My Epic Journey to Taiga Mountains of Northern Mongolia

I took an epic journey to Tsaatan people, the reindeer herders with our client Hila, last September.

I would like to share our experiences, photos and expressions of this adventure with you through this article. 

Also, wish to let you to follow our trails someday  :)   

Taiga-the hidden world locates in the northernmost part of Mongolia. It is unbelievably incredible to take a fall trip to this less discovered place which deserves the travelers and adventurers. May someone can’t courage to travel there due to it takes 6-7 hours on horseback to reach to Taiga mountains.  Our trip started when Hila who is our client had landed in Mongolia on the 9th of September, 2017. We had a city tour in Ulaanbaatar and then headed to Gorkhi-Terelj National park. After taking this shot tour, we had one and a half hour flight to Murun town by domestic plane and then drove to Lake Khovsgol known as Blue Pearl of Mongolia.

The weather was nice and the place we camp was peaceful, Hila preferred walking to the lake and do meditate on the shore of the lake instead of hiking to the mountains. So after having lunch she walked to the lake and I walked up to the Mt.Sant and watched the lake view from the top.  The surrounding area of Lake Khuvsgul becomes the most beautiful, peaceful and colorful in the autumn instead of in summer. Hila was meditating and doing yoga while listening the sound of lake and I was talking to myself in the silence and took some photos during the sunset. Then we met in the restaurant of the Khovsgol-Eco Tourist Camp. Tomorrow would be the first day of great adventures, so I had to make our trip preparation including next day meals and packages before I went to bed. 

The most important part of the trip is an experienced guide and driver with a good car and their team working. We chose Russian minivan for its technical capability. After more than 10 hour driving on bumpy, muddy mountain road finally, we arrived at Tsagaan Nuur soum /village/ and stayed overnight in local guest house. Tsagaan Nuur village is the main region of the Tsaatan, the reindeer herders, so school children had already come to the village from Taiga Mountains to go to school and the village was hustle and bustle. 

The next day, we took a drive for 30km to Teleg, the furthest point to reach with the vehicle. Our local guide Sansar and his brother were waiting for us with the horses we would ride on. Even though I had given horse riding instruction to Hila, I gave it again to her before we ride. We ride through the Taiga Mountains for 2 hours and reached at Tsaatan people’s tribe. There were more than ten families living and the school children had gone to school, and the men of the families had also gone to somewhere to look for better pasture for the reindeers. They are the mountain nomads. 

The reindeer is so weird animal which can’t be survived in the warm place because of its anatomy, the reindeer has not to sweat gland and let the perspiration out via breath like dogs. The main enemy of reindeer is a wolf. If the reindeer is being tired it leis and can not stand for a while. This is so weird and interesting creature to study more. The herders let reindeer stay overnight close to their teepee due to protecting from the wolf. I thought that the Tsaatans do not do other staffs do to for their life, I mean they are the laziest people on earth, but I was wrong. 

Mongolian reindeers are semi-wild animal and have a difficult habit, escaping through the deep taiga forests during spring and fall. So the herders have to herd them during this period of the year and in winter and summer, it is getting better. On the second day, we were in the mountains, about 10 reindeers were lost and our host family could not sleep well overnight to worry about the lost ones. And luckily, tomorrow morning, they found them all and tied for preventing to lose again. It seemed to me that tying the reindeers was kind of punishment. 

In the last years, Tsaatan people are trying to have income via tourism. They rent horses, reindeers, a guide to travelers and sell handmade souvenirs and necklaces made from reindeer horns and stones. Also, they prepare the teepees for accommodating travelers which can help to improve their incomes. Mongolian government gives a monthly relief of $70 for adults, $30 for kids for helping their life.

We spent 3 days with the reindeer herders, on the first day we discovered surrounding areas, woods, mountains, and nature. The second day was riding day and the third day was visiting other families of the tribe, experiencing their lifestyle and culture.  While visiting them we gave some children’s books to their kids. Ayan Travel organized Book Charity for Kids and collected 579 books, so I and Hila brought some donated books and other gifts to the preschool kids who live in the Taiga Mountains. 

It was time to back home, and we decided to ride on reindeer as our transport. It was very interesting and was a new experience for Hila, She was so excited fabouttransferring two types of animal; horses and reindeers on the same trip. Reindeer is faster than hthe orse in the mountain, so we spent just an hour to go back to Teleg, the last stop of public transport, as Hila called.  

Don’t forget to sign out before leaving frontier outpost. Then we headed to the next camp on the Khug River in Rechinlhumbe village, had a shower and good relaxation in the camp.  Tomorrow morning, on the way back to Murun city, we saw many nomadic migrations with yaks. They move several times a year to look for better pasture to the herds. Soon, we arrived at Murun city and entering our modern world with internet, TV, mobile and warm shower. It was good enough to come back to this modern world but on the other side, it was sad to leave the place where no internet and mobile access we disconnect everything and no worries about life and other staffs. We just spent our time to relate with nature, immerse rare culture and enjoy our trip. It was fantastic, you may find yourself that where you truly belong…

We traveled in autumn, the reason why people love fall is for its vibrant colors. And I would like to say that it was the best time to travel into the Taiga Mountains. 
Also, I want to let you know that the 9 good reasons to travel to Reindeer herders in the fall. 

9 Good Reasons to Travel to Tsaatan People in Autumn 
1.    In autumn, reindeer herders move to the nearest place where we can travel by car. So we take just 2-3 hours on horseback to arrive at Tsaatan tribes. 
2.    Less mosquitoes and insects
3.    Enjoy vibrant colors of nature
4.    Less rainy days compared to summer
5.    Not too crowd of tourists
6.    The road condition is better that in summer rainy period
7.    Opportunity to see and discover true nomadic migrations
8.    Lake Khovsgol has calm waves and surrounding nature is scenic with contrasting colors it is good to photograph 
9.    Chance to pick wild berries such as blueberry and cranberry 

Thank you for your time to read my diary.

I hope that you get true IMAGINATION of the Tsaatan people and their lifestyle from this diary.  And I hope that you will get good INSPIRATION when you travel to Mongolian Taiga Mountains - M.Munkhjargal /traveler, photographer and managing director at AyanTravel /