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  • Day 21

    Day 2 in the Gobi

    September 15, 2019 in Mongolia ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    It’s Saturday so day two in the Gobi and we spent the morning driving from Camp 1 to Camp 2 across the Steppe. Now many people think that the Gobi is a desert of all sand, like the Sahara, however the Gobi is a mixture of sand, grass Steppe and mountains, the latter two of which provide us with the backdrop to this mornings drive.

    The whole three hour journey is off road on gravel or dried mud tracks and we come across herds of goats, a large herd of horses running across us and some more horses being herded by motorcycle (which happens often here). We also saw our first camels, with the local variety being Bactrian’s which have two humps. All of these animals roam freely although they are all owned by somebody, somewhere and will be branded or marked in some unique way. Dwellings are at a minimum this morning with once again occasional nomadic Gers dotting the landscape.

    Our most interesting find today was a remote watering station pumped by a generator where a herdsman was watering his horses. NK spoke to the herdsman and he has three horse herds which exist as separate units each under the control of one Stallion. We watched as the three large groups took it in turn to water, with one group moving in to the trough immediately one group withdrew. The Stallions do not get on and there were a couple of brief sparring sessions whilst the watering process took place.

    We arrived at Camp 2 around 1pm and as it was 4 hours since breakfast (the maximum time allowed between meals apparently) they presented us with a huge lunch of salad starters and a full Chinese meal for main. This Camp is similar to the last in layout but more remote and we look across the Steppe to the horizon on all four sides. Our Ger is also much the same as previous. The weather is again blue sky and sun but it is very, very windy and by the time we reach Camp quite difficult to walk against. The animals and people here have a tough life.

    We always eat at a table for four with NK and Choijo, with the former having an appetite beyond what we’ve ever seen before. He eats things in an interesting order too, e.g. breakfast can be bread and jam, followed by a cream cake, then bacon, sausage and egg with a milk and cereal completion. At some point in each meal he advises us that he is so full he can’t possibly eat any more, then 5 minutes later is piling up his plate again. This process is repeated until every plate on the table is empty. He then disappears to have a few cigarettes.

    This afternoon we head to two locations near to our Ger Camp. The first was a forest, something extremely rare in the Gobi. Although it is called a forest the unique Saxaul trees are actually only about six feet in maximum height but they have roots that go 20 yards under the ground to the water level. This is the biggest collection of trees in the Gobi at 5 x 1 miles in size.

    Straight after this we head to the Flaming Cliffs which are a dramatic collection of sand/rock formations which are famous for reflecting the setting sun. We have to spend around 30 minutes walking over a narrow ridge across the top of the cliffs to get the best sight lines of the spectacular vista. At points this is quite precarious, particularly due to the gale force wind blowing that hits us whenever we reached points that don’t have any cover. Definitely a ‘bum twitcher’ at times due to the sheer drop on one side. Health & Safety would never have allowed this walk back home.

    This site is famous for one of the World’s most important discoveries of dinosaur bones, eggs and fossils by the American explorer Roy Chapman Andrews firstly in 1922 with further discoveries in subsequent years.

    The views were memorable but we were glad to return to lower terrain and then Camp 2 for sunset, moonrise, dinner and bed. It’s been a good day.
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