IF you’ve ever lived or taken a holiday in the province of Granada, you’ll know the enchanting sound of the sheep’s bells.
There are still a few places in Andalucia where real shepherds move their flocks around, just as they’ve done for thousands of years.
Jorge Gallegos, the last of the nomad shepherds, explains: “The Alpujarras is great for the sheep, but it’s so high up that it gets cold in winter. I bring them down to the coast for the worst of it, but when spring comes, up we go again.”
The technical name for shifting the flock when the seasons turn is “transhumance”, and Jorge is its last practitioner in the Alpujarras.
When we speak, he’s moving his flock of 1,200 sheep back up to the high sierras, ready for the blazing summer.
A couple of centuries ago, there were dozens of them in Granada, Almeria and even Malaga. The terrain of our region suits this method. As we all know, mountains and beaches are close together here.
Your teeth can be chattering in Frigiliana, whereas a few miles away, on the same day, people are sunbathing on the Costa.
Jorge Gallegos Gonzalez, to give him his full name, is the son and grandson of shepherds.
He hails from Bubion, in the Sierra Nevada National Park, where local landmarks have evocative names like “the Cave of the Witch’s Eye”.
But Jorge is not seen much around Bubion. He spends most of his time out on the hillside, guarding his flock.
With just a sheepdog for company, and two mules to carry food and clothing, he spends weeks out in the open air.
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“Is it a hard job?”
“Well,” says Jorge, “you have to put in long hours. And yes, it’s lonely. You have to be dedicated. It’s like you’ve got 1,200 children, and you have to keep checking that they’re alright.”
It’s worth it, he says, to be so close to Nature.
The Gallegos family is very well-known in the Alpujarras. Jorge’s grandfather, the shepherd ‘El Platilla’, was a legend.
Jorge himself is now 24 years old, and has been out with the flock, full-time, for ten years.
But it’s not as lonely as you might think. A team of lecturers from the University of Granada is accompanying him on this year’s move.
Jose Luis Serrano, Professor of Human Geography, says it’s important. “We have anthropologists here,” he tells us, “and experts in Medieval farming methods. We’re learning a lot from Jorge.”
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The move, which means walking the sheep more than 100 kilometres, is done in six stages. By July, they will be at high altitude, up in the Sierra Nevada.
The whole of Andalucia is criss-crossed by ancient droving trails (locals call them cañadas, cordeles and caminos reales).
By the way, anyone who is thinking of buying land on which to build should be careful: it’s illegal to construct anything that blocks these time-honoured routes, and your new villa can be pulled down if it obstructs them.
It’s really all about breeding (like so much of what we do!) – Jorge has 14 rams and, in the appropriate season, they ‘service’ the ewes, and as many as 1,500 lambs are born.
Has anything changed over the years? Is there anything about modern shepherding that might surprise his grandfather?
Jorge takes a long breath and squints.
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“Two things,” he says. “First, he’d be amazed that we get a police escort.”
When the flock passes through built-up areas, a couple of patrol cars ensure that everyone gets through safely.
“Second, he wouldn’t believe that they now have a sheep drive in the heart of Madrid.”
He’s right. To educate the city-dwellers, and to raise general awareness of transhumance, an annual festival has been launched in the capital.
But back here in Andalucia, Jorge and his dog have got some sheep to move. Long may he pursue his ancient and noble profession!
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