settlement can easily have as many as ten thousand animals. The sheep returning home in the evenings are likely to cause a small localized dust storm. A family normally owns about two hundred to six hundred sheep depending on how large a flock they are able to manage. The prosperity of a changpa family is a direct function of the number of animals they own.

It’s a spectacle watching the animals come down the mountains towards their settlement everyday. They look like an endless flow, that may begin as early as 5pm and continue to arrive for next two hours until the daylight begins to fade. Often in a settlement, sections of land is allocated to families for grazing and follow a well worked plan on how the grasslands should be shared within the community to permit a sustainable use. Each flock has to be carefully managed by a shepherd, who watches over the flock carefully to ensure that the sheep don’t stray away. A sheep that has strayed is often in danger from the predators, which can be feral dogs that often roam the region and occasionally the elusive snow-leopard.

Yaks are an important part of changpa life. These animals help the the changpa survive the harsh weather of the highlands. Traditionally, yak-wool rebo kept them warm irrespective of outside weather. Yak wool and skin were also part of clothing that kept people protected from the cold. The hide could be used in making shoes that allowed people walk the entire day with their animals. Yak butter and cheese are an integral part of changpa diet, and so is yak meat. Perhaps the yaks are also easier to manage. While the sheep require constant attention of a herder all through the day to ensure that they don’t stray away and are protected from predators, yaks are usually let loose and graze on their own.

Changpa have lived for thousands of years in these lands, carving out a unique way of life required to survive in this harsh and arid region. Buddhism has a significant influence in the way of life of these people, which is evident from chortens (stupa) and prayer flags that you see all along the landscape. In today’s connected world, a few changpa have tried to find a life outside the region, working in the town of Leh or searching for other opportunities. Changpa children are now being schooled with boarding at a few locations and are also going to schools in Leh. Some of them may set up their life in faraway places when they grow up.

Several changpa families now have a home setup in Leh, which is mostly inhabited by family elders and school-going children. Yet, there are instances of a few changpa returning to their roots to continue the shepherd life that they found beneficial to working for someone else in an urban setup. The wool from pashmeena goats fetch a premium and the economics of rearing them is generally deemed good, which can help preserve the changpa way of life in the days to come despite the harsh and difficult environment that they live and work in.

Every October, we conduct a week long mentored photography tour that offers an unparalleled opportunity to a small number of photography-enthusiasts to experience the life of changpa nomads. We stay in changpa settlements and interact closely with them, photographing and documenting their lives and lifestyle. To be a part of this unique photography tour, visit “Ladakh: Life of Changpa Nomads Photography Tour” to know more details and sign up.

For a brief outlook on what we see and photograph, also see the video below.