North India pastoral nomads. Ongoing documentation of the pastoral nomadic communities of northern India. Two communities living in Ladakh in the state of Jammu – Kashmir in India near the borders of Pakistan and China. One community is the Bakarwal (Muslim) tribal group who graze their animals and live part of the year a stone’s throw away from the Pakistan border. The other community is the Changpa (Buddhist) nomads who reside in the Changthang region of Ladakh, just west of the Indo China border. The Changpa mainly raise Pashmina goats which provide the heavily coveted cashmere wool. The Bakarwals graze sheep and goats of their own that are used for wool and meat but they also often serve as hired grazers for wealthy animal owners as well as the government. Both communities live under the constant pressure of climate change, border issues, army presence and social changes happening within their own settlements; all of which are contributing to an exodus to urban areas from within each community. For full story, please contact me directly.

Documentary photography in India. India photography documenting the pastoral nomadic communities, Bakarwal and Changpa, of Northern India as their social lives change as a result of the pressures placed on them. The pressures include political borders, global warming, local war and migration from within the community to the cities of north India such as Jammu, Srinagar, Leh, New Delhi and other urban areas that attract a better lifestyle than is offered by the nomadic way of life. Ozzie Hoppe Photographer India. Brief story documented in Khabar