Horses Coming!!

Today we left the snow leopard camp, which according to my phone was somewhere close to Santmargaz, Zavkhan, Mongolia, if anybody's really that interested.  All I could tell you before looking it up was that it was in the Margaz Mountains in the middle of nowhere.  Looking at my ger, it looked so lonely with everything packed up and not exploded all over the place.  Same thing in the meal ger.  All of you who know me would not be surprised to know I took up  more than my fair share of space around the charger areas.  But I was more than happy to let anybody use my cords or chargers if I wasn't using them.  I had bought cheap hand warmers before leaving in case the Chinese border patrol decided they were batteries.  I didn't want to risk losing my nice penguin hand warmers the kids got me for Christmas a couple of years ago.  Bina said I might need them for the yak herders, so I gave him one pair (along with their bag and charging cord) and showed him how they worked and told him I'd send the other pair back with Ariuna before I left town.  I would much rather they be with the guys in camp than a border guard confiscate them.  My things that had been living in our car had already been transferred to the car we would be taking for the next part of the trip, so after breakfast, all that was left was the goodbyes.  All the trackers came out to see us, and we were changing drivers, too.  I tried to give the traditional greeting that I had seen many of them do with each other.  It ended up being fist bumps, and they all seemed to be really excited to fist bump me before we left.  I had grown to lean on every one of them and I trusted them very much.  It was a pretty tearful goodbye.  This has been an amazing trip so far.

Our drive was most of the day.  We drove by the sand dunes.  They are fed from the western part of the mountain range.  They run about 200 km (124 miles) long and about 10-20 km (6-12 miles) wide.  The highest dune is about 200 m (650 ft) high.

Then we stopped by the salt lake.

And we drove through the dunes!  This was bouncy and fun.

Before long, we came upon a little town.  I think the town (not the snow leopard camp) is actually called Santmargaz.  It was across the river.  During the winter, it's much closer to the camp.  Once the spring warm-up starts, you have to go all the way to the bridge to get to town.  We could still see ice on it, but there were spots that were melting pretty well and the running water was visible.  Not really safe for driving over at this point.

The bridge was a little old and worn in many spots, but we made it across.

We drove through town.  

And stopped at this little store called the Sample Market.  I resumed my attempts to remember cyrillics from almost learning them many, many years ago when I worked with Russian linguists in Germany.  Mongolia uses a modified cyrillic alphabet.  I didn't do too poorly, if I do say so myself.  Of course, I downloaded a cheat sheet for the letters that weren't in the Russian alphabet or the ones I had forgotten.

She had a huge assortment of things for such a small building.  Various alcohols, candies, vegetables, pelts, pantry staples, and other things.  We tried some milk vodka that the shopkeeper made herself and got some snacks.  I got some Mongolian candy to take home.

The carrots here are even bigger than they were in Ecuador!!

After leaving the market and getting gas, we went to another part of the river (over a much newer bridge) and had lunch.  You can see the ice still there, but also the running water in spots.

Then we entered Khoman Tal National Park.  After driving a while, we saw some saiga antelope running off in the distance.  These guys are fast!  This was the best shot I got.  They moved waaay too fast for me to follow them with the camer.  One minute they were there, and the next they were gone!

We also got a good look at the Mongolian ground jay.  This one sat still long enough and was close enough for a really good shot!

Soon after, we entered a fenced area, which is where the Przewalski horse (Takhi, in Mongolian) is kept so that it is more easily managed.  Eventually, they will remove the fencing, but not just yet.  The Takhi in the wild went extinct in the past, but thanks to controlled breeding programs in a few zoos around the world, they have been reintroduced to a few places, and Khoman Tal National Park in Mongolia is one of those.  The guys at this camp are doing a great job taking care of these wild horses and keeping their numbers high and growing, managing ground cover and vegetation for them to eat.  We got there and had our first showers since going to the snow leopard camp (Oh was it glorious!), and settled into our ger.  It was nice to have overnight electricity, too, so I plugged in Darth Vader (my CPAP) and was settled in early for an all-night sleep with no waking up unable to breathe!  Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and we heard someone yell, "Horses coming!"  So we just had to throw our boots and coats on and head out to see them!

This was a fairly large herd, and the stallion's name was Laniekea.  There are about 15 herds in the park, ranging for 4-14 members.  I had both cameras and was so tired that I was having trouble even holding the little Lumix, so lots of my pictures were blurry, even when the horses were standing still.  But when the ranger came driving up and scared them off, I was able to get them running away with my phone.

Then we went back to our ger and had nice dreams of Takhi after nice showers and me getting to breathe all night!

Final Day at the Snow Leopard Camp

On our last day at the snow leopard camp, we didn't see much in the morning.  At lunch, we talked about my potential next trip, when I might want to see the eagle hunters in action, the girl archers, and the reindeer hunters.  That trip should most likely be in September or October.  If I want to ride the reindeer, I would still need to lose about 25 more lbs.  Bina also said they ride horses up to the reindeer that time of year, and it is a pretty grueling two-day ride in slippery, muddy, mountainous terrain.  So, I might also want to take some refreshing riding lessons to get my riding muscles back in shape.

After lunch, we headed back out.  While we were driving in a little valley, I spotted an Ibex!  Me!  I spotted it!  And we stopped to take some pictures.

We drove on down to the end of the valley, where our driver started spotting like normal while Bina walked up to join us.  As we went back down the valley, there were many other animals.  My strength is getting better.  Pretty much all of these are taking with the big camera (The Baby) with no support.

My notes say upland buzzard.  I'm pretty proud of having the camera this steady!  Other than cropping, there wasn't much work needed on it.

More ibex.  There was a whole herd.

Elk

Maybe red deer

Bina found wolf tracks, and when we came back through, we stopped for them.  I took some pictures, but between the shadows from people and vehicles, I couldn't pull enough shadows of the print to make it clear what was in the shots.  My journal has this happening after lunch, but I keep thinking this was in the morning.  This is why I journal while traveling.  Days just melt into each other.  Anyway, at some point, the trackers found a snow leopard!  On our last day, we were going to get another snow leopard!  We saw cats on 5 out of the 7 days we were in camp!  These guys with Soaring Expeditions are amazing!  Our first looks were waaay far out.  I looked through the scope to get landmarks for where he was, and by the time I got over to the rocks where I wanted to take my shots, he had gone back into his cave.  So, I got a few shots of the landscape and some distant Mongolian gazelle with a horse in the background.

And Yumchin took a picture of me in my shooting position with my phone.  You can see how heavy my big camera (The Baby) is!  Also, look at that lovely headgear Chrissy knitted for me!  The best headgear I've had!

After a while, we moved closer and continued to wait for him to come out.  He crept out very slowly and timidly.  After we spent some time with him, the guys determined that this was a new male that they hadn't seen before, either in person or on the camera traps.  He was a beauty, though, and once he got out, he just laid down and sunned himself on the ledge.  He did keep his beautiful, blue-grey eyes on us, though.

He did do some rolls to scratch and took a couple of naps once he decided we weren't a threat.

What a way to end the camp portion of the trip!  In total, we saw 6 unique snow leopards (Scarface, Alungoo, the cubs - that we didn't get pix of, and this guy), 5 unique Pallas cats, and many prey animals.  Every mammal that I had on my wish list was seen (except Przewalski's horse, which is a guarantee for later), was seen with several more.  We got nice, safe, close looks at them, with most of the animals being visible to the naked eye.  Top it all off with the fact that I didn't have to contend with the super high altitude in India or significant physical requirements in other locations.  If you're interested in seeing snow leopards in the wild, I highly recommend going with these guys at Soaring Expeditions.  I'm looking forward to how the rest of the trip goes!

Pica, history, and Clyde

We woke up this morning to another person coming to see the snow leopards.  This one is from Japan.  This is a busy camp, and each trip is curated specifically for the person taking it.  When something is found, we all end up together, but while searching, each group is with their own guide.

On our first stop, we found the Pallas' pica.  Other than the Przewalski horse, which isn't in this area of the country, that covers every animal I had on my list and then some!  The pica is not a rodent.  Instead it is more closely related to rabbits and hares.  Just look at those cute little ears!  And it's not carrying any vegetation in its mouth to put in its burrow to save for eating during the winter!  Of course, this is spring, so Bina reminded me it's not the right time of year for that.

We saw a pair of golden eagles, but no cats.

On the way back to camp for lunch, we stopped by to see a herder family.  Unlike how I had thought of nomadic peoples, the herders in this area rotate to different pastures in the general area.  They don't cover hundreds of miles with each move, but remain on the steppe, just in different parts of it (which is still pretty vast).  When they leave their current spot, they will leave any fixed structures there and come back to it when the season comes around for them to return to this section.  After they move the herds, many of them come back to clean up.  They will use the chips for burning, especially starting fires, and other things.  Shelters and pens for the animals will remain.  They taken their ger and other items for daily living with them, including the satellite TV dish and solar electricity panels for those who have them. 

Education is compulsory in Mongolia, and the children of the herders have dormitories they can live in during the four terms of school, coming home for breaks, including summer (June-September).  A few of the families are able to have a home in the community, so the kids can stay with one parent during the school year and only one parent goes out with the herds.  Others pool their resources, sending a rotating herder out to care for multiple herds while the others get to be with their spouses and children in town, rotating herders so one doesn't spend an excessive period of time away from their family.  They are a very resourceful group of people.

When couples marry, the ceremony lasts a few days, beginning with the ritual arrival of the bride to the ger and exchanging of vows.  Each family contributes to the furnishings, ensuring that the couple doesn't start out with nothing.  There are currently no dowries, but historically, dowries were common.  Guests stay and remain all day, not just a couple of hours for the ceremony and a short reception.  Those who were unable to attend the ceremony will come to visit on the second day, again an all day affair.  The third day is reserved for the couple to visit both sets of parents.  In this picture, you can see where they are melting some of the last snow for water before they pack up the ger and leave for the next pasture.  Most of the livestock were gone already.

After lunch, the community meeting was scheduled, so my companion and I went camel riding.  

On the way to the camels, we stopped by a bronze-age burial site.  The tall stones indicate the importance of the person buried there.  Some of them have broken over time, but you can tell which ones have done that.  They also have faces carved into the stones in front of the grave.  The angrier the face, the fiercer the warrior, which usually also made them more important, so taller stones.

We headed on to the camels.  This was not a tourist riding type of thing.  This was a herder who rides some of his camels like you ride horses.  He just happened to be friends with one of our trackers.  They don't name their camels, so I called mine Clyde (like from the Ray Stevens song), and we had a great time.  They only use one rope on the camel, and they neck reign and use leg signals.  Clyde bent right around my leg when I asked him to.  You just have to be careful to keep your hands high because low hands are the cue for them to lay down so you can dismount.  Though it's been a very long time again, from what I remember, the bactrim camel here is a much smoother ride than the dromedary camel I rode in Saudi Arabia.  The passage of time could have impacted my memory, though.

The humps were a little down because of a lack of nutrition during the winter.

Look at those HUGE feet!

Clyde seemed to be a happy boy who didn't seem to mind the thing through his nose.

After riding, we went back to the camp for dinner.  Part of the dinner conversation was a discussion about the pica, and I learned that Pikachu, the Pokemon, was likely named after the pica, so those who pronounce it with a long I are probably wrong.  The pronunciation of pica has troubled me for several years, ever since I heard the first person pronouncing it with a long I.  It was a nice discussion of Pokemon over dinner, and I ended up connecting our friend from Hong Kong with Chrissy in one of the Pokemon virtual card sites.  All in all, another great day.

Back to the Little Cats

The plan for today is to look for Pallas' cats again in the morning before the annual herders horse race scares them into their burrows for the day.  We were looking forward to the horse race.  Normally, a Mongolian horse race uses children as jockeys since they're smaller and the horses run in a straight line for longer distances.  In this race, the herders actually ride the race.  They go from a point in the steppe and race to the village, changing horses midway.  This race is about 50 km.  The Mongolian Derby is actually the longest horse race in the world, at 1000 km, with a requirement that the rider change horses every 40 km at designated stations.  I might want to come back to see the Derby!  I know I'm not doing everything I want to do in Mongolia in this trip.

So, we headed out looking for the little cats.  They generally weigh about 3-5 kg (7-11 lbs), which is about the size of a normal house cat.  They look like a large, long-haired house cat because they have sooooo much fluff.  They actually have the densest fur of any cat species, with the undercoat on the bellies and tails being the densest to protect from the frozen ground that it will come in contact with.

While we were watching a burrow, a man came up and told us that the horse race was cancelled, not rescheduled, because all signs said they should move today.  Moving day is a big deal on the steppe, as it's the day(s) that the herders move from one grazing area to another.  Though this winter has been cold, it has not gotten the snow they generally get.  We had seen a few times where people were scooping up snow and putting it in bags.  That is the source of water on this part of the steppe, and when that's gone, so is the water.  As you've been able to tell in the pictures, there's not much snow left.  So, along with other signs of nature, the herders have gotten together and decided that today is moving day, so there will be no horse race.  We didn't see much, maybe because of all the activity in the steppe.  After lunch, we did watch a nice kill through the scope from far, far away.  The little kitty did the little tail shake and pounced on the prey (most certainly a gerbil since the other prey are hibernating) and then ate it.  As our friend from Hong Kong put it, we wanted to see a kill that we could capture on camera!  So we headed down to the area where a few burrows were.  Our guy stuck his head up for just a second, but that's all we got.  Surprising because there were plenty of gerbils running around!

We also saw a horned lark, which along with the Mongolian lark, appears to be the only small songbird on the steppe at this time of year.

We got a few nice shots of the upland buzzard, too

The next morning, we decided to go out early.  Our initial plan was to go out early looking for cats and then to go camel riding in the afternoon while Bina, Yumchin, and Ariuna go to a community meeting.  They are very diligent about making sure they work with the community to ensure the tourism they do is benefitting the community instead of being a drain.  They work within the needs of the community and herders.  But, because of moving day(s), that meeting was postponed.  So we went out for a full day.

And what a day!  The wind was wicked!  So, my companion and I mostly stayed in the car while Bina and our driver went looking for cats.  They are great about coming to get us for things, even if it isn't a cat.  Our first find today was a silver mountain vole.

We also saw another bearded vulture, this one in flight. But, I got a few decent shots of him!

Around 9:30, we found a cat near the rocks, where they aren't generally found.  We were waaay out at first and barely saw him even on the scope.  We made a few moves to get closer, trying to make sure we didn't spook him.  We did get closer, but were still pretty far out.  We were afraid to get any closer, though, since he was out and moving around.  I decided to stay in the car and use the window/door as a stabilizer for the camera.  At one point, he found his prey and started stalking it.  You may need to zoom into this video.  You can use CTRL+ to zoom in YouTube, which I think this video will come up in.  If it comes up in Media Player, use Win+.  You can see why he needs that super insulated undercoat on his belly and tail as he stalks the gerbil.  Around 2:10, his butt wiggles.  Around 2:20, he attacks.  It's not a major move.  No real pounce.  Just a grab.  Around 2:29, you can see his head go down, and he starts eating.  I did my best to hold the camera stable, but I'm not a good videographer and this lens combo is heavy!  Plus, it was out as far as it would go, so we're looking at about 1200 mm, which registers even the slightest movement!

We tried to get a little closer, and pressed our luck.  He heard us and decided the photo shoot was over.  These guys are just so stinking adorable!!  

Yumchin found one out in the open and I got a little handheld video of him scamping off.  Again, we pressed our luck and got too close.

Since we were having such good luck finding them on such a windy day, we decided to stay out and have lunch while we kept searching, so once again, the camp crew brought lunch out to us.  We didn't see anything else until after lunch, though.

It really didn't take long to find another, though.  We wanted to get closer, though, so we went over by the big rocks that would make a hill and the drivers tried to gently urge him to come closer to us.  But, that didn't work.  We didn't factor in the big rock pile between us and the cars that he decided to hide in.  We actually saw him on the rocks.  We didn't stay long, just enough to get a couple of shots off, then we went away and sat by the base of the hill, at the big rocks.

I really wanted to reach down and give him scritches behind the ear!

We expected him to come out on the left side and take off, so I had that heavy lens combo stabilized on my left knee, waiting for him to come out.  Imagine my surprise when he came out on the right side!  I think I did a fairly decent job shifting the camera over to the other side of my body and holding it for the video!

We had a very active day and it was getting close to dinner time with the sun hanging low on the horizon.  There's my creative writing contribution for this trip.  And I needed to hand wash some unmentionables in a pan over the wood stove, so back to camp we went!