In mid-April we took our 1st trip, a 3-day outing east of Ulaanbaatar--only about 300 kms or roughly 200 miles. In a country this size, that really isn't that far, but it was far enough for us to get a feel of life outside the capital. It was still chilly out with temps in the 40s and we saw snow on the hills in the distance. Traffic was light and the rolling hills were barren, beginning their spring thaw. North facing slopes were lightly dusted with snow, and some of the nomadic families were preparing for their moves to their spring locations.
We have learned that most nomadic families move four times/year, moving with the seasons, with their livestock. There are 3 million Mongolians and roughly 40 million livestock comprised of cow, horse, goat, sheep, camel and yak. The lands they move to/from are public lands and they move from year to year, season to season, to/from the same sites following the grasses, the rivers and the temperatures.
This shot below shows an already vacated winter grounds, tucked in at the base of the hills, by a family who has already moved to their spring location. In the foreground, a spring location has already been set up by another family. They will move on come May or June to their summer location. The winter place, in the background vacated, will have time to rejuvenate the grasses before that family comes back in Oct/Nov. Winter places are normally tucked in on the southern side of the hills, helping protect them and their livestock from the harsh winters which come in from the north. All ger front doors always face south, again due to weather and storms.
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| a small town, or soum, as they are referred to |
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| local school girls |
a full supply of Vodka and other alcoholic beverages.
The elementary students wore blue/white uniforms and were friendly and orderly.
At the indoor garden area in the school, they show their resourceful-ness of how to recycle old tires making them into swans and potted plant holders. Very clever.
School administrators from a school we visited gifted us hand cut artwork done by the students. A fun trip to the interior visiting schools and soums.
In May we booked a 3-day weekend excursion with a local tour company to a small National Park called Hustai, or known locally as Hustain Nuruu National Park (506 sq kms or 200 sq miles). Hustai was dedicated a National Park by the Mongolian Government in 1993 after the successful reintroduction of the last wild horse left on earth today, the Takhi, or the Przewalski Horse.
The shots below are on the way to the park, which is about 100 kms, or 60 miles west of Ulaanbaatar. The snow is all melted, but the temps were still chilly, with daytime highs in only the mid-high 50s and eves dropping down into the low 40s.
When discussing lodging with the tour company, we chose to stay with a nomad family in their second ger instead of at the park camp. Our tour company contracts with some nomad families around the countryside which allows foreigners the chance to experience the nomad herder lifestyle. What a fantastic experience! Very similar to life on the farm in the US (or what life on the farm used to be like), though our weekend taste was just enough as we do appreciate running water, hot showers, flush toilets and all the modern conveniences. Despite the harsh winters and rudimentary lifestyle, Mongolian nomad herders are well equipped with satellite dishes and solar power to charge TV's, cell phones, washing machines and refrigerators. At the center of the ger is a wood burning stove used for cooking and heating, often burning dung, wood or coal.
Amazingly enough, just as we were arriving at the ger family's location, around lunch time, we met the father coming home as well and followed him to their ger.
Our home for 2 nights
Comfortable inside with lunch on the stove. Lunch for Buddy and the other carnivores was mutton with noodles as a soup, which Buddy said was very good. For Aly and our vegetarian guide, our guide prepared a lovely vegetarian soup.
The wood stove with the dung box for fuel
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| Saraa with her soon-to-be home made noodles for the soup |
Mindee, a young herder in the making
After the day out herding, dad came home on his horse and the livestock followed...
Observing the herd before separating mothers and babies
Bundled up Oyuka got a free ride and stayed warm with 'uncle Buddy'.
The next morning, from our ger, we walked to some neolithic grave sites that have been there for centuries...scattered along the steppes of central Mongolia.
After breakfast, on our way to the park, our 1st stop was Ongot's man stone monuments dating back to the 6th-8th centuries. This region is rich in archaeological sites and one of the most famous is Ongot where the ancient Turkic people carved gravestones in respect of their dead. There are over 550 stones here, considered to be one of the largest collections in central Asia. The fence is to protect the stones from being knocked over by grazing livestock.
Welcome to Hustai National Park
The Przewalski horse, or locally referred to as the Takhi, is what put Hustai on the map. These horses used to live wild in Mongolia, they were last seen in 1966 and reintroduced in 1992 from some of the horses which were taken and reared in captivity in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
There are 7 wild horse species in the world--3 of them are zebras, 3 of them are assess and the Przewalski is the only truly wild horse. Mustangs and Brumby's were once domesticated and are now feral. Przewalski's are stockier in build, tan in color, slightly different in many ways than domesticated horses, including having 66 chromosomes compared to 64 in other horse species.
It was beautiful watching these horses, which, if we were in the US, would be just another horse...
Shedding their winter coats
Hustai is home to more than just the wild horse. We were lucky to see some beautiful Elk herds and some Mongolian gazelle, very similar to pronghorn in the US.
Our last morning with the nomad family started with a lovely sunrise and our watching the efficiency of the nomad family 'breaking camp' and moving to their summer location...it was fascinating to watch and took less than 2 hours.
As we left, we turned back to see where we had been for the past 2 days...1 ger had been dismantled and the other was left on site without a family.
In June we took another 3-day weekend trip with the same tour company and headed north east out of the capital to another national park called Terelj. Terelj is the 3rd largest protected area in Mongolia and perhaps the most touristy.
Again, we stayed with a nomad family in their 'tourist' ger and it was wonderful. Not all nomad families have 'extra or tourist' ger's for visitors to stay, but some do and do this for extra income. They provide the food and beds and some nomad lifestyle experience and the tour company who you book with provides bedding, the vehicle and additional supplies as needed (and vegetarian food for any vegetarians out there as nomad families are HUGE meat eaters). This was our 2nd family to stay with and to our surprise they were both young and with young children. It's a hard life and not for the weak or weary...
Upon entering the Tuul River valley, we came to a HUGE roadside rock and history has it that 100 monks hid out for a year (in the mid 1930s) in a small cave to avoid assassination by the communist government. They were fed by local herdsmen. The cave is called the 100 Monks Cave.
You can see the size of the rock with the people standing to get into the cave
We wove our way down the Tuul River Valley and crossed the river into the beautiful park.
And our ger for the next 2 nights...
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| the family |
Cooking up some mutton
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| herder children |
Again, the women at work...
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| Turtle Rock |
A beautiful hike up to the center.
Beautiful scenery
Inside the temple
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| 2 lovely sisters visiting the temple |
After visiting the temple, we returned to our camp and took our ger family's dog on a hike up a mountain...the views were outstanding...our ger camp is below
Bidding our ger host and friend farewell, we headed back to UB.
