Nomadic Herding

Vertical and Horizontal Movements

Movement takes place within a regional spatial framework rooted in local ecology. To support their flocks, all pastoral nomads must control access to seasonally available resources, which are seldom available in one small area for an entire year. Herders must migrate to find necessary resources in different places at various times of the year. The location of water and forage is well-known to pastoralists, and movement to use these resources is regular, not random. Pastoral nomads do not wander aimlessly seeking sustenance, a classic “outside” perception of their movements, but rather regularly revisit specific areas following well-known routes or trajectories.

Some nomadic herders exploit vertical ecological differences in pasture availability by grazing their animals in cooler and moister uplands during the summer months when grass and water are plentiful. By changing altitude from lowland to highland, nomadic herders avoid drought-prone lowland areas. In winter, nomadic herders migrate back to the lowlands to avoid the cold temperatures and snowfalls characteristic of the highlands, and to find grass and water resources in familiar districts where their seasonal rights to resources are traditionally respected.

In lowland areas where large uplands are absent, nomadic herders spend their dry season grazing close to secure water resources, for example, a permanent stream or group-owned, hand-dug wells. A balance must be maintained between the water and grass available locally and the number of animals that the herders keep in a particular area. To prevent local overgrazing, lowland herders move away from their dry-season water sites during the wetter part of the year. This pulsating, horizontal movement takes lowland pas-toralists far from their permanent base along a well-known trajectory to reach the areas that they know by experience are likely to have received rain or collected runoff. Nomadic lowland herders remain at these sites until grass and water are exhausted, and if additional resources are not located in the vicinity or the dry season is fast approaching, the herds are moved back to their dry-season water site.

...