Twice a year shepherds mount this 200 kilometer long path:
first in spring when they take their herds into the mountains for the whole summer,
and then a second time in the fall, when they come back down into the valley. 

       I walked this path with the shepherds three times in the period from 2008 to 2010.

      The path starts on the plains of South-Western Georgia by the Azerbaijan border and goes through the Khaheti wine region,
into the Tusheti mountains where the shepherds are from. Starting from mid May, at the beginning of the rainy season,
herds move into Tushetiya through the Obano Stavi pass 3000 meters above sea level. For two weeks shepherds
travel to their home pastures high in the mountains. At the top they split up sheep into lactating and non-lactating,
and start milking every day to make a sheep cheese that is very valued on the Georgian market. Until the first snow
shepherds will stay in the mountains, and, at the beginning of October, they will take the herds back for the winter,
to return again to Tusheti in 8 months.