Thursday, July 01, 2010

Motor Tour 4- Animal Whisperers

That second campsite, the one on the hill, was near one of Darhan's champion horseracers. We dropped in after pitching our tents, about 11:30pm, for tea and some jokes. Then the next morning he showed off one of his 3 herds to us and put his youngest on this prize-winner (he had six prize-winning horses). I think that even "Jack" got to ride him for a bit (about 3 minutes), but the horse looked MUCH smaller underneath my 6'3" friend.

Our fourth campsite was by a pleasant stream next to one of Mongolia's champion hunters. We dropped in BEFORE pitching our tents, about 11:30pm, for tea and some jokes. Then the next morning he sprang out of bed to show us a wolf pelt (from 4 days ago) and rustle a horse for milking - it is "airag" season (fermented mare's milk). Did I mention he is 78 years old?

Of course we encountered more than just horse whisperers... here is a young goat whisperer trying to re-tether our dinner! We also saw sheep and even a couple herds of camels (all 5 of Mongolia's livestock).

But I can't leave out the cows. These fine fellows were generous enough to share a bit of shade with me, which can be hard to come by on the open steppe of Mongolia! They weren't very chatty, which was fine with me because by that time I was hot and tired and wanted to get away from people for awhile! Ha, trying to get away from people while traveling in the remote countryside of the least dense nation on earth!!

No comments: