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9. Transhumance & Sanabria Drover’s Road

For centuries, the mountains of Porto have been one of the main summer destinations for transhumant livestock in north-western Iberia. Every year, herds moved from the lowlands to the high mountain pastures of the Porto, Segundera and Trevinca ranges, taking advantage of the abundant water resources and rich grasslands found above 1,500 metres.

These seasonal migrations followed an extensive network of livestock routes protected by the Crown since medieval times. One of the most important was the Cordel Sanabrés, a branch of the historic Cañada Real de la Plata (Zamorana), which connected Benavente with Porto and provided access to the summer grazing grounds used by cattle, sheep and horses.

Transhumance was much more than a livestock activity. It encouraged the exchange of knowledge, traditions, language and culture between distant regions. Its legacy survives in place names, historic routes, shepherds’ shelters and many elements of Porto’s cultural landscape.

The importance of this practice has received international recognition. In 2023 UNESCO included Transhumance on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Porto’s traditional dry-stone architecture, closely linked to pastoral life, has also been recognised by UNESCO since 2018.

Today livestock farming continues to play an essential role in Porto, helping to preserve open landscapes, biodiversity and a way of life deeply connected to the mountains of Alta Sanabria.