Reindeer Tribe, Mongolia
33 images Created 31 Mar 2017
The reindeer tribes of Mongolia are dying out. With the lure of modernization and technology it is much harder to survive in this tradition. These tribes were not easy to get to but the adventure was totally worth it. It took a two-day drive from Ulaanbaatar where we spent the night at our horse guides home. The morning brought an 8-hour horse ride, which we all thought was a joke as none of us were very experienced riders. To our shock, they were not kidding but according to our horse guides we all did incredible, as this was not a long flat trail. We were taken through rivers, up hills, down hills, navigating through rocks, mud and forests. Horses in Mongolia are not named so we all named our horses, laughed through stinky horse farts and sang songs to keep all of us entertained. When we crested our final hill and saw the teepee camps in the distance our asses were jumping for joy! Getting off and on our horses was getting harder throughout the day, but the accomplishment you feel having been able to complete this journey is empowering.
The tradition in Mongolia, when staying with a family, is you go into their home for a visit. They offer you milk tea, and whatever they have on hand, which is usually a type of bread and some cheese. The milk tea is mostly hot milk, depending on their livestock determines the type of milk used, horse, yak, camel, reindeer, with tea leaves added to the milk and boiled together in a pot. Our camp had reindeer milk and yak cheese, a hard parmesan texture with a very particular flavour. We also had yak butter, which turns out is the most delicious butter I had ever tasted. Slathering it on fresh baked bread we thought it couldn’t get any better and then we saw the locals sprinkle sugar on top of the butter. Needing to try this I put sugar on top and OMG, Amazing!
Not long after we settled into our new home a herd of reindeer came charging right into our camp. We all stood there in awe, it was a very surreal and amazing moment to be suddenly surrounded by reindeer. I don’t think the smiles left any of our faces! The herders and our hosts sorted out the herds of whose was whose. In the evening the reindeer slept just outside the teepees with a few of them snoring away. In the morning the odd one would poke his head into our teepee to check things out and then they would join us to brush our teeth outside. They reminded me of large dogs with antlers, as they were very docile and gentle
After a few days here we packed up to make our final way back to our waiting vans 8 hours away. This experience was one that I will never forget. The absolute peacefulness of the whole journey, the slow and relaxed days to take in the view and lives they lead and being able to do something that not many will experience all combine to an unbelievable adventure.
The tradition in Mongolia, when staying with a family, is you go into their home for a visit. They offer you milk tea, and whatever they have on hand, which is usually a type of bread and some cheese. The milk tea is mostly hot milk, depending on their livestock determines the type of milk used, horse, yak, camel, reindeer, with tea leaves added to the milk and boiled together in a pot. Our camp had reindeer milk and yak cheese, a hard parmesan texture with a very particular flavour. We also had yak butter, which turns out is the most delicious butter I had ever tasted. Slathering it on fresh baked bread we thought it couldn’t get any better and then we saw the locals sprinkle sugar on top of the butter. Needing to try this I put sugar on top and OMG, Amazing!
Not long after we settled into our new home a herd of reindeer came charging right into our camp. We all stood there in awe, it was a very surreal and amazing moment to be suddenly surrounded by reindeer. I don’t think the smiles left any of our faces! The herders and our hosts sorted out the herds of whose was whose. In the evening the reindeer slept just outside the teepees with a few of them snoring away. In the morning the odd one would poke his head into our teepee to check things out and then they would join us to brush our teeth outside. They reminded me of large dogs with antlers, as they were very docile and gentle
After a few days here we packed up to make our final way back to our waiting vans 8 hours away. This experience was one that I will never forget. The absolute peacefulness of the whole journey, the slow and relaxed days to take in the view and lives they lead and being able to do something that not many will experience all combine to an unbelievable adventure.
