In the spring and summer, as the glaciers melt, fresh, sweet water flows to people's homes and through the turbines of electric power plants built across rivers. Tajikistan's Nurek Hydropower Plant is one of the largest in the world. The Nurek Reservoir offers a beautiful view, of snow-capped mountains, green grassy hills, red mud riverbed and crystal blue water all in one frame.
Tajikistan's high mountains have a lot of water, and their grassy foothills are great places to graze sheep, goats and cows. But they're so steep that it's really hard to grow large amounts of food. Maybe you know that America's central plains -- the flatlands of Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado and the Dakotas -- are known as the country's 'breadbasket.' That part of the country is so flat that it's easy to grow huge amounts of wheat, corn and other crops. But in Tajikistan, there's almost no flat country. That makes it tough for people here to grow the wheat they need to make bread.
First, people here usually have two houses: A summer house, near a fresh spring up high in the hills, where they can escape the season's boiling heat; and a winter house, low down in a valley, clustered with other families near a river bed, where there are more trees for firewood. Second, most families here keep at least a few goats, sheep or cows. In the spring, summer and autumn, they group their livestock with the animals of neighbors and relatives, and travel with that herd through the mountains from pasture to pasture. Third, Tajik people don't eat very many fresh vegetables!
