Political decisions and economic pressures shape daily life far beyond Iran's cities. In the Zagros Mountains, a small number of Bakhtiari families still undertake the Kooch, a seasonal migration on foot between lowland winter pastures and summer grazing grounds above 2,500 meters (8,200 feet). The journey can last up to two weeks and remains one of the few transhumance routes in Iran still completed entirely on foot. This way of life is becoming increasingly fragile. Water shortages , dam