The vast outlands of Kyrgyztan look like no man's land, where vast summer meadows stretch to the horizon, demarcated by rugged snow-capped peaks in every direction. This tiny landlocked country at the confluence of 158 mountain ranges, has many such vast high altitude regions that ought to be devoid of human
life, and yet it thrives here. Every few miles on the freshly paved tarmac, one can encounter a tiny nomadic village in the summer, replete with a few yurts, dozens of heads of cattle, the free-spirited Kyrgyz horses, and a beaten up pickup or two.
These nomadic herders move with the season, leading their cattle to their favored grazing grounds across the vast hinterlands of this Central Asian nation, seemingly oblivious of the natural beauty of this timeless landscape and slice of humanity that the photographer in my finds endearing. It is this juxtaposition of the fragile human life against the harshness of the outlands that draws me to come back again to this beautiful country.
Chatyr Kol
Naryn Province, Kyrgyzstan
Dawn on the Jailoo
I stepped out from the warmth of the dark yurt to a freezing cold outside. In the gentle pre-dawn light, I spotted the beautiful rolling hills covered with a thin crust of overnight snow. A cold fog was flowing down from the heavens along the smooth contours of the surrounding hillscape. High above, the sky was aglow with a bright pink, while down below, horses and cattle gently grazed on the fresh summer grass.
This is life on the jailoo, a harsh, silent and beautiful landscape in the heart of the Tien Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan.
Songkol
Kyrgyzstan
Morning in the Jailoo
I woke up before the alarm finished ringing, layered up, and stepped outside into the cold dawn. The whole sky had opened up, a welcome contrast to the cold and damp evening the day before. The peaks nearby, with a fresh dusting of snow from the prior night's downpour, started to glow in the early morning light. And while it may sound like perfect condition for sunrise photography, freezing winds swept across the vast alpine pasture, and until the sun came through, it was a miserable experience.
Nevertheless, it was special, for what lay in front of me were the vast summer pastures (jailoos) at 3000m (10000ft) around the high alpine lake called the Songkol in Kyrgyzstan. And ringing this 270 sq-km (100 sq-mi) lake were mountains rising another 1500ft, making for an landscape like no other. This is terrain where the horses run free and cattle have a field day. And the only way to get here is on a beat-up dirt road, and the only place to stay is in the traditional yurts set up by the nomadic herders.
I had a field day photographing the awe-inspiring location, and this is one of the morning scenes where the cattle lazily graze in the backdrop of snow-capped peaks.
Songkol
Kyrgyzstan