Govi Trip part 1

Umnugovi (South Gobi Aimag/Province) is the largest and most southern aimag (province) and is home to the Tost mountain range, where the Snow Leopard Trust (SLT) has been conducting what may be the most studied Snow Leopard population in the world. Here is a link to their website for more information and rare footage of Snow Leopards in the Tost Mountains...

The South Gobi is also being pillaged for it's rich mineral resources, which is another issues involving herders and the ecosystem.

We have been collaborating with the SLT and now they would like to place our Bankhars dogs in the Tost Mountain area where there is a serious conflict between herders and snow leopards and wolves. So on Friday we took a road trip to the Gobi. Our goal was to interview the herders that we might be placing our dogs with and answer any questions they had. We wanted to find out what kind of livestock losses they dealt with, predator encounters, specific husbandry practices and many other questions that would dictate IF we place our dogs and who with.

We started out in Ulaanbaatar Friday morning, drove 7 hours south to Dalanzadgad (DZ), the capital of Umnugovi Aimag, and a central location for all the mines in the South Gobi. From Dalanzadgad we drove west to Noyon Sum/Soum/cym, a district in the SLT area of study and where we would be placing our dogs. From DZ to Noyon takes about 7 hours on dirt, sand and steppe.

Some wildlife along the way to DZ.

White tailed Antelope

A wild Doug in hibernation.

2 day old camels (domesticated). 

 More Camels (also domesticated, the wild camel is rare).

We arrived in DZ, a dry and dusty town. The Altai Mountain range begins somewhere around here.

The SLT was a day late to DZ, where we planned to rendezvous, so we spent a night in Lammergeyer valley in the nearby mountains. The Gobi area changes drastically from barren steppe to beautiful and rugged mountains, valleys, rivers and gorges. The herders like to tuck themselves in the mountains to hide from the harsh winds but they are more likely to encounter predators there. I believe there must be more to their reasoning, but I have yet to find out what.

Pictures from Lammergeyer valley...

Frozen rivers.

 Gorges...

 According to out dung expert, Soyolbolod, the best dung to use for fires are the dry purple cow dung.

Tucked away in the valley, we felt far from civilization. The hills were laced with juniper shrubs and the valley floor littered with every kind of dung. Night fell quickly and the temperatures did too but with zero pollution of light or smoke, the stars where a sight for sore eyes. Finally settling down for the night, I found that my goose-down sleeping bag was almost too generous of an insulator. On the other hand, Doug's sad, withered and defeated, rental sleeping bag had him massaging cold feet all night. Happy to feel the warmth of the sun the next day, we were faced with another predicament.

Our hired truck (and driver) happened to be a diesel Toyota Prado, generally a great truck, this sadly was in sad shape. Last nights cold was hassling the diesel engine. The cold combined with bad fuel, bad piston rings (oil mixing with the fuel for harder combustion), and a slew of other issues; including not bringing the tools to fix this, left us in a tricky spot. We amassed piles of dung, burnt them down to embers and placed it under the cars engine block in hope that it would give it the heat it needed to start. 

No luck... With the bad rings there just wasn't enough compression to keep her going. We packed some backpacks and made our way to the nearest herder. To our surprise a convoy of shamans came driving right into the valley. They we're reluctant to help but one let us use his car to jump start it. Again the Prado would't turn over and the shaman had a ritual to attend. We we're stuck again. Doug and our driver, Micky, set out again for the nearby herder. They returned quickly with another truck. Some miners on work leave happened to be parading the valley and we're happy to help.

The guy on the right happened to be an ex-coworker of our translator Soyolbolod, on the left. Soyolbolod was the the safety officer for Oyu Tolgoi, Mongolias largest copper and gold mine. There was no hope for the truck, so in return for towing us back to DZ we cooked them some bacon. 

However with our mining friends happily drunk by 12 in the afternoon, we were faced with an incredibly stressful tow back to DZ, involving shit towing cables, lack of communication and overall lack of sense. Doug and I where on edge and tired. We managed to pry the drunk driver away from the wheel and had two sober people steering the vehicles. We rolled back into DZ, dropped the truck off at a mechanic, located a hotel and then found the nearest huushuur joint. 

Digesting huushuur is exhausting too.

That evening, we met with the SLT to debrief on our trip to Noyon Sum. There we would meet a local vet, Adal Bish (This name literally translates to Not the Same) who would take us to the families interested in our project.

To be continued!