To live all summer in a cabin at the foot of Comanegra taking care of 700 sheep

Rocabruna (Ripollès)In early June, when the heat arrives, shepherd Víctor Rojas Orcalla embarks on a long trek on foot from Cap de Creus to Alta Garrotxa, guiding a flock of nearly 700 sheep along the traditional transhumance routes. He takes them to the green meadows at the foot of Comanegra, at the peak of Les Bruixes, and at the pass of Sant Marc, where they spend the entire summer sheltered from the high temperatures. The shepherd cares for them in the mountains for three or four months, accompanied by nine dogs, and they spend most nights in a small, well-equipped modular hut at the base of the summit. Further down, in the village of Rocabruna, Rojas also has a room at the Bocabartella farmhouse where the estate workers welcome him whenever he needs it.

The hut is equipped with a kitchen and solar panels. Rojas brings provisions there and can live self-sufficiently. Next to it is the enclosure with electric fences where the livestock spend the night. Every morning, the farmer opens the fences and leads the animals to pasture. Without clocks or fixed schedules, the rhythm is set by the sheep and the weather. If necessary, they leave at dawn or stay out until midnight. "This profession has practically not changed in a thousand years. The shepherd is the animal that most resembles man," Rojas says with a smirk. The shepherd spends many hours in solitude, with many contemplative moments surrounded by animals and nature, and, over time, has developed a very profound discourse and reflections on his profession.

The name of the flock, Arkàdia, is a good example of this. It refers to the bucolic garden of classical Greek tradition, in which the archetypal human figure was the shepherd. "If Arkàdia is a paradise after death, I am enjoying it in life. The shepherd's work is very demanding, but also full of endorphins. I see the best sunsets and sunrises. I feel privileged, like a king," he explains.

"I am not 37 years old, but rather I have seen eight generations of sheep"

As a result of this intense way of living and understanding the calling, Rojas's bond with each of the sheep in his flock is strong and special. "I don't just say I live off them. I also live with them and for them. When you raise them and can cross the country from Cap de Creus to Comanegra, you whistle and they all come and follow you, you generate a bond that is very difficult to explain if you haven't lived it firsthand. It's so close that we don't see them as a lucrative thing. If a wolf attacks them, I don't want them to pay me for the sheep they kill. I cry. I give them names," Rojas admits.

Of the 700, she has Bicicleta and Antònia, Antonieta's mother. Also Pitufa, who had Pitufina, and Trufa, who gave birth to Llufa, and so on. "Animals are born, live, and die constantly. We live the cycle of life. I don't say I'm 37 years old, I say I've seen eight generations of sheep. I've known the mother, the daughter, I've chosen them, I've seen them born and die," he states.

Up to the mountains of Garrotxa or the Pyrenees, most of the herds that practice transhumance are cows. And, at the foot of Comanegra, although it is unusual, good coexistence reigns between bovines, even though cows need much more water than sheep and sometimes dry out the ponds.

The life of traditional shepherds like Víctor Rojas is essentially nomadic, always on the move following the seasons according to the animals' needs. For this reason, this year his herd bears the mark of an Amazigh people, in a gesture of brotherhood and vindication of a stateless people, linked to traditional forms of agriculture and livestock farming. After spending the summer in Alta Garrotxa and the calves have been born, Rojas' herd begins its descent towards Empordà, where it will spend the entire autumn and winter, at the winery of Vinyeta, in Masarac. There the sheep help to prune the vines. In spring they return to Cap de Creus, to help maintain fire prevention strips. And, when the heat returns, they set off again on the path towards Garrotxa. And so on, successively.