Watch this story and the rest of the series on the YouTube channel.
Watch on YouTubeLong before roads reached the high valleys, trade moved on foot. Caravans of yaks, mules and porters carried salt down from the Tibetan plateau and grain back up from the middle hills. Whole villages organised their year around these journeys, and the routes connected families, languages and beliefs across the mountains.
What the film explores
- How the salt-for-grain trade worked and why it mattered so much
- The animals, the seasons and the dangers of the high passes
- Elders who remember the last long caravans
- How roads, trucks and new borders have changed everything
The road made life easier. But the caravans made us who we are.
The trails haven’t disappeared. Many are now trekking routes, and walking them with the old stories in mind turns every chorten, bridge and resting place into a piece of history.
