By: Clare Freid, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University & Gia Silverman-Randolph, Harper College
They said it couldn’t be done, but the Round River Mongolia students of 2025 survived our trip in the Darhad Valley and returned safe and sound to Ulaanbaatar. We had a few close calls along the way, but as a whole, we agree it was a truly amazing trip.
Our last week in Mongolia was spent preparing to present our research to the local community, and we each focused on our specific projects (in pairs or trios). We spent countless hours in the ranger station diligently organizing data, analyzing it, making beautiful graphs, looking for lost data sheets, creating mathematical formulas never before seen by science and which will never be seen again, finding data we thought was lost, creating truly splendid PowerPoint presentations, and taking many naps along the way.
In the midst of presentation preparations, we got to make huushuur (traditional Mongolian fried meat pastry) with our wonderful cooks and huussuur-making pros, Khasha and Deggi. We made traditional huusuur filled with meat, and got a little creative with some cheese-curd, Nutella and jelly.
By the day of the presentations, we were running on minimal hours of sleep, but everyone gave very well-articulated, informative presentations, and the authors of this blog were very proud of all their compatriots. A highlight was getting to see the snow leopard that our camera traps had spotted – a first for any Round River trip!
After our presentations, we had a night of karaoke and a bonfire before snuggling into our sleeping bags for our last night in the Daarhaad. We woke up in the morning and left our trusty basecamp forever, along with some car buddies in the form of regurgitated fish samples we were bringing back to Ulaanbaatar for analysis.
We drove about 8 hours the first day and got to experience paved road for the first time in 5 weeks. We camped for the last time on our trip at a beautiful camp site. The next day we drove about 10 hours back to Ulaanbaatar and at long last, we returned to the apartment that sheltered us all those days ago when we were but children trying to cross the street without getting crushed by hoards of Priuses. We were back in the land of flat surfaces to walk on, flushing toilets, and double-ply toilet paper.
There’s no rest for the wicked, and none for the Round River student either, so the next day we took our final conservation biology test and pretty much crushed it. After the test, we had to finish our research papers, and, propelled by an impromptu pizza party, wrote the most beautiful of analyses.
The next day (our last day of the trip) we headed out to visit the “black market”. This particular market is fully legal and sells no human nor animal organs. We wandered around and gathered products such as juniper incense, camel socks, and fox hats. After that, we headed to the National Orchestra for a beautiful song and dance production displaying traditions of the various regions of Mongolia.
The last evening was spent packing up and saying our goodbyes. The little apartment was filled with the random odds and ends that kept us alive the past six weeks, but this time everything was a little stinkier and less organized. We left for the airport at 4 am and departed to our different corners of the world. We will return to our schools, jobs, and families, with stories that will last a lifetime.
Баярлалаа, Mongolia – thank you. Thank you for hosting us and allowing us to learn more about you and more about our own selves. We will carry what we experienced here in Mongolia with us throughout our lives and hopefully we will make the communities that made this trip possible proud.
