Bina and our driver searching for cats and anything else they can find
I forgot to write down what kind of bird this was, but we did see it.
A little bit into our foray, the trackers called and let us know they found a male, not Scarface, so off we went. He was sunning himself on the high rocks. We watched him from the scopes, but he was really high up there. While the guides and trackers were trying to consider how we could get closer without scaring him back into his den, they had lunch brought out to us.
All three of us tourists were there, and we saw this bag of yellowish-red grains of some type, so we asked what it was. Yumchin explained to us about the "offering". In Mongolia, most religion is rooted in shamanism, though many shamanic practices have been incorporated into the local Buddhism. Shamanism and Buddhism are the primary religions in the country, as they have been blended very closely. There are very few Muslims or Christians in the country. The offering is rooted in Shamanism, but it has been incorporated into the Mongolian Buddhist practices, so it is very commonly used. Yumchin told us we could provide the offering to any entity that we wanted; that it is not specific to any particular god, spirit, or ancestor. You take a handful of the grain (if you're using grain - a spoon if you're using milk), and toss it three times, putting your wish or blessing into the universe. You can repeat the same wish/blessing to the same entity or you can change your wish/blessing and entity. I did a wish and two blessings to Pachamama (Mother Earth, common in South America, originating in native Quechua), which felt very natural to me, though I had never done it before.
The decision was made that the trackers would go up the back of the hill to be sure if we scared him, he would run where we could take pictures of him instead of to the back of the hill. We would climb up the hill on the top of the hill just in front of him and just below his spot. Yumchin asked us if we thought we could walk about 50 meters straight up. I told him as long as there was somebody to help stabilize my balance and we could stop to breathe as needed, I could do it. Once the trackers were in place, we started up the hill. Yumchin and the new guide trainee carried my camera equipment and Ariuna held my hand to make sure I made it up the hill. It was a lot farther than 50 meters, and we picked our way through the rocks. I was REALLY happy I had all the support.
It's a lot higher and steeper than it looks!
We finally got set up, and Yumchin noticed my red sweater and suggested I zip my jacket. Apparently, they train the golden eagles for hunting using red and there have been cases where people wearing red have been attacked. So, I zipped up and didn't wear the red sweater again in Mongolia. After a while, a leopard came out, and we started taking shots. After we got back to the camp, we learned that this was a different leopard, this one a female, the mama. They have named her Alungoo. Alungoo is a Genghis Khan ancestor who had five children and taught them to unite the tribes because 5 arrows together can't be broken, but individual arrows can. Also, "goo" in Mongolian means beauty. She is a sexy lady!
She laid on that slab for hours. I got a lot of pictures, but they're all pretty much like this. Since the trackers were behind her and it was beginning to get dark, the trackers decided to try to mobilize her. They made noises that were unfamiliar to her, but not scary, so she would get up and move. It worked.
After she found a place to hide, we headed down the hill. Ariuna and one of the trackers, Manul, helped me down, one on each side. No way I could have fallen! When we got to the bottom of the hill, they pointed out that the three cubs were on the next hill.
I looked at the cubs through the scope and got my camera from whoever was carrying it. Then they started yelling that there were two adults out, so we forgot the cubs and turned to the happy couple. They obviously saw us, but they were not concerned about us being there to watch! They were on the hill we had just come down. The coloring difference is because of the difference in lighting. Some of these were shot by Bina who was trying to line the camera up for me.
She looks very happy here, and it definitely didn't look like two housecats.
The coloring is great camouflage. It can be hard to see them even though I know where they are! Both cats are in this picture.
They're walking up the hill together.
This is what they did when they reached the top!
When they went to the other side, we started packing up. It was too dark to get decent shots of the cubs, but they weren't babies anymore. Female cubs stay with their mother for two years, and these are at the one year mark, so not really so young, but still cute. Females don't usually re-breed until the cubs are weaned and chased away, so we're not really sure what she's going to do. Bina got shots on the other side of the hill with his drone. He's going to send us a link for the shots he got, but the link will only last for 3 days, so we asked him to hold off until we could download them in those three days. We've been told that the Margaz Mountains allow for closer pictures than the Altai, and the girl from Hong Kong is confirming that, as she came back here to get closer shots than she got on her last trip to in the Altai.
All in all, an amazing day wildlife watching in the Margaz Mountains of Mongolia!
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