Nomads in Madra Mountains

 

​​Shepherds are central actors in highland culture. Their responsibilities extend beyond tending and grazing livestock to include the maintenance of pastoral resources. They monitor animal health and behaviour, provide emergency care, and engage in lambing, milking, and cheese production. Additionally, shepherds contribute to tourism in pastoral landscapes and to the conservation of natural environments and biodiversity. Their expertise encompasses patience, determination, composure, observation, analytical skills, self-sufficiency, craftsmanship, harmony, foresight, organisation, physical and mental endurance, motivation, animal husbandry, veterinary and folk medicine, meteorological knowledge, clothing and food traditions, oral heritage, ritual practices, and the daily rhythms of life. Highland shepherds possess extensive ecological knowledge, including environmental balance and climate variability.

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Kadir and his mother migrate to the Gölcük Highland at the end of May, practising transhumance in wooden huts until late November. They spend the summer with their goats and sheep. Historically, the family migrated from Bursa to the Madra Mountains annually until approximately 150 years ago; this movement is now shorter in range. Once nomadic tent-dwellers, they currently reside in small huts covered with blue tarpaulins. While grazing animals in surrounding pastures, they provide natural fertiliser to both the forest and their gardens. Their dwelling, though modest and self-sufficient, supports the cultivation of beans, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, corn, eggplant, and other summer crops. The plateau, once a Roman road connecting Edremit and Bergama, has preserved ancient knowledge through generations, culminating in Kadir’s stewardship.

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Ten families live as nomads on the plateau. They share food and assist each other in constructing wooden huts each summer, as bears often destroy them during winter. They lead a subsistence lifestyle, selling vegetables at the Edremit public market. Kadir’s day begins at 4 a.m. with goat milking, followed by grazing in the forest until afternoon. He spends midday in the garden with his mother, and the goats return unaccompanied to their corral by sunset, guided by instinct. In Gölcük pastureland, agro-silvo-pastoralism has been practised for generations: flocks graze within woodlands, enriching the soil with manure. Each household maintains both a flock and a food garden, remaining here for over five months each year and selling their produce in the city. Archaeologists have attempted excavations to locate ancient settlements, discovering historical stone roads before halting their work. Kadir’s food garden is circular, enclosed by branches to protect it from goats and wild animals such as boars. Inside the enclosure is a water pond for animals, and the space is divided into three parcels—allocated to the flock, a herb garden, and storage for personal belongings. This agro-pastoral method, implemented by Kadir’s grandfather, has unknown origins but reflects a deeply rooted adaptation to the highland environment.