Bugyals are the vast natural Pastures above 12000 feet high mountains. They are under snow in the winter and come to life after April. At this time the entire mountainside is covered with a variety of grasses, roots and herbs.

Alternate monsoon and dry seasons were the movement affect the Dhangars of Maharashtra. Dhangars were an important pastoral community of Maharashtra. In the early twentieth century their population in this region was estimated to be 467,000.

Dhars means deep valley. By September the Gaddi shepherds come down from the high meadows (Dhars). On the way down they halt for a while to have their sheep sheared.

In search of pastures, Nomadic tribes need to move from one place to another. When the pastures were exhausted in one place they moved to a different area to graze their cattle.

The Maasai cattle herders live primarily in east Africa: 300, 000 in southern Kenya and another 150,000 in Tanzania.

The cyclical movement between summer and winter pastures was typical of many pastoral communities of the Himalayas, including the Bhotiyas, Sherpas and Kinnauris.

The title Maasai derives from the word Maa. Maa-sai means ‘My People’. The Maasai are traditionally nomadic and pastoral people who depend on milk and meat for subsistence.

Large areas of grazing land were also turned into game reserves like the Maasai Mara and Samburu National Park in Kenya and Serengeti Park in Tanzania.

In 1871, the colonial government in India passed the Criminal Tribes Act. By this Act many communities of craftsmen, traders and pastoralists were classified as Criminal Tribes.

Gujjars , Gaddis and Bhotiyas and Sherpas are the pastoral communities of the mountains. All of them had to adjust to seasonal changes and make effective use of available pastures in different places.