The remote Shimshal Valley adapts each year to the rhythm of the mountains with the transhumance - the seasonal movement of people with their livestock - led by women. The Wakhi ethnic community who reside here is proud of this unique women-led tradition. In springtime, a handful of women and a few men settle in an ephemeral hamlet at an altitude of over 4,600 metres. They spend five months in harsh and isolated conditions with only basic comforts.
The Shimshal Valley, which is home to 1,750 residents, got connected by road to the Karakorum Highway in 2003, after 18 years of construction. The road has facilitated better access to major cities, resulting in higher education and employment for the people of this remote valley. The desire of the Wakhis for better education led young people- both girls and boys to leave for cities.
Faced with these conditions, the end of this singular feminine pastoralism seemed inevitable. Now the shepherdesses of Pamir do not carry out this tradition, which has resulted in the fading ancestral knowledge.