Pamir Kyrgyz Nomads On 'The Roof Of The World'
- By RFE/RL
![Pamir Kyrgyz children at their nomadic camp in Afghanistan’s Pamir Mountains. The boy’s back is pinned with talismans in the belief they will protect his health in a land with rare access to medical care. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/ceab7e5f-66ba-4c37-b0f0-4b0850505c6b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
Pamir Kyrgyz children at their nomadic camp in Afghanistan’s Pamir Mountains. The boy’s back is pinned with talismans in the belief they will protect his health in a land with rare access to medical care.
![Fat-tailed sheep and goats, the livestock of Kyrgyz Pamir shepherds in northeastern Afghanistan’s remote Wakhan Corridor](https://gdb.rferl.org/1801d3a0-6bb3-440c-8404-d570fdfba095_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
![A half-dozen yurts, a corral, a mud-brick guesthouse, and a mosque -- a typical summer camp for nomadic herders at Hasht Goz at the entrance of the Little Pamir valley](https://gdb.rferl.org/bd9b6224-23f8-4263-b96b-6fb5d821d885_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
![A feast with clan elders inside a yurt at the Qurbon Ait settlement in the Pamirs. Small pieces of liver are dipped with meat from fat-tail sheep into salt water after a round of tea with milk and broth.](https://gdb.rferl.org/a47b5e7b-eb0d-49d3-ace5-361bd3c93f44_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
A feast with clan elders inside a yurt at the Qurbon Ait settlement in the Pamirs. Small pieces of liver are dipped with meat from fat-tail sheep into salt water after a round of tea with milk and broth.
![A caravan of Bactrian camels travels on a Pamir mountain path to a small market in Goz Khun in the lowlands below.](https://gdb.rferl.org/3879a46f-c80b-46e5-b7f6-be769af123e0_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
A caravan of Bactrian camels travels on a Pamir mountain path to a small market in Goz Khun in the lowlands below.
![Irrigated fields of hay are cut by hand at the end of the summer, providing fodder for livestock through the winter when ice covers the vegetation. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/f6fb5045-4fc2-4e14-ae1f-4d5992b43df5_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
Irrigated fields of hay are cut by hand at the end of the summer, providing fodder for livestock through the winter when ice covers the vegetation.
![A typical daytime meal for the Pamir Kyrgyz: bread, tea with milk, and rock salt -- and sometimes fresh cheese. Evening meals include meat and rice. Malnutrition among the Pamir Kyrgyz stems from a lack of the vitamins that come from fruits and vegetables, which are rare. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/ef625e58-2d96-45e6-886a-3c590333010d_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
A typical daytime meal for the Pamir Kyrgyz: bread, tea with milk, and rock salt -- and sometimes fresh cheese. Evening meals include meat and rice. Malnutrition among the Pamir Kyrgyz stems from a lack of the vitamins that come from fruits and vegetables, which are rare.
![Samaat Khan remains in the Pamirs taking care of the livestock of a family that has resettled in Kyrgyzstan. Poor and indebted, his neighbors joke about his wishes to move wherever faraway cousins will receive him. ](https://gdb.rferl.org/95de679d-270f-4265-b2da-fa2be4e794cf_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
Samaat Khan remains in the Pamirs taking care of the livestock of a family that has resettled in Kyrgyzstan. Poor and indebted, his neighbors joke about his wishes to move wherever faraway cousins will receive him.
![A young Pamir Kyrgyz girl does homework in the mud-brick house of a winter settlement.](https://gdb.rferl.org/b34b0893-4190-41ba-8cf6-b95741503d86_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
![Traditional yurts of Pamir Kyrgyz nomads who live a pastoral existence in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan](https://gdb.rferl.org/ab756273-e09d-4a53-917f-d82230f0999b_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
Traditional yurts of Pamir Kyrgyz nomads who live a pastoral existence in the mountains of northeastern Afghanistan
![With yurt tents packed and harnessed at the end of summer, Pamir nomads travel to their winter refuge.](https://gdb.rferl.org/598e2d4c-9739-47d5-b33c-992fde7cec52_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
![Mud-brick houses at a winter settlement provide some respite from the strong wind, while the stone walls of a corral protect livestock from predators during the night.](https://gdb.rferl.org/65161bc3-7fd9-43e4-a1cd-e906be270905_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
Mud-brick houses at a winter settlement provide some respite from the strong wind, while the stone walls of a corral protect livestock from predators during the night.
![High mountain passes separate the lowlands of the Wakhan Corridor from the upper Pamir Mountains.](https://gdb.rferl.org/0298580c-c48e-4309-9e2e-cc6be413ece5_w1024_q10_s.jpg)
![At the end of the day, a Pamir Kyrgyz herder uses binoculars to see if any of his livestock were left behind on the way home from pasturing.](https://gdb.rferl.org/e630aef1-0f00-4d46-ad28-ac68488ff22f_w1024_q10_s.jpg)