Himalaya Bound: One Family's Quest to Save Their Animals—And an Ancient Way of Life

by Michael Benanav

A gorgeous work of literary journalism that follows a nomadic family’s fraught migration to the high Himalayan plains, as a changing world closes in around them.Following his vivid account of traveling with one of the last camel caravans on earth in Men of Salt, Michael Benanav now brings us along on a journey with a tribe of forest-dwelling nomads in India. Welcomed into a family of nomadic water buffalo herders, he joins them on their annual spring migration into the Himalayas, a superb adventure that explores the relationship between humankind and wild lands, and the dubious effect of environmental conservation on peoples whose lives are inseparably intertwined with the natural world.The migration Benanav embarked upon was plagued with problems, as government officials threatened to ban this nomadic family—and others in the Van Gujjar tribe—from the high alpine meadows where they had summered for centuries. Faced with the possibility that their beloved buffaloes would starve to death, and that their age-old way of life was doomed, the family charted a risky new course, which would culminating in an astonishing mountain rescue. And Benanav was arrested for documenting the story of their plight.Intimate and enthralling, Himalaya Bound paints a sublime picture of a rarely-seen world, revealing the hopes and fears, hardships and joys, of a people who wonder if there is still a place for them on this planet.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, India, Memoir, Biography Memoir, Adventure, Asia

236 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 24, 2015

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Van Gujjars, are a nomadic people, a people who travel with their water buffalo from the Shiivak Region to the Himalayan plateaus. They travel from place to place, depending on climate, and always with focus on the animals and their needs, fresh grazing land. A way of life threatened now by new policies, ethical and environmental policies, and claimed National Parks. In ironic fashion, the very agency that should be the protectors, the National Parks are instead the harassers wanting them off of Park lands.

We learn the way they live their lives, culture, socio economical underpinnings, the importance of their families and there relationship with their animals, Their religion, the are from a tolerant Muslim culture which has drawn the unwelcome attention of the Islamic Foundation. The author was accepted, surprisingly by these people, traveled with them and worked alongside. Shared their happy moments, and from the enclosed photographs their was a whole lot of smiling going on,and their stresses, how they feel about being the last of their culture making this yearly pilgrimage.

Such a unique people,hard, hard workers,but so much joy, caring for each other, the family as a unit, was beautiful to read. Was a wonderfully informative read about a unique way of life threatened by progress, or what is seen as progress. The pictures, big smiles, allows the reader to put faces to those mentioned in the book.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This read made me in awe of the physical attributes and dynamics of these nomadic people. Their hiking and lifting abilities! Beyond the tree climbing to immense heights for cutting off leaves for their buffalo's fodder.

Michael Benanav also told his personal travel with the Van Gujjar tribe within above average prose. And I especially liked how personally revealing he became in the last 4 or 5 sections. Not only to his own emotional connections but to his "what if" thoughts.

There were two or three, 5 to 10 page sections upon the Farm Bureau and other governmental bureaucracies cabals and document arrangements that are in constant turmoil now; these sections dropped my interests levels from 5 star to 2 star. But they needed to be included because of the various individual paths for migration over centuries that are in dispute. And refusals by "know betters" and "national parks" to the reality of the true environmental balances- WHICH INCLUDE THE MIGRATORY HUMANS.

Also there was a section upon North American continent comparison which wasn't out of place but at the same time I thought was "too easy" of explanations. Apples and oranges. But regardless of the main suppositions, Benanav is correct in stating that large tracts of areas designated as "non-human" national parks are probably poor to terrible artificial and flawed entities. Ironically, just last year I read that within another 50 years (another non-fiction book) that the American national parks will be excluding all human habitations or even "visiting". If you think that is a good idea now that is already starting to raise its "know better" head, you should read this book. Balance to any environmental "ideal" or even a fine working biosphere- it just doesn't develop or happen that way.

But read this book first to get to know these people. They are stars. You will get to know a dozen or more individuals well. And the photos are 5 star. The one of Miriam in the tree tops- 6 star. Teenagers in this culture are ASSETS, not rebellious deficits.

Lovely, lovely book. So I won't begin to go into depth on that "let's keep this pristine as always" approach to biologic and physical world realities of millennia. But because the Van (FOREST in their language) Guijjar (migrants /moving) have now started to get motor bikes (rare but they are there) and also beyond the elders have cell phones now? As they don't read nor write, they use a symbol as a contact "name". And send the younger ones into a town or two now and again to charge them up. Using the contacts by voice mainly to communicate with other tribal families to where the grass is "up" yet or where the pass has been blocked by bribe demanding district officials.

I sure want to read what Michael has to say if he does it again 10 years from now. When he returned after 3 and 4 years- the youngest had cell phones too. But never used them in front of any their elders, male or female. All have a voice, and they are Muslim but the women only wear a veil on their wedding day. So much respect given and even more strength demanded. Kids, babies, and animals- pack and move. Weight on their backs, soles of their feet like tortoise shells.

They don't drink alcohol, don't eat meat. Honestly, just from every description this is the diet that would be the one I couldn't live on for a week. Milk is not my food. And I found it really, truly informative and enthralling about their family relationships, respect levels, the portion of dogma or faith in their lives etc. A wonderful ethnology here!

But more than any other aspect- THAT PHYSICAL STRENGTH. Such a window into the world of what homo sapiens most often WAS, physically. And that after NOT going to their summer quarters at height levels after just that ONE year? That even the buffalo could not sustain their tasks when they migrated again AFTER the "off" year at lower altitudes. What a window into how muscle and lungs need to work to approach the whole piece of this lifestyle.

I love rural, raw nature and could live very simply and have for periods of time way beyond most city folks. So I was enthralled on their equivocations and relative summations to having to give up their "high field" rights and go to live in a village.

UGH! For them it has to be like having their feet cut off - to be so hammered and positioned. And all else in the culture, down to minutia of task for each age/gender level from marriage to death rites- every single moment and "why" in their culture will be decimated.

[beautywithbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Van Gujjar are nomadic water buffalo herders, who are still able to practice their traditional way of life. They live year-round in the wilderness, grazing their livestock on the vegetation that grows in the jungles and mountains of northern India. The tribe spends winters, from October to April, in the Shivalik Hills - a low but rugged range that arcs through parts of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh. In the month of March, however, heat begins to sear the Shivaliks. By mid-April, temperatures soar to 45 degrees. With little left for their buffaloes to eat or drink, the Van Gujjars pack their entire households onto horses and bulls and hike their herds up to the Himalayas, aiming for high alpine meadows that are flush with grass throughout the summer. They stay in the mountains until autumn. Then, with temperatures plunging and snow beginning to fall, they retreat back down to the Shivaliks.
Michael met one of the Van Gujjar family in 2009 with the help of SOPHIA (Society for the Promotion of Himalayan Indigenous Activities), a small Dehradun-based non-profit organization that works with the Van Gujjars. He travelled with them for 44 days, on their annual spring migration to the Himalayas and documented their traditional way of life and culture, the hardships in the jungle and the treats from the forming of national parks.
Today, its estimated, 30000 Van Gujjars dwell in wilderness, moving seasonally between the Shivaliks and the Himalayas, speak their native dialect, Gujari, which is a linguistic fusion of Dogri and Punjabi. Van Gujjars, though Muslims, are traditionally vegetarian. Some scholars suggest that this may be a cultural remnant from the days before the Mughal period, when the Van Gujjars probably converted from Hinduism to Islam. But Van Gujjars are say they think animals as fellow living beings and they normally don't hunt.
Michhael also highlighted the treat the Van Gujjars are facing from the Uttarakhand government due to establishment of National Parks. They fear that their seasonal migration would cease, and their traditional way of life would fade away. In the name of protecting wildlife habitat, these nomads are pressured to abandon the wild lands on which they had lived for countless generations, to settle in villages and give up their buffalo herds. National Parks are meant to preserve things that are fragile and endangered, and in this case they would also be threatening the Van Gujjars' unique culture.
The books gives an deep insight on the lives of these mountain dwelling nomads, their love for their animals and also brings into light the threat these buffalo herders are facing since 1992. The book is a fast read and brings in the lively picture of the life, culture and hardship of these forest dwelling vegetarian Muslims, where men and women share the work equally. Also gives an ample information of various organizations, national and international, who are trying to preserve this unique culture of Van Gujjars and brining into light how the seasonal migration of these herders helps forest to regenerate balancing the ecosystem. The family tree and the map provided in the beginning of the book are very helpful to understand the members of the Gujjar family and the path they traversed to reach the Himalayas. The book is a good mixture of travelogue and cultural/social life of nomads. The pictures only shows how these people are very compassionate towards their animals.

[Meg K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Benanav writes of the Van Gujjar tribe in India, a group he sets out to travel with as they take their herd of water buffalo many miles for the migration they take each spring. His observations of their way of life, the area they live in and the actual trip (which is hindered by government interference) are written with care, with heart and with soul. He immersed himself into their daily life: chores, eating, sleeping and the actual migration is written so well the reader is taken there.
This is a book I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to read a beautifully written book while learning about another culture.

[Gail Pool · Rating 5 out of 5]

As we confront the damage humans have done to the planet, I’m always impressed when countries establish environmental policies to protect the natural world and wildlife. But as Michael Benanav shows in this excellent book, these policies can have a dire impact on people’s lives and are sometimes misconceived and unnecessary.

For generations, the nomadic Van Gujjars of India, who herd water buffalo, have spent winters in the Shivalik Hills and migrated to the Himalayas for the summer, to provide grazing for their animals. In recent decades, however, the government has established national parks to preserve wildlife in the areas where the Van Gujjars have traditionally taken their buffaloes. Park authorities have tried to block the tribe from their grazing lands.

In 2009, Benanav, a travel writer, accompanied a family on their annual migration, and in Himalaya Bound, his account of this journey, he makes clear how devastating to the Van Gujjars’ life and culture this banishment would be. The Van Gujjars live in wilderness, not villages—they say they live “behind the veil of the forest”—and their world revolves around their buffaloes, who are family to them. Indeed, when a calf is injured on the journey, they set the broken leg, bandage it, and carry the heavy animal over difficult terrain to the camp. “In ways big and small,” says Benanav, “virtually everything about this nomadic culture is shaped by what’s best for the animals.”

Living so closely with the large family and participating as helpfully as he can on the arduous journey, Benanav (communicating through a translator) comes to know them as individuals, and he evokes the qualities that win his admiration: their honesty, warmth, openness, and ability to relate so closely to the natural world they inhabit. I especially appreciated his depiction of the women, who seem to be strong and outspoken in this Muslim culture.

As the family trek to the Himalayas, with children, grandchildren, and more than 80 water buffaloes in tow, it isn’t clear whether they will be allowed to enter the park when they arrive. Threats of banishment in previous years weren’t carried out. But they can’t be sure. Benavav conveys the tension and uncertainty the family experiences not only for the outcome of this migration but for their future.

The Van Gujjars have support in India, and the author raises the question of whether it is necessary to ban them and their buffaloes from the parks. He points out that though we have a concept of national parks as pristine, in fact native populations lived in those areas for centuries without damaging them. Native Americans, for example, lived in the Yellowstone area long before it was a national park and managed the land and wildlife well.

Environmentalists, he says, are now coming to understand that in many cases, nomadic herders have helped the environment, taking care to preserve well what they know they will need in future years, and their grazing animals have proved beneficial for flora and fauna. By personalizing the Van Gujjars’ story, Benanav has not only told a warm and vivid tale but has also made a strong case for sustaining their way of life.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think one day I may manage to write a completely spoiler-free review. I'm working on it. This is not that review.

I really, really liked this book. It's a glance at a group of good, generous, hard-working people and a fascinating way of life. It's also a plea for respect for indigenous people everywhere. I found it fascinating that the way the nomads (like the Native Americans) manage their environment arguably helps to preserve both the jungle and the high Himalayan meadows. The Van Gujjar people argue (very reasonably) they are part of nature, and their buffaloes are wild animals just like the other wild animals they love and respect. Yet the Indian government has tried to bar them from national parks on the grounds that they will damage the environment. I believe in national parks and in preserving the environment, but this book shows clearly that there may be more than one way to do so.

If it's not quite five stars for me, that's because I wasn't quite sure what I thought of the narrator. (Spoiler territory!) I didn't like his musing on what it would be like to marry one of the young women of the family. He also seemed to have a very big competitive streak. Granted, that helped him cope with the hard work the Van Gujjars did every day. But I still was a little bothered by it.

I also wanted to know more about the family, and what happened to them. Will they be able to preserve their way of life? And (second spoiler) because we didn't experience them directly, I was saddened but not as devastated as I should have been by two tragedies we learn of at a remove.

Still, this was a really fascinating and often gripping book. The family, gentle, devout in their own way, loyal, and vegetarian, seem to be in a sort of paradise. But it's a paradise of constant work and some danger. The family, as Benavev says toward the end of the book"were strong and confident, exuding a competence and physical grace that conveyed an aura of nobility; despite their natural humility, it was easy to believe (that they were descended from royalty)" (page 183.) But their only medicines are those they can gather themselves from the forest. Two of the young people, at least, long for education and miss their brief time in school. The majority of the families are illiterate. And, being people, even though they are all good people, interpersonal conflict can't be avoided. There are unhappy marriages and other frustrations. And, because their lives are so labor-intensive, marriage is pretty much a requirement. There are no single Vann Gujjars beyond a certain age--that is, unless someone's spouse dies.

Still, these people have much to teach about how to preserve nature, how to live in community, and how to retain traditions. it's a short, easy read about characters you may well come to love (my favorite was little Bashi, shown on the cover), and some absolutely stunning photographs. All armchair travellers will find something to enjoy here.

[Johanna DeBiase · Rating 5 out of 5]

An estimated 30,000 Van Gujjars live in the jungles, moving seasonally between the Shivalik Hills, an east-west mountain range north of Delhi, to the higher neighboring range of the Himalayas. They are believed to have come to this region from Kashmir some 1500 years ago. They are illiterate and only speak their native dialect, Gujari. Benanav writes of his interest in living amongst and reporting on the Van Gujjars, “From the moment I heard about the Van Gujjars, I’d wanted to document their spring migration to the Himalayas. It sounded like an incredible undertaking: entire families marching with herds of water buffaloes into the highest mountains on earth.”

An incredible undertaking indeed. There aren’t many people that would be willing to undertake such a grueling and epic adventure. For weeks, Benanav lives in loosely constructed tarp shelters in horrible weather conditions from sweltering hot to freezing wet and cold, eats their minimalist vegetarian diet of chipatis and buffalo milk, hikes miles a day and helps with difficult chores such as collecting firewood without an axe and hauling supplies. In time, his hard work pays off and he wins the respect of the family. He also wins the respect of his reader as we follow him on his trek, wondering if we’d have it in us to endure that same adventure.

At the heart of Benanav’s story is an even more important tale, the fate of the Van Gujjars, a sad paradigm for a world-wide issue most Westerners may know nothing about. The Van Gujjars are trying to get back to their ancestral summer meadow, which since 1990 has been enclosed inside Govind National Park. In India, the Wildlife Protection act of 1972 banned people from living within parks and though the Van Gujjars have gotten by for many years by bribing park officials, the year Benanav joins them, the head of the Park Department is not as cooperative. He threatens to keep them out and not let them back into the park ever again. This is devastating to the Van Gujjars.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book deserves a lot more attention than it seems to be getting. I'd never even heard of it. I only stumbled onto it because it was similar enough to another book I was reading (Anna Badkhen's Walking with Abel) that it ended up in my recommendations thing. And I'm glad it did. This thing's a real hidden gem. Not only does he give a good description of the Van Gujjar culture and his personal story of living with them but he also does a good job explaining why the civilized world should care what happens to these people, and he does it without the cheesy poetic fluff or pretentious musings that you usually have to trudge through with books like this. It's not the type of writing style that you'd expect to win many awards or anything but it's definitely not boring or stoically objective either. I actually prefer this writing style over the more awarded stuff, personally. It's a good balance between beautiful and scholarly, as well as between smart and easy to follow. I do wish that some of his criticisms of the modern world were pushed a little further but this is still way better than most of the shit being published these days. Even the photos are really good.

Anyone interested in "conservation refugees" should also check out Mark Dowie's book by that title. This is a really important subject and most other discussions that you'll find on it are just dumbed-down wastes of time.

[Chu Qiao · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is such an amazing story about the migration journey of Van Gujjars in Himalaya Mountains with their Buffaloes.

Migration life is tough to Van Gujjarss. They use their physical mightiness and passion for the nature to deal with uncertain fates caused by the nature and political entities. Compared to other civilized citizens, they are illiterate and poor. But they are living a fulfilling and noble life style in the mountains, and be Van Gujjars themselves. Many times we judge a civilization or culture based on our narrowly developed beliefs and visions, and feel we are superior. As a result, many folks lose homes and hopes for future.

What touches me most is the pure feeling developed between Van Gujjars and Buffaloes. There is no divided line between "human beings" and "animals". They are part of each other. The death of buffaloes cause great pain to Van Gujjars family in the migration journey. They will do what ever they can to take ill-buffaloes to their summer home despite of insidious dangers.

[Lana Berkovich · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this up because I was planning a trip to Himalayas and thought it would be more interesting than a travel guide. I couldn't put the book down (though I never did go on the trip)! It transported me not just to a different place, but to a different time. The nomadic tribe that Benanav describes gives us a glimpse of how all our ancestors lived, and therefore a glimpse into ourselves. More than a curiosity tale showing the "exoticism" of a different way of life, the book's detailed descriptions make you contemplate what it would be like to live in a world, where one needs a myriad of skills that we (the post-industrial urban dwellers) no longer have: patience, resilience, strength honed through daily physical challenges, emotional acuity, ingenuity in face of looming catastrophe, living in a clan, with no privacy and yet isolated from the rest of the world. The fact that the Van Gujjars do occasionally come in contact with the modern world only highlights these differences and the various ways they are resolved.

[Brian Page · Rating 4 out of 5]

With Himalaya Bound: One Family’s Quest to Save Their Animals – And an Ancient Way of Life, Michael Benanav has written the perfect tale for the armchair adventurer. He successfully conveys the bonding that he established with the two Van Gujjar families as they migrate from the lowland forest of northern India to the summer pasture high in the Himalayas, confronting bureaucratic obstacles and corruption more perilous than the enormous physical obstacles they now confront and as their ancestors confronted for past centuries. Especially helpful are the two family trees illustrated at the front of the volume. Benanav gives the reader perceptive portraits of many of these nomads who became like family to the author and vicarious family to this reader. The family tree illustrations make it personal. Benanav discusses this book in the Candid Frame #476 podcast at www.ibarionex.net

[Lily Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! At first glance or reading of the back cover of Himalaya Bound it seems like an interesting nonfiction story following Michael Benanav's journey with a nomadic group of Van Gujjars. That alone sounds interesting... However, this book is so much more. It's about kind and strong people doing their best for their animals and the environment, about buffalos, milk, and family ties... it's about environmental sustainability, native lands, indigenous cultures being pushed out, government corruption, political interference, economic struggles, and industrial growth.

This book is complicated and layered and all wrapped up in a beautiful narrative that reads in stunning prose like a beautiful novel.

An incredible read, especially if you are interested in environmental sustainability and indigenous people.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael learns of the Van Gujjar tribe in India who are nomads traveling between summer and winter homes with their buffalo. Michael has an opportunity in 2009 to travel with an extended family on their spring migration. The forest department had been making life difficult the previous few years trying to block the families from the Himilaya lands. 2009 would prove to be an exceptionally difficult year and the family decides to try for a higher location. The way is long and hard and unknown.
I'd enjoyed _Men of Salt_ and expected I'd enjoy something else by the author. Yes, I did. There was a point when I could have become bogged down with the conservation arguments but it's necessary to understand the family's plight and decision for an alternative.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed this work, and intend to read more by this author. There are no easy answers, in today's day and age, to the plight of nomadic peoples. This author, as he lives among a group of buffalo herders in India, presents their situation very clearly. The only thing I thought the book lacked was more about the animals themselves. The people clearly love their herds, and are wise stewards of both the animals and the places that sustain them. But I would have appreciated more about them on a day-to-day level.

[Kathryn Lilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I copied this review from another reader, I felt the same way

This was really well done. An American journalist gets himself invited along as a family in India makes an annual trek to summer pasture for their water buffalo amid problems with access to grazing lands in national parks. His portrait of this family is so sympathetic. He even manages to make himself useful during the trip. Nice picture of a possibly doomed way of life.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really well done. An American journalist gets himself invited along as a family in India makes an annual trek to summer pasture for their water buffalo amid problems with access to grazing lands in national parks. His portrait of this family is so sympathetic. He even manages to make himself useful during the trip. Nice picture of a possibly doomed way of life.

[Linda Barry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book on this small tribe of nomadic water buffalo heards. Amazing insight into a smaller society and a look at a society that values something other than $ or technology. Sad to see the way these ancestral tribes are treated by the government!!

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good travelogue of following a group of indigenous people on their annual trek to higher elevations in the Himalayas. Too much of the book involved the political struggle they are facing with their land rights no longer valid with a modern society.

[Briana Alzola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating look at a tribe of people I knew nothing about. I felt like i was transported to this world and spent time traveling with these extraordinary people. I love Benanav's writing style, as well.

[Alex Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully moving journey. A must read for anyone who cares about indigenous cultures.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

A romantic novel of exploitation. A westerner using the pain and suffering of others to pay for his good life back home. Also a primitivist manifesto of sorts.

[Shashank · Rating 4 out of 5]

A insightful account into life of Van Gujjars

[Viktoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!
Easy to read, informative and time worth spent

[Robin Zolotoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoy reading true accounts of every day people who live very differently than I do. This book was a fascinating look at a nomadic group, and how they experience life and family. The photographs are beautiful, and really helps the reader with a visual of these beautiful people.

[Vishnu Menon malayattil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Benanav takes us on a journey with the Vann Gujjars, and a remarkable journey it is. It is true that nomads are on the margins of society, their lives are undocumented, their travails unseen and unheard. Benanav brings them into our purview and scrutiny. He picks up certain nuances well - like how Vann Gujjars being vegetarian Muslims is most definitely a pointer to their pre-Islamic past, and how a lot of their ways are less rigid than other Muslim communities. Some nuances are products of his opinionated understanding, especially the repeated and downright criticism of the Indian forest dept's broader strategies. I agree that the Vann Gujjars have a case - a strong case; but so does the state - but aspects of the latter are not touched at all. There is no fair treatment.(his almost unfair arrest might have tipped his view) . Benanav is on a lecturing mission , a know-it-all American who has travelled the world and knows what is fair, but is pained that the ground reality is not. As a reader I found that obnoxious. His identification with the group is so glorified , and oft pointed out that his out of placeness becomes stark to the reader.

Concentrate on just the journey though, and it's a veritable travalogue. Mountain streams, and passes, canyons and chutes - men and women who know the forest inside out, cattle and fodder, trees and birds. It's gripping. It is hard not to think about how they and the state can meet midway, what better terms can be given to them, how can their knowledge of the forest be employed by the State and so.

SPOILER WARNING

You feel for Dhummam and Yusuf and Jamila and Roshni. Their angst at not being able to go to their traditional pasture, their ability to take the hardships of life as they come, their loss (of Sharafat and of that yearling).

[Kamlesh Jayant · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good mixture of travelogue and cultural/social insights about a nomadic society that travels between shivaliks and Himalayas.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book. Learning about the life of the nomads and the challenges they face to sustain their way of life. Well written and interesting. Highly recommend.