RRE/RL: The Mountain Shepherds

Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty has released an online multimedia project describing what a shepherd life is like in Georgia.

The project The Mountain Shepherds by Amos Chapple tells a story of shepherding in mountainous Georgia and it offers beautiful pictures of the landscape and animals.

"Every autumn one of the world's most spectacular animal migrations takes place in a little-visited corner of Georgia”, it says, telling a story of one band of shepherds as they make their deadly journey from the mountains of Tusheti to the plains of Kakheti.

Chapple says that summers offer lush green grass for grazing, but autumn comes early to Georgia's Tusheti mountains. By early October, local shepherds are rounding up their flocks and moving out before winter takes hold.

The author talks about the Georgian shepherd dog too. He says that it is a tough, ancient dog breed that helps keep the sheep in formation and protects them from wolves.

"The dogs are bred to be the same color and size as the sheep they protect. It's impossible to spot the dogs from a distance, meaning the wolf packs that stalk the migrating sheep must treat all flocks with caution”, the author says.

See the full story here: www.rferl.org