Nomads are still found on the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalaya. Known in the Tibetan language as drokpa, translating as ‘high-pasture people’, there are an estimated two million Tibetan-speaking nomads spread over a vast area. Throughout the Tibetan areas of what is now the People’s Republic of China and in the northern parts of Bhutan, India and Nepal, nomads are an important element in the local economy and society wherever they are found. Yet, our image of Tibetan nomads is often romanticized. Influenced by Hollywood movies, the latest talk by the Dalai Lama, the media campaigns of the Free Tibet movement or Chinese propaganda, a real picture of their lives is missing.
