July 13. At Steppe Nomads Camp in the Gun-Galuut Nature Reserve. A restful, not too ambitious day.
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
The clouds reflected in the still water gave a classic composition, with lucky horizontal as well as vertical symmetry.
Seen edge-on at a distance, the grass looks continuous, like a golf course. Up close, one sees that it's clumps distributed in the dirt. The small wildflowers gave a pretty tint.
Occasionally one comes across skulls, more often of horses than of other species.
We visited a nomad family, and were treated to their fabled hospitality. The wife is pouring salt tea for the guests.
The grandfather of the small children. He lived part of the time with this family, other times in another ger.
Drying mutton jerky.
Fermenting yogurt, while the youngest boy - a real character - looks on.
Drying yogurt on the roof of the ger.
Corralling yaks to cut some hair for one of the visitors.
The yaks have a variety of hair colors and patterns.
Driving the yaks back out into the grassland.
A lazy river ran near the camp. Some of our group rafted or kayaked; we napped.
Trying our hand at archery made us appreciate the skill of the archers we saw at the Naadam Festival.
Skull and horns of an Argali, the largest species of wild sheep, in front of one of the camp buildings. I could barely lift the skull, giving an indication of how strong the sheep's neck muscles must have been.
Traditional Mongolian dinner of boiled goat, potatoes, and carrots. The meat is boiled by putting water and hot rocks into the goatskin.
