Monday, January 28, 2008

The Tofa People



Tofalaria - The Land of the Tofa People


The Tofa are an ancient minority people living across from the northern-most parts of Mongolia between Tuva and Buryatia. Numbering only a few hundred now, the Tofa as a people might become obsolete within the next decade according to some scholars. Their language in now spoken only by a few dozen elderly Tofa and will most likely die out with them. The ancient Tofa traditions of herding reindeer and hunting for food and hides is part of a way of life that has reached the end of its road in a final meeting with modernity.



Tofa Hunter, photo by Vladimir Sorin
Photo courtesy: Cultural Survival Quarterly