Himalaya Bound: Migrating with India's Nomadic Van Gujjars with Michael Benanav

Armchair Explorer

The Van Gujjar tribes spend half of each year living deep in the forests of northern India and the other half high on the mountain plains of the Himalayas. Herding water buffalo, whose milk nourishes and sustains their livelihoods, every Van Gujjar family makes an annual migration from their winter home in the forests to their summer grazing fields in the Himalayas.

That is -- until now.

Faced with the threat of losing their herds and their grazing lands to the development of national parks, many Van Gujjar families are facing an uncertain future. And when author Michael Benanav heard of their situation and wanted to learn more, he decided there was only one way to truly understand. So he joined them on their yearly migration.

Over six weeks, 125 miles, and over 11,000 feet in elevation gain, Michael and his hosts traveled on an unforgettable journey. This is a story about the changing of the seasons, a vanishing way of life, and the connections we make with the land that sustains us.

FIND MICHAEL

You can get your copy of Himalaya Bound: One Family's Quest to Save Their Animals and an Ancient Way of Life wherever books are sold (we particularly love local bookshops!) and read more about the book on its dedicated website, HimalayaBound.com. Find more of Michael's writing and photography on his website, MichaelBenanav.com. Learn more about SOPHIA, the Dehradun NGO featured in the episode, at Sophia.org.in.

SOCIAL

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CREDITS

This episode was produced by Armchair Productions. Find our other shows at armchair-productions.com. Jenny Allison did the guest booking and wrote this episode, along with host and producer Aaron Millar. Charles Tyrie did the audio editing and sound design. Theme music written by the artist Sweet Chap (on IG @the_sweet_chap).

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