Sunrise at Ihes Nuur with our excellent cook, Soyoloo.
We had a lovely evening by the lake, Ihes Nuur. Mosquitos weren’t a problem since it was now September. The next morning the light was wonderful. Off in the distance we could hear drumming. One of the Mongols remarked that they thought it was a shaman who was at one of the gers we could see from where we were camped.
The goal this morning was to find Batsaikhan, the coordinator of the Saiga Ranger Network. But first we had time to walk around the lakeshore and sketch, paint and take photos.
A herd of yaks grazed near our camp.Magvandorj paints on location.Tugsoyun sketching.Soyoloo and Tseegii packing up the kitchen and food.On our way into town, we passed a hillside with a lot of black kites.Myself and Batsaikhan Baljiinnayam, the Saiga Ranger Network coordinator. He gave us an excellent briefing on the history and current status of saiga antelope conservation and offered to take us out to look for them.To get an overview of the area, Batsaikhan took us up to this high point which had a large ovoo.The soum center of Darvi.Batsaikhan briefs the group on the local area and saiga conservation.Back into town for a short stop where I got a photo of a local woman fetching water. Almost no one in the soum centers has running water in their home, so they must fetch water using metal or plastic barrels carried by these small carts. Needless to say, water conservation is a way of life.Statue of a famous race horse, named Darvi. The town and soum are named after him. The Darvi and Sharga areas of Mongolia are well-known throughout Mongolia for their horses.Batsaikan led us on a “game drive” and we again saw a lot of saiga. They were always a long way off, which is why this cropped-in close-up of a male saiga is a little blurry.Saiga live here….Getting information for the next leg of our journey from one of the rangers. We would now begin the long trip back to the east and Ulaanbaatar.Picnic lunch with a view.A group of four saiga.Impressive landscape.The largest number we saw at one time was this group of five. They didn’t seem to notice the presence of the herders and their livestock at all.Time to say goodbye and get a group shot. From left to right: Susan Fox, Tugsoyun Sodnom, Oidoviin Magvandorj, Batsaikhan Baljinnayam, Sharon Schafer, Soyoloo, I. Odna, local ranger, driver, Sendag, driver Batmaa. Photo by guide Tseegii.On the road again…We came to a sand dune area and got out to poke around and take a break. Here’s our faithful Russian vans.Camp all set up in Sharga Soum.
On the (earth) road again. Taken through the windshield of the van.
We were sorry to have to leave Takhiin Tal so soon, but ahead of us, with luck, would be sightings of the world’s most endangered antelope, the saiga. At one time there were millions. Poaching reduced their numbers in Mongolia to a low of 760 at one point. Biologists had calculated that below 600 the species would no longer viable. A turnaround came when the World Wildlife Federation helped set up the Saiga Ranger Network, based in Darvi Soum. That was our next stop, where we hoped to be able find and speak with the Network coordinator Batsaikhan Baljiinnyam. But we had quite a drive ahead of us…
Local herderGer in a protected spot. One of the Mongols told us that gers serve as a compass in the countryside. Since they always face south, once you spot one you know which way is which.Oncoming traffic for the day. One motorbike.Unexpected trees.Gers in a really lovely spot that I’d love to go back to and have time to paint.The road and the stream became one for quite a distance.The soum center of Bugat. Typical size and setting.Leaving Bugat I suddenly saw a lammergeier/bearded vulture right by the road!He took off and I got some nice aerial shots.Where better to stop for lunch than near a herd of camels?We went up into another rugged pass. I wasn’t sure exactly where we were, but knew that the driver of our van was heading towards the Sharga area, as I had requested, since that was where we had a chance to see the antelope.We came out of the pass onto this upland area and within a few minutes, oh my gosh, there was a male saiga antelope!We started to see them almost everywhere it seemed, including this female.We spotted a number of vultures circling and it turned out to be two species, a smaller griffon vulture and the much larger eurasian black/cinereous vulture.That is a patch of snow on that mountain. In early September. Camels and earth roads, a combination I never, ever get tired of.By the time we got to the soum center of Darvi, we calculated that we had seen at least twenty saiga, far, far more than my wildest dreams. And did they put on a show. I’ve seen a lot of wild hoofed animals, but never a species that runs like these do.We drove into Darvi to get petrol and water. Notice the solar panel on the left.The second van didn’t show up where expected at the petrol station, so we went looking for them and found that they’d been stopped by a flat tire. Hundreds of miles on earth roads through the deep Gobi and we get a flat in town. Sendag, the driver of that van, took care of it that evening, to my surprise. He found someone at 8:00 at night who repaired the tire for about $8.We had seen the lake Ikhes Nuur when we drove into town and decided to see if it would be a good place to camp. It was.Gers with a view of the lake.Our camp.
Thus ended quite a day. Our mission on the morrow was to find Batsaikhan and learn about saiga conservation.
Susan Fox, American Artist 