A little geography to start with
(and no, there won't be a test)
At its far Western end, Mongolia shares a border with Russia and China. The so-called tri-point, where the three countries meet, is on a mountain top surrounded by a glacier high in the Altai mountains. Along the border area, Mongolia has created the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park which includes the highest point in Mongolia: Khuiten Peak, at 4374 metres (14,364 ft).
While ethnic Kazakhs are a minority in Mongolia, they are a majority in the Altai. And the tri-point between Russia, China and Kazakhstan is only 40 km to the west; the traditional Kazakh lands also cover parts of Russia and Western China. Our trip within the Altai, arranged by Tusker, took place entirely in the park (click here), and brought us into very close contact with the Kazakh population.
Getting to the Altai
We meet a number of our travelling companions in Ulaan Baatar for a couple of meals and some cultural events (museum tours and an evening of music by the Mongolian National Orchestra). Mel Kaida is tour leader with Tusker; Tusker's founder is Eddie Frank and he will meet us in the Altai. There are 13 clients: 4 Canadians and 9 Americans; at least 6 have previously climbed Kilimanjaro with Tusker.
The next morning we head to the airport for the flight to Ulgii (click here). This involves a three hour flight on a modern Fokker 50 turboprop operated by Hunnu Air. (I am very glad it wasn't a creaky old Tupolev). From the air, the country is huge, with lots of desert becoming increasingly mountainous as we head west. Flying appears to be the only real way of getting here as the 1750 km road to Ulaan Baatar is not entirely paved; in Canada we would put on the cruise control and cover 1750 km in 15 to 18 hours of driving, but anecdotally Ulgii to Ulaan Baatar is more like 60 hours of driving (two and a half days, driving day and night).
We are met at the airport by our Kazakh guide, Dosjan (spelling unsure) who has worked with Tusker for 10 years on this trek.
Ulgii (Өлгий, elevation 5600 feet) is a tidy town of about 30,000 with paved streets, and looks more prosperous than other towns we have seen, such as Kharkhorin. Kazakhs are Muslims at birth, but as one Kazakh explained to me, they are Muslim 'lite': there are few headscarves visible on the street, alcohol is freely available in the supermarkets, and the mosque is not exactly the centre of the community.
We stay in a ger camp on the outskirts of Ulgii. The drive to the first campsite takes several hours in 4 Land Cruisers and involves the now-familiar goat tracks and river crossings. Entering the park requires stopping at a military checkpoint for passport verification, to ensure that our passports match the list provided by Tusker in the permit application. (There will be two more passport checks along the way). Given the proximity to the borders with China and Russia, entering the park requires obtaining a permit ahead of time, and being accompanied by a Kazakh guide, so you can't just drive up to the gate and ask to be let in.
Meeting Kazakh herders and their families
First night is at the southern end of Khoton Nuur (Хотон нуур, Khoton Lake) at about 6600 feet. The map below, which Eddie said was unobtainable but which Lorraine and I found in the airport bookstore as we were leaving Ulaan Baatar to return home, shows the park, and the tip of the knife blade shows the approximate location of the camp. (The red lines are borders with Russia and China; the yellow lines are the park borders within Mongolia. Thin orange lines are 'roads'.)
What a gorgeous spot! Here we meet Eddie, our horse master Carbai (spelling unsure), our various horses and camels, and the support crew including about 16 Kazakhs and Eddie's favourite cook, Alex, who he met during trips to Kilimanjaro. (Alex quickly becomes everyone's favourite cook as the meals were excellent, all the more so considering everything was packed in on camels). Total is 15 Westerners, about 18 support staff, 12 camels, and horses for everybody. Quite the caravan.
We spend two nights here. We go for a short hike/ride to get used to our horses and to stretch our legs. The highlight is a visit to Carbai's family ger, followed by a lake-side demonstration of traditional Kazakh horsemanship: a horse race, picking up a small pebble while leaning out of the saddle at a gallop, and a game of tug-of-war between two mounted horsemen. People come from many of the surrounding ger camps to participate, either as contestants or to cheer them on, and a good time was had by all. Kazakhs obviously enjoy this sort of thing very much, and the prize money put up by Tusker for top three finishers in each event was gravy. The close interaction with the Kazakh people, their warmth, their pride in their culture, was probably the highlight of the trip from my perspective. Tusker has obviously built a strong relationship with this particular group. A few photos follow:
Boy racers. Many rode bareback. One tough guy was learning to spit properly.
Discussing the odds? Kazakh men at the start of the event.
Boy on a foal. Start them both early! Herding requires good horsemanship.
And they're off! The 'track' was laid out with a couple of 4WDs and a motorbike as cornerposts, and probably covered at least a mile. 8 laps meant quite the workout for all concerned -- this isn't a quarter-mile county fairground track.
The ladies posed for a picture.
There were plenty of kids running around too. Diana, Sharon and Kristin with some of the locals.
Makes 52-pickup look easy. Unlike the race, where a fast horse and a light jockey are critical, a short sturdy horse and a big guy with long arms make for winning conditions.
In this particular round of tug-of-war, both fellows managed to stay on their horses. For a Kazakh, falling off your horse is a major blow to the ego! Ultimately the fellow in green let go of the prize, an empty 50-lb bag of flour, thus giving the win to his competitor. (Apparently the traditional object being tugged on is a goat's carcass, but no goats were harmed in this particular contest).
Like I said, get them on a horse early!
The happy contestants pose for pictures. All the horses worked hard but they also looked very well treated -- not cooped up in barns but allowed to graze after the 'work day' is done.
The next day, a quartet of little girls turned up from one of the surrounding ger camps, to sing songs and do little dances in exchange for popcorn. (I can't imagine Western parents allowing girls to wander around the countryside unaccompanied like this -- the nearest camp had to be a couple of kilometres away.) What a bunch of cuties! I predict the ringleader, in blue, will be a handful in a few years. As we leave the next morning, one of the girls returns to give us a bottle of warm mare's milk which we give to our Kazakh support staff.
Part 3 (which will be the last one) will cover the trek to the base of the glacier at the Chinese-Russian-Mongolian border. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment