In the early morning of a beautiful spring day we had our breakfast in Mah Bibi hostel, and then our fantastic trip started.
On our way to Charmahal Bakhtiari, we passed Mavarz village in Bazoft district. We had our lunch in a very nice villager. As soon as we entered their house, what really attracted my attention was the spectacular scenery of thick, white clouds; something we don’t see very often in cities. They seemed so close as if one could reach out and touch them.
In Lebd, somewhere among beautiful mountains, we gave our car to a local guy, and we joint Mr. Khorshid (= sun) Mokhtari, the father of the nomad family we were supposed to accompany them in their spring migration. And then our epic journey on foot started.
After a four-hour hiking among magnificent Zardeh mountain ranges, and visiting natural attractions on the way, finally we reached the summit of a mountain from which we caught the glimpse of the family black tent, in a place called Jam Jame’.
They are a family of nine. Khorshid, the father – Tala Sadat, the mother – the two oldest son and daughter were not with the family (the daughter is married, and the son is in military service) – Zeinab, 15 years old – Bahman, 17 – Ziba, 10 – Hanifeh, 6 and Yasna 6 months.
Each one of them had their own responsibilities to take care of. The male members of the family were mostly in charge of the flocks and shepherding. Also, the female members of Nomadic families were really hardworking. They took care of almost all works. For example, Zeinab was responsible for baking bread, doing housework, fetching water, cooking food, washing dishes and clothes, etc.
Ziba was mostly in charge of fetching wood for the fire. Hanifeh, who herself was a little girl, looked after her younger sister Yasna, while their mom was busy milking the animals. One can say that Ziba is Yasna’s second mom, as she is mostly looking after Yasna. And the mother, with her impressive role in all the above-mentioned tasks, was giving hand to everyone. Their days start really early, around 5 am, going to shepherding.
Words are incapable of describing the generosity of spirit of our Nomad host and the beauty of the scenes created by their kind hospitality. During these days, they provided us with the best, most fresh dairy products ever. They served us with handmade cheese, butter, yogurt and dough, kept in Mashk, in all meals, and also even during the day. All were the most delicious ones I’ve ever had. And we tried to have an active presence in preparing the stuff as if we are also members of the nomadic family.
Among the things that picked my interest was the Nomad’s simple lifestyle. Since they need to travel light, all their belongings were limited to a black tent, clothes, blankets, and food. They used some hand-woven bags, made by mom and the girls, to carry the stuff.
I’d never forget the moment I saw their lovely tent. The scenery was so awesome that I spent some time taking in the beautiful scenery; a unique combination of high mountains, green valleys and springs. Too lovely for words!
At night, we got together in their tent, and after some friendly chats with the nomad family, they sang us local songs, and we listened to their hunting stories.