On the road…shepherds and their yaks

At 4000+ meters on the Shandur Pass in far North Pakistan . The shepherds were walking the yaks up to the high altitude summer pastures, where they spend 3 months of the short summer grazing. There is almost no vehicle traffic on this, which is the major highway across the pass linking two major regions of north Pakistan…Chitral and Gilgit Baltistan. It is a difficult and long road…mostly traversed on foot by locals with flocks in summer, and inaccessible in winter. One event in June which we missed by a couple of weeks, is the huge Shandur Polo Tournament, held at the highest point of the Pass. Polo teams from all the villages in Chitral and Gilgit assemble up there with huge crowds of supporters and VIPs helicopter in to watch. The polo, a game which originated in these high mountains, is a much more rough and tumble war game than the upper class descendant played on village greens in other lands. I have watched many an enjoyable polo game in these high mountains…usually given the ball to throw in to start the match, as a visitor!