by Kelsey Barber, of Westminster College
On June 25 we boarded a leg of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, starting our journey to the Darhad. The instructors scheduled our train ride to go through the night which made our nearly twelve hour train ride go much faster. During this leg of travel we got our first taste of the Mongolian countryside. The landscape is filled with rolling hills and larch trees accented by the occasional ger or herds of animals. The few hours of daylight that we had during travel peaked my excitement and as I fell asleep to the rocking of the train all I could think about was what would happen next.
Ar Davhar Peninsula Eco Tourism Camp Photo Cred: Kelsey Barber
In the morning, I woke up to sunlight piercing through the train window. The train was stopped at a station and framed in the curtains was a little white building with a red roof in the shadow of a hill. Light bounced off of distant bird wings. We were one step and one day closer to the Darhad. Later in the morning, the train rolled into the station in Erdenet. This began the next leg of travel via furagon (a large van able to go over rough terrain). We drove to the small lake town of Hatgal.
Hatgal is a significant example of what the national park of Horidol Saridag is trying to avoid. It is a stunning area: beautiful forests and a clear turquoise lake. However, the town was not well regulated in its development so the infrastructure is lacking for the amount of traffic it receives. In juxtaposition to the town, the Ar Davhar Peninsula Eco Tourism Camp was built across the lake. It is an example of what tourism and conservation could look like in Mongolia. The meat is provided from a local source, the trash is well regulated, and even the restrooms are designed to be used for composting. The staff works to educate people on the local wildlife and flora and encourage them to help restore the native species to the area. During our stay we were introduced to some of the park rangers and staff but we will get to know them better in the future. We also enjoyed a quick swim in the lake. One highlight during our stay was learning to milk a yak. In visiting this place, I took a step towards reaching one of my goals for this program: Having a better idea of what conservation can look like from a broader, more global scale.
In the morning we took a boat out of the eco camp and sat ourselves back down in the trusty furagon for several more hours of significantly worse roads. We kept our spirts high with embarrassing playlists, obscure podcasts, and interesting stories. While a furagon was able to handle the rocky roads of Mongolia, we arrived at Ulaan Uul shaken up both physically and mentally but exceedingly happy to have made it to our base camp.
First day in the Horidol Saridag Photo Cred: Kelsey Barber
All in all, our travel from Ulaan Uul happened over the course of three days. It was a longer travel time than any of us took to fly from the United States to Mongolia. I emphasize this to highlight how isolated the Darhad is and to add merit when I say that every hour spent getting here was worth it.
The first couple of days we have spent doing some academics to become assimilated to the area. We have had lectures on birds, plants, and mammals in the area. We learned how to distinguish between different tracks and scat. We also learned how to set and bait small mammal traps and set up line transect and opportunistic traps. We haven’t had any luck so far but we are changing the bait and are optimistic about our luck in the future.
Identifying Plants in the field Photo Cred: Kelsey Barber
Our first expedition to the Horidol Saridag was to change the SD cards and batteries in some of the camera traps. We had some sightings on the cameras but we haven’t had the time to do an analysis on the photos yet. Out in the field we also had some exciting scat, track, bone observations, and even got to try the wild lingonberries in the area.
After being at base came for several days, I can say that we have settled into the spontaneity of life in Mongolia. Every day offers a new plant to identify, a new sign of animals in the area, new experiences, and a new appreciation for the environment and conservation work.
Handstands for the Horidol Saridag! Photo Cred: Rebecca Watters