'The Fabolous land of Iran, Colourful and vigorous Folklore' The Bakhtiari's are the largest and most purely Iranian of all the Persian tribes. They belong to the Lur race and their language is closely related to the oldest known forms of Persian. The annual Bakhtiari migration in April from their Garmsir, or winter quarters in Khuszistan, to their Sardsir, or summer pastures in the Chahar Mahal region of the plateau south/west of Esfehan, takes from four to six weeks. It is an epic of human courage and endurance in which men, women and children of all ages, with their animals and household goods, travel by five different migrations routes across some of the wildest and most difficult mountain country in Persia in their search for grass.

The Bakhtairis are divided into two major groups- the Haft Lang and the Chahar Lang - which in turn are divided into tribes, sub/tribes and clans. No on seems to know precisely how many Bakhtiaris there are in Persia(Iran); one estimate, which may be on the high side, is of 450,000, perhaps half being migratory and pastoral, the rest agricultural and settled.

The Bakhtiari men and girl live permanently in the village of Karyak, about 120 miles south of Esfehan where the Kershan River, a tributary of Karun, serves as the boundry between the Bakhtiari and Bor Ahmadi tribes.

('The Fabolous land of Iran, Colourful and vigorous Folklore'; Selected works of Iranian photogrophers, Designed by Javad Yassavoli)