There were no clouds last night and the absence of light pollution gave an amazing view of a star studded sky. This meant the temperature dipped during the night and unfortunately I made the mistake of not wearing socks and only sleeping in one sleeping bag which had the detrimental effect of me being so cold. It would have taken me 5 mins to get up to get a duvet and socks but I was so tired and kept hoping I’d fall back into a deep sleep which I never did.

When the alarm went off at 7:30 I was bursting for the toilet but the thought of the long cold walk to the hole in the ground was horrifying but needs must so I put on my socks, boots and puff jacket and made my way downstairs to the little dunny in the distant corner of the yard.

What a beautiful morning, the mist lay the length of the lake and on the hills behind. I had to go back and get my camera, these opportunities have to be recorded.

Unfortunately there is a heavy drinking culture in this little town and the shore was littered with beer cans and vodka bottles. It’s a shame and I wanted to go grab a bag to do a trash sweep!

I headed back to the accommodation for breakfast where I put on my new (flat) jelly pants and jodphurs – all I needed was a horse and whip and I was ready for a dressage session 😂

That saying came to mind “All the gear and no idea” 🙄

The smell of eggs wafted up the stairs and made me hungry.

Yip, eggs, pickled gherkins, carrots, bread jam and not forgetting the huge plate of mutton – yummee!!

It’s 10am on the dot and after a quick photo shoot we’re off. We were taking an hours drive to the head of the vast lake to wait for the horses to arrive but first, it was a legal requirement to check in with the military to show my permit to enter the protected reserve of the Reindeer herders.

All clear and we start our journey to pick up our horses 🐴 🐴🐴🐴

I’ll publish this early just in case………

En route to the horses I realised I could stay in this area for a week or more. The lake is full of incredible colourful waterfowl, eagles everywhere, I’ve just seen a white tailed sea eagle – and the landscape is just incredible.

This is the most unspoiled beautiful country I have ever had the privilege to visit. I hope mass tourism doesn’t take hold and spoil the uniqueness.🤞🏼

Waiting for the horses

A strange reaction – I saw the horseman and the horses come from across the valley and I immediately needed to pee 😂

What an amazing sunny day we have

Here they are, they’ve arrived and I wonder which one of these unfortunate beasts of burden will carry me on my journey across the Tiagra.

It took ages to load the pack horse as we had so much stuff. I’m sure I wouldn’t need it all but Sod’s law would happen and I’d leave behind the one thing I desperately needed.

Poor pack horse, I felt so sorry for it

So our little horse train was all set and we headed into the wilderness. 2 hrs I was told, 2 hours until we would meet up with the reindeer herders at their camp.

Trot on!

2 hours into the walk with no RH camp in site and the sky looked menacing, huge black clouds were building and I was praying they would hold on to the rain until we reached the shelter of a cabin far off in the distance.

I didn’t want to trot but trot we must as we headed for shelter and I bobbed on that saddle like a ping-pong ball on the ocean but if it meant we escaped a drenching then it would be worth it. Unfortunately, good fortune wasn’t on our side and the clouds burst like water exploding from an over filled water balloon!

It’s so strange how we just turned up at the door of this family and expected to be taken in, but the hospitality in Mongolia is such that everyone is welcome in – it’s even considered rude to knock before entering. We were warmly received and given some much appreciated yak tea, bread and yak cream – delicious.

We watched the mother make cheese from the milk and on leaving I gave the small boy a snicker bar. I wasn’t sure if introducing chocolate into his diet was a good thing but the mother was pleased

Mounting our horses again we said our goodbyes and left to continue our journey through the swamp forest

After 4 hours of our estimated 2 hour trip, we were met by a reindeer herder on a mission. We were told to keep the horses away from the reindeers as they often became spooked in their company. The herder stopped for a Mongolian chat and then we parted company.

Dearie me, from then on the terrain became treacherous and the horseman once again took my reins and control of my horse. The ground was boggy with deep rutted, muddy puddles and we weaved through tightly packed trees – often having to reroute. The horses kept stumbling and my knuckles were white as I held on ever tighter to the metal bar of the saddle. Then all of a sudden all hell broke loose. While Namis horse was contemplating crossing a deep boggy stream, the packhorse ( who had been turned loose) decided to jump at the same point. Both horse collided and fell on top of each other catapulting poor Nami onto the other side of the stream – carnage!

My heart was thumping and to be quite honest this experience had become a nightmare. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could go on. I prayed for some flat dry land – any land as long as we were out of this boggy godforsaken forest!

Thankfully no horses or human were hurt and we resumed our trek.

After another hour or so and me resigning myself to whatever fate lies ahead, we reached a bit of clearing. My immediate decision was to get off the horse and walk for a while. The past few hours had drained me mentally and physically. I needed time to recover, to stretch my legs and get some blood circulating back into my throbbing buttocks.

I put his reins over my shoulder to try to stop him from eating every blade of grass as we strolled leisurely together on solid ground – sheer bliss! I heard the horse guide chuckling as my horse and I plodded over the lumpy terrain.

After 30 or so minutes I reluctantly returned to the saddle to continue my journey.

Almost 6 hrs into our 2 hr trek we finally reached the Reindeer herder camp. There weren’t many families left as they had moved on before the winter set in. We were shown to our very own teepee and unpacked – how exciting!

The teepee is rather basic, less than basic actually. The flooring was made from sliced tree trunks and the bed frames are planks of wood which are placed under the sloping sides. there is a metal stove in the middle which also doubles up as a cooker and the only space to stand up is in the middle.

This is what I came here for, to experience the authentic traditional lifestyle of Mongolian reindeer herders. I would have been disappointed if it had been tarted up for the tourists.

There are no allocated toilets so everything is done in the woods away from the stream. I actually prefer this system as I really couldn’t face another Mongolian dunny.

When in Rome…………..

It was so surreal, huge reindeer with even more huge antlers lay around the camp. They were so gentle and relaxed – it was truly amazing and the challenging journey to get here was quickly forgotten as this made it all worth while.

I returned to our teepe to help make dinner.

Salad starter which was delicious and the main was potato, turnip, onion, fried noodles and dare I say it, mutton!

I was tired after my physically challenging and emotionally draining day and decided that heading to bed at 7:45 wasn’t a bad idea.

The log fire in the middle of the teepee was lit and the room became toasty and warm 🔥

Our lovely obliging horse guide had offered to keep the fire burning all night 👏 👏

I’m lying here in a teepee inside my 2 sleeping bags, covered with a duvet while being roasted by the fire – in the middle of nowhere in outer Mongolia – living among the reindeer herders – life can’t get any better than this – just bloody fantastic!

Nite

😘