Yep Mongolia

The expedition will be located in the North East in the region of Lake Huvsgul and the west of Dalandzadgad in the southern Gobi. This is a semi-desert steppe with a variety of specialized plants and animals, interesting geological and geomorphological features. But it is also used for grazing goats and camels.
The Gurvansaikhan National Park is one of the destinations of the expedition. This unique landscape is not only a playground for great exploring activities, but is also a good place to learn about the environment and to address the specific environmental problems of the area.
The main focus of the “learning part” of the expedition will be on geomorphology, vegetation and soil. To define the current situation of vegetation cover, water bodies and geomorphological features (dunes and valleys) multispectral high resolution SPOT satellite images will be analyzed.
Planned experiments and actions:

1. Vegetation:

• Adaption strategies: how can plants survive the extreme climates?
• Investigations about vegetation degradation: Conducting simple evaluation methods

2. Soils:
At least at two specific sites soil experiments will be conducted

• Soil moisture:   Although soil moisture in the upper soil layer is very low, it plays an important   role in many complex land-surface processes, i.e. the development of dust storms. Using TDR soil moisture probes, the soil moisture is measured in different soil depth.
• Geasurement of physical and chemical soil properties:

• Soil texture: The ration of coarse and fine soil material is an indicator of soil degradation
• Salinity and pH value: have a significant influence on the vegetation and the use  for pasture.The salinity will be measured with a resolution conductimeter, the pH value colorimetric.
• Biological crusts: very resent investigation show that biological crusts have a significant influence on soil fertility in arid and semi-arid environment. These crusts are formed of cyanobacteria and lichens and are abundant in the eastern semi-desert and steppe of Mongolia where the precipitation ranges from 150 – 350mm. Can we find some of these crusts? Can we identify some of the organism (such as lichens)?

3.  Geomorphology and hydrology:

• Can we find specific geomorphological features typical for arid and semi-arid environments   such as desert pavement, indicators for flash floods?
• Why are some of the highest dunes in the world located in the Gobi desert?
• Paleolakes are typical for this area:
• How did these lakes develop?
• These water bodies play an important role for the desert ecosystems
• Measurement of the water salinity
• Adapted flora and fauna: which typical organisms can be found? How do they adept to the high salinity?   
   

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YEP 6 Mongolia Expedition Video Gallery

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 1

August 22nd Day 1 by Tirza and Constantin

After a long flight we arrived at the international airport of Dschinghis-Khan in Ulaanbaatar in the morning at 6 o’clock. We all felt a little jet-lagged, but after an interesting drive to our hotel we forgot about that. We could already get a first glimpse of the mountains and the yurts, typical Mongolian huts of the nomads. The potholes on the way indicate that Mongolia is still a developing country in many respects. 
 
Arriving at the hotel we met the rest of the expedition team, including the man who made this project possible, our expedition leader Mike Horn. We were excited to explore the city. Joe, our Mongolian guide, showed us the impressive sights: poor neighbourhoods, the administrative district but also the crowded and busy market. We saw everything! The market was a special experience we for sure will remember:  everything was really hectic and narrow. Some people looked a little seedy. Therefore we tried to keep an eye on our valuables. But as some reading glasses had already gone missing, we left the market after trying some traditional headgear.  

Back at the hotel Mike and Martin did a briefing about the first part of the expedition to the Lake Hovsgol. Later Roswitha, our scientific leader from the University of Munich, introduced us to the geography, flora and fauna of Mongolia. She also explained how to use the measuring instruments in the upcoming surveys on water and soil conditions.  
 
After a late dinner we had to pack only the necessities for the next days as we will leave the remaining equipment in the hotel. We‘ re already curious what’s expecting us at Lake Hovsgol!

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 2

August 23rd Day 2

While writing this, we are sitting on a fallen trunk by Lake Huvsgail after 2 amazing days of adventure. After a 6am wake up on Monday morning, we prepared our equipment and luggage for a 10am flight from Ulaanbaatar to Moren which is located in the far north of Mongolia. We landed at around midday and began the 6 hour journey to our destination of Lake Huvsgail. Despite it taking 6 hours, it was only in fact 175km away but due to the bumpy, rough roads and interesting traffic network it took us a lot longer! This was something that none of us had ever experienced before.

During the journey through the Mongolian steppe, we saw Kashmir goats, yaks, eagles, horses, nomadic villages and traditional shrines. We were most impressed by all the culture as none of us had seen something like this before – these people live extremely different lives to our own and don`t require the luxuries that we too often take for granted. We also visited a saline lake and undertook numerous experiments with Roswitha, testing water salinity, pH, conductivity and learnt a lot about Mongolia`s environments.

Our arrival at the lake was sudden; after travelling through steppe with little vegetation, we came over a couple of mountains and in to a valley covered in dense forest surrounded by snow capped mountains. This forest is the most southern part of the Siberian Taiga and is largely covered in permafrost. The lake is amazing – never have we seen such clear water in a natural environment on such a large scale. The water is so clear that last night Martin, on an attempt to brush his teeth, walked in to the water without even noticing and spent the rest of the night drying his shoes and socks at the fire.

Upon our arrival, we were allocated our horses and rode a short 3km to our first campsite. It was sunset by this point so the lake and its surroundings were beautiful. After setting up our camp and cooking our `trek n eat` dinner we sat around the fire chatting and telling stories. After a chilly night, we packed up our gear and loaded the pack horses. We, Martin and Constantin, were lucky enough to be stolen by Dimitry from taking some sunrise photos to diving into the icy cold water – what Dimitry refers to as a `Russian tradition`. Unfortunately Akira couldn`t join us on our horse trek and had to return to the initial camp due to her broken toe.

Us boys were given maps and a GPS and were in charge of formulating the route and the activities for the day. We began by discussing with the Mongolian horse wranglers and decided that we would ride approximately 15km to our second camp. After a good few hours on the horses, we all began to realize what may lay ahead with our sore backsides! However, the scenery and environment was enough to distract us and motivate us to continue and enjoy what was an amazing experience. After arriving and setting up camp, we all took a break and went out for a swim in the cold lake.  

After we had some lunch, Mike took us on a trek in to the forest to summit a nearby peak. This gave us a chance to hear some of Mike`s lessons of survival and orientation in forests and jungles. He also taught us how to use the elements, such as the sun, wind, sand, snow and stars to navigate in extreme places around the world without instruments. After what we thought was a pretty tough trek, we arrived at the top to realize that Mike had done the whole trek in plastic sandals! After an amazing first couple of days, we are all eagerly awaiting what lies ahead!

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 3

August 24th Day 3

Mongolian larks are tall, have light green needles and thousands of them can be found around lake Huvsgul. To me they all looked the same. Therefore orientation in these woods isn’t a child’s play, even our male YEPs had their problems.

But where the Young Explorers are at their wits' end, Mike Horn’s knowledge only starts. He taught us how to orientate by the position of the sun, why right handlers and left handlers should alternate being group leaders and why the easier way isn’t the better one – in the lark forest and in life.

We don’t sit on our horses like Mongolians yet, but we are sitting among them at the campfire, drinking tea with yak milk. Their faces are rugged and their simple nomadic clothing stinks from the smoke of fire and cigarettes. The laughing mouth is half toothless and the foreign words sound friendly.

With cold fingers I note the Mongolian words I learn:

Tschinij ner hen be?     -    What’s your name?
Maschsän mör!              -   The horse is excellent.
Unotr Narte dorte ben!   -   Today is a sunny day!

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 4

August 25th Day 4

Another great day was had in th Horidal Daridal Montains. The Yeps are now becoming experienced chaveliers as they become more relaxed and comfortable with their horses. They are covering great ground and are experiencing the magificent scenery that this area has too affoer.

Dr Roswitha Stolz from the Univerity of Munich is undertaking rock and soil sampling tests with the YEPs and giving them a good understanding of the evolution of this particular landscape.

FACTS

In their soil studies at Lake Hovsgol the YEPs  gathered some information on /investigated soil moisture, pH values, soil texture, salinity and soil density.
All these factors have a huge impact on the vegetation around the Lake.

The soil the Young Explorers tested was the thawed upper layer of permafrost. In summer only the upper 25 meters of permafrost soil change their temperature, the rest remains below 0°C. However over the last years scientists worldwide made warrisome discoveries on the thawing of permafrost! This points to huge environmental problems we will be facing soon: local problems are coastal erosion and damage to the roads, buildings and pipelines that have been built on permafrost. Moreover permafrost soils are thought to store twice as much carbon as is currently present in the atmosphere.  A lot of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane will be released into the atmosphere if the soil thaws, triggering further warming and more permafrost thawing.

Permafrost degradation can substantially change the surface hydrology in many ways. Within the area with ice-rich permafrost and poor drainage conditions permafrost degradation will lead to significant ground surface subsidence and pounding ("wet thermokarst"). The ground will become over-saturated, which could cause trees to die. This process will further improve the drainage conditions and lead to a decrease in the ground water content.

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 5

August 26th Day 5

Blog written by Annika and Inge

Although the weather was a bit dreary this morning our spirits were dampened. We had a breakfast of hot chocolate and a Mongolian chocolate spread☺ with bread around a warming campfire.

After gathering the horses from the field, we packed up and headed back to our initial camp since we would be leaving the following day at lunch, and we were told that it is 27km away (we realised later that these were “Mongolian” kilometres and it was in actual fact only 14km away).

The ride itself was rather remarkable since we had a few interesting incidents - Lucas fell off his horse (yet again) and blamed it on the saddle, Mike also fell off twice (though he had an ex-racing horse that took off at every opportunity presented). We stopped for a break at the second campsite to let the horses drink and rest, while we too had a bit of a rest, though some of us did not! Dmitri attempted to push Martìn into the water, after which Constantin succeeded in tackling Dmitry and soaking him from head to toe. Moose and Mike had a stone-skipping competition and then we were off.

After riding through some more beautiful natural scenery, and some crazy galloping and unintentional horse racing, we finally arrived at our camp. By this time we were all ravenous so we had a bit of awesome trail mix, set up camp, made a lovely lunch of Trek ‘n Eat and had a soothing cup of tea.

It was only 2 o’clock but we were all exhausted from our many adventures and late night campfire sessions, we all lay around listening to Mike’s thrilling stories of his adventures around the world. We were so amped up after hearing about his narrow escapes from the drug lords in Columbia, to the war lords in the Congo, that we just felt we had to do something, so we saddled up our horses and went for a bit of an expedition ourselves through the forest.

One of our horse wranglers had to lead an injured horse into the water to sooth a leg wound, and to all of our surprise (and trepidation) he stripped completely and led the horse in.

Since we were close to the Toilogt (not TOILET, ToiloGt) camp where Akira was staying, we fetched her so that she could spend our last evening at Lake Hovsgul with us.

We will all be sad to leave this breathtaking place of unspoilt natural splendour, but we still have the fascinating Gobi experience ahead of us and we are all looking forward to it. Also, we will be very glad to have a chance to shower again since the OTHER Young Explorers are starting to smell ☺ - but you know what they say: “ Young Explorers never die, they just smell that way”.

FACTS

The expedition team is experiencing the pristine nature of Lake Hovsgol, the larch forests, the lake sides, the grassland. However the beauty of this unspoilt nature is under increasing threat.
The larch forests and steppe grasslands around Lake Hovsgol are under two strong ecological pressures: firstly the increase in overgrazing as local culture changes from a nomadic to a more sedentary lifestyle and secondly the increase in mean temperature and the length of the growing season, which are driven by the climate change trends. The growing season now begins almost one month earlier than a decade ago, and there has been an increase in the total ecosystem water loss with no significant increase in precipitation over the last 43 years. Grazing has reduced overall plant biomass and the representation of grasses and plant litter in the steppe, and this has affected the system's tolerance to rising temperatures.

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 6

August 27th Day 6

After the five day horse trek the team are now making their way back to Ulaanbaatar.  Tomorrow another long day lies ahead as they will travel to Dalanzagad in the Gobi Desert and prepare the trek to the Yol Valley.

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 7

August 28th Day 7

Blog written by Leni, Tirza and Nicolette

With as little as 30min of sleep, we all woke up at 4am this morning. The main mission of today? To cover about 650km of Mongolian style roads (bumpy, sandy and full of holes) in about 16 hours.

Split up into groups of three or four, we climbed into our 5 jeeps and made our way across the Mongolian steppes. The first stop: a Mongolian ger for breakfast. Invited by a family friend of one of our drivers, we entered the circular tent. With the boys sitting on the left and the girls on the right, we were offered a traditional Mongolian dish made of Yak milk with rice and dried meat. Clearly, some of us liked it better than others, but out of respect to the kind family, we finished the meal with a smile on our face.

During the drive, it was very interesting to see the change in landscape: slowly the scenery transitioned from green to brown and turned more and more arid. We could see the change from a dry steppe to desert steppe and finally could catch a glimpse of the sand dunes that are typical of a desert region. As rainfall becomes more and more scarce as you go south, the plants have to be well adapted to cope with the lack of water: they have very shallow but wide roots (to obtain moisture quickly from the few rain showers that happen during the rainier season) or deep roots that can tap into groundwater supplies. They have a thick waxy cuticle to prevent water loss through transpiration and there tends to be spaces between grass bundles to minimize competition for water.

We also managed to see a desert pavement: this occurs when the ground is covered in rocks and forms a “pavement” like cover, while underneath there is sand. Theories of the formation of this feature include the action of wind erosion, where Aeolian erosion blows away the sand while leaving the heavier stones behind.

It was shocking to see how degraded the soil was in certain areas. Though the grazing season is only for two months, it is still possible to overgraze the grass by having too many livestock than the land can sustain. Goats (usually Cashmere goats) tend to eat the whole plant, including its roots, and thus are particularly responsible for this loss of vegetation. With less grass available the soil is eroded, which then in turn causes less vegetation to grow, and thus a vicious cycle of degradation occurs. Livestock management is definitely a much needed solution to this problem.

After finally reaching our camp after nightfall, we were all glad to see that our lodgings for today will be a traditional yurt. Inside, it’s comfortably warm and all of us will definitely have a good night’s sleep, ready for tomorrow’s trekking (except if Moose snores too loud and he keeps us up the whole night!).

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 8

August 29th Day 8

Blog written by Annika, Inge and Akira

A lovely, warm sleep in a Mongolian ger provided us with the energy that we would need for our long day ahead. We had a quick breakfast of a fried Mongolian pastry, apricot jam, a chocolate-hazelnut spread and tea or coffee, packed the 4x4s and headed off into the dusty horizon.

The 4x4s dropped us off at a designated point, where we grabbed our daypacks, chose our lunch and camping spots, calculated the coordinates, typed them into the GPSs and took off for what we expected to be roughly 20km of hiking.

Mike and the team presented us with a photo competition to incite us to pay closer attention to our surroundings and the diversity of the animals, insects and bird life around us. We were all surprised to find the amount of animals we saw, considering that we were in a desert steppe! We saw a variety of insects, including some green ones that looked extraterrestrial, some very cute baby lizards and pika – which are small chinchilla-like mammals with relatively large ears and a short tail, and are related to rabbits.

Initially we were making very good time and were walking roughly 5.9km/h but the terrain soon started to fluctuate as we approached the Zuun Sayhany Nuruu (means East Nice) mountain range. We found ourselves going up and down as the terrain got steeper and steeper, changing from rolling fields to jagged mountains. The going was quite tough as the mountains surface was mainly loose stone and gravel. There were parts of the mountains covered in Juniper and Salsola Tragus shrubs and patches of Stipa grass. We hiked up the highest mountain in sight for our short and only water break and summitted the 2500m peak.

We continued up and down this fascinating terrain for approximately 6 hours, passing through the famous Yolyn Am gorge, where we saw various shrines and a lovely, clear stream with petite waterfalls and locals selling handcrafted artefacts. Mike, Annika and Inge decided to follow the GPS coordinates instead of the guide and take the “road less travelled”, and arrived at the lunch spot 2 hours and 4km after everyone else since they tackled the mountains and did some bundu-bashing.

We finally had our long anticipated lunch at 16h30 and we were very relieved to find the food not only edible but very nice in fact. We were all initially a bit anxious as to what food we’d be eating during the next 10 days since a Mongolian cooking crew would be joining us on the Gobi leg of the expedition. The best part of our lunch was fresh orange slices since we were all craving fresh fruit, which is very scarce in Mongolia.

After lunch we set off to our campsite and once there pitched our tents and set up camp. We listened to a YEP Gobi Mix CD and we were all dancing and singing while selecting our competition photos. Tirza’s photo won first place with Annika’s coming second. We had a group meal of Mongolian stew with steamed buns and ended off the meal with coffee and tea.

We are all relieved to give our blistered feet a bit of a rest as we will be covering 130km over the next 3 days on horseback – and we’re crossing our fingers in the hopes that we do NOT get Russian saddles. We’ll all be crawling into bed soon since there is no firewood (since there are no trees) and therefore no fire to tell stories around and keep us warm - so from us; goodnight folks!

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 9

August 30th Day 9

Blog written by Lucas, Constantin and Martin.

Our day started at 7.30am when everybody woke up excited to meet our horses for the first time in the Gobi. Once we had all packed our bags and loaded them into the jeeps, we embarked on our journey out of the foothills of the Altai Mountain range and in to the desert plains.

We began the horse trek at the top of the Yol Valley before heading over the mountain range towards our lunch spot in the Dungenee Valley. We climbed to a maximum altitude of approximately 2500m where the views were absolutely incredible. We hadn`t yet experienced such a panoramic view of the range and were lucky enough to witness wild mountain goats, sheep and eagles.

From here we descended in to the valley which progressively got narrower and narrower towards our lunch spot. It was quite unique to observe the cliff formation and how this developed as the stream formed and the gorge became narrower. Everyone was however starting to feel the pain of the Mongolian saddles and were relieved to have an hour or so without the horse underneath them. We must also commend the cooks on all the effort they are putting in to our meals; it is truly fantastic and we are all enjoying the Mongolian experience.

Approximately 2km after we had lunch we burst out of the valley into the vast desert plains of the Gobi which gave us views of the surrounding mountain ranges and the Hongoryn Els. At this point there were ruins of 17th century Buddhist temples destroyed by the Soviets in 1938. Unfortunately the weather came in which slightly disrupted the views but we were all still able to gain perspective on the vastness and grandeur of the desert landscape. Being on the flats of the desert steppe, we were able to unleash the horses and gallop towards our camp in the distance. It is amazing how much we struggle with perspective and distance estimation when we can see so far – everything is so much further away than what it seems.

We arrived at our campsite at approximately 7:30pm after a very long day on the horses. We have just finished a great dinner and had a good chat with Mike about things we can do to build the Pangaea network in our respective nations upon our return. It has just begun to rain which is quite contrary to the usual perception of desert climate; however we are currently in the season of most precipitation for the Gobi region. The photo competition today was to be of vegetation – we are still awaiting the decision of the winner but have no doubt everybody will keep themselves informed.

It is quite surreal being out here in the middle of the plains and being able to see so far - a truly breathtaking experience.

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 10

September 1st Day 10

Peering out of our tents at 7.30 this morning, we could see the great expanse of the Gobi desert: we were the only humans for kilometers and kilometers, and couldn’t see a single ger as far as the eye could reach.
With our equipment packed up into our jeeps, the strong Mongolian horses tacked up and excitement flowing in the veins of all the Young Explorers, we started our 40km journey across the Gobi . At the beginning, we were travelling at a very slow speed, roughly 3km per hour. We soon realized that travelling at such a slow speed would mean we would arrive at our camp after nightfall, and thus started to wake our horses up and trot a bit.

While we were exploring the Gobi on horseback, we came across flash flood river beds. During heavy thunderstorms, all the water is channeled in these gullies and removes all the vegetation, leaving a barren river bed of rocks. We also noticed that the further we travelled away from the mountains, the drier the landscape became.

Of course we were all glad to see our 5 jeeps and the eating tent as we neared our camp: desperately we needed to rest our sore bottoms, scraped legs and painful muscles. Jokingly, Rosvitha called our diligent horses “torture machines on four legs”, but most of us truly appreciated the effort these animals put in to get us to our destination through wind, sun and sometimes even rain.

FACTS

The landlocked, continental situation and the high variability in temperature and especially precipitation causes extremes. Heavy rains, snowfall, strong winds, sandstorms, snowstorms, hail, and flooding often bring substantial damages to life and property of Mongolia. There is a clear indication that the frequency and magnitude of natural disasters are increasing due to global climate change.

The average spring precipitation has dropped by 17% during the last 60 years, a fact which has likely contributed to the increased number of fire outbreaks and burned areas in recent springs.

As in most arid environments, precipitation occurs in heavy rain showers and thunderstorms causing a rapid overland flow and no significant increase in soil moisture.

Since the systematic observation (1935) period, serious floods have been observed at Mongolian rivers and caused severe property damages and loss of life. Flash floods in the rural areas are natural phenomena. Experienced herders avoid the river banks during the summer season.

Flash flood is becoming one of the main disasters in Mongolia. About 18 flash flood events were observed from 1996-2003. In October 2003 a flash flood disaster hit Ulaanbaator. The city has only 260 mm/y precipitation, but it still belongs to a heavy flash flood zone. In average 30- 40% of the precipitation is torrential.

 

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 11

September 2nd Day 11

This morning, after a lovely, warm evening’s sleep, we headed out for our last day of horse riding. With sore backs and bums, we crawled back onto our horses, terrified of the 35km we would have to cover to get to our lunch/camp site. It was certainly an interesting day from the word “Go”, since Akira’s horse tripped and she fell forward off her horse and got a cut across her eyelid. Gaynor (our team doctor) proved her worth though, and stitched her up without a problem and we were off once more.

It was tough going, with a lot of trotting, which was generally decided to be the worst form of horse riding – we all preferred walking or galloping. A few of us such as Gaynor, Moose and Roswitha (not to mention any names) opted to walk the last bit instead. With miles of open, rocky planes behind us, and a beautiful, green oasis (which we weren’t sure was real or a mirage) looming ahead, we finally approached our camp and lunch site. We had an awesome lunch of rice and chicken curry, and got a chance to relax and rest our aching backsides, and admire the beautiful view of sand dunes, mountains with fascinating formations and camels doing camel things. Once the horses had also recovered from the long day’s riding, we had a little competition amongst ourselves and we got to give our horses a go and really see what they had under the hood. It was so much fun racing against each other with the wind beating our faces and whipping through our hair, and feeling the raw power of the horses as we pushed them on towards the finish line.

We were later presented with a sort of first aid course, during which Gaynor gave us a demonstration on how to insert a needle for an IV tutbe – strictly voluntarily! After some successful and other less successful attempts, we all finally succeeded (though I think Gaynor lost quite a bit of blood with the exercise). Our photo competition for the day was themed “People” and after dinner we had a photo analysis session and the winner for the day was chosen. Nicci won the photo of the day, with her human-horse photo. The winners for the previous two days photo themes were also finally chosen after much deliberation, since there were too many excellent photos and our “judges” didn’t know which to pick. Tirza was named the winner for her photo of vegetation, and Annika, Inge, Akira and Constantin were all declared winners for their landscape photos.

Tomorrow we start trekking with camels, and though none of us are sure whether this will be more or less painful than the horses, we know that we’ll all miss our four-legged horsy friends. So, with the soothing sound of the silence that you only get in places as remote as these, we are off to bed to prepare for our camel-packed adventures tomorrow.

FACTS

The extreme continental climate has affected the traditional diet, so the Mongolian cuisine primarily consists of dairy products, meat, and animal fats. Use of vegetables and spices is limited.

Normadic herders live directly from their own animal products. Meat is either cooked, used as an ingredient for soups or dumplings or dried for winter. A lot of animal fat is eaten so the people can withstand cold winters and their hard work.

The most common and famous dishes in Mongolia are: Boodog (whole carcass of a goat roasted from the inside), Khorkhog ( meat cooked with hot stones) and last but not least Buuz ( steamed filled pockets with meat ) which is cooked on every special occasions.

One of thee famous drinks is Airag. This is a fermented mare’s milk that has an alcohol content of about 3%. Many Mongolians distil it further to produce shimiin arkhi and get it up to 12%.

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 12

September 3rd Day 12 by Lucas, Constantin and Martin.
 

Today was a special day for all of us. Spirits were high this morning as everybody woke to see camels hovering around our campsite as opposed to horses. The new method of transport was exciting and served as hopeful relief from the hours spent on Mongolian horse saddles.

We were awake at 7am in preparation for our 9am departure. It was a stunning morning – clear skies and amazing views of the mountain ranges and the beginning of the Hongoryn Els. Once everybody had packed their gear and loaded the jeeps, we were given a short briefing on how to ride camels and how they operate. The Mongolian camels are more dangerous than horses and have the ability to do more damage to humans. As we had no experience with these creatures this meant we had to take caution and prepare ourselves in a more fastidious manner.

At the beginning, we were all totally fascinated by the looks, noises and movements of the camels. They look somewhat prehistoric and the sound they make is completely unique. This is in addition to their incredible size which was a little intimidating at first.

We set off on what we anticipated was going to be a relatively short day after the 150km horse trek over the previous few. We were however, wrong. The slow speed and discomfort quickly trumped the hopefulness of a short day as all the YEPs and Mike Horn Team members settled in for what was going to be a tough slog.

The lunch break was welcomed by all as everyone searched for clothing to make the saddles a little more comfortable. Despite this, everybody pushed through and endured the slow pace for what was an amazing experience that could not be left out when on an expedition in a desert.

Everybody was in awe as we approached the larger dunes of the Hongoryn Els – an amazing sight. We arrived at approximately 5:30pm and watched the sunset over the dunes while doing our soil analysis. We managed to complete all the testing of the samples we had taken from the saline lake near Lake Hovsgol and in the Gobi Desert. It has been really interesting to see firsthand the effects of a changing climate on such unique landscapes, inspiring us to act on such issues.

Everybody is in bed early tonight in preparation for a very early start tomorrow morning to summit the highest dune in the Hongoryn Els. Very exciting!

FACTS

The Great Gobi provides the last home for the wild Bactrian camel, one of the rarest and least studied mammals on earth. The Gobi's wild camels are the last surviving wild ancestors of the world's domestic Bactrian (two-humped) camels. An estimated 300 wild camels remain, and that the population is declining. They were domesticated before 2500 BC in the plateau of northern Iran and southwestern Turkestan and then spread east to Iraq, India and China. Domesticated Bactrians are well known as beast of burden, often carrying 1000 pounds for as many as 30 miles in the scorching heat and sand of their native environment, or in the very cold. Bactrian camels have long, shaggy hair which keeps them warm in the winter. In the summer months they shed, leaving them almost naked.

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 13

September 4th Day 13 by Tirza, Nicolette, Leni

„Time to wake up! It’s 4am and we are going to climb some sand dunes today!” These were the dreaded words spoken to tempt us out of our warm sleeping bags and do one of the most physical challenges of this expedition to date.

Half an hour later all of us set off South towards the Hongoryl Els, which are the sand dunes of the Gobi. In our Scarpa hiking shoes, we quickly walked across the sand towards the dunes in darkness with only our Petzl headlamps and the moon to guide our way. When we finally reached the first sand dune, we took a moment to take in the great height and steep slopes of sand: “What? We’ll have to climb countless of these till we reach the highest sand dune?!”

So we started our climb up and up and up. When a dune has ripples due to the wind, it is more compacted and we slid less down. We also tried to walk on the ridges whenever possible, as the sand is more stable. Furthermore, on slopes with especially loose soil, it is easier to follow the tracks the people made in front of you. Mike also gave us the perfect suggestion to remove our shoes and walk in our socks. At the start it was strange to walk without shoes, but soon we got used to the feeling of soft sand between our toes. The advantage of walking in socks or barefoot is that you don’t get the uncomfortable feeling of having sand in one’s shoes.

While we were climbing up the many sand dunes, it was quite cool due to the constant wind blowing on our faces. So when we saw the sun rise, we were glad to see the light and feel the warmth of our beautiful sun’s rays on our skin. The sunrise was just magnificent. All of us took a seat on the sand dune and just marveled at the colours in the sky and the lighting up of the sand dunes.

When we finally arrived at the highest sand dune, we could see over the whole Hongoryl Els as well as the mountain ranges. A great feeling of insignificance but also majesty befell all of us. We realized that we were probably the first people to ever climb this sand dune. After sitting over an hour on the dune’s summit, listening to Mike’s stories of the Namib desert, the Amazonas and Antarctica, we ran slid down the dune. It was really fun to jump, slide and of course fall down the dunes… This was an experience and moment we will talk about for the rest of our lives: to see one of the most beautiful places on earth with the friends for life we made here over these last two weeks.

YEP 6 Mongolian Expedition - Day 14

A sad thought has overcome Mike Horn and the Young Explorers.. the Mongolia Expedition is winding down and soon the YEPs will be back home with their families, telling them of the amazing experiences they have had in this majestic country.

Back on the bikes once again (ouch - the backsides!!) Mike Horn leads the Young Explorers through the Gegeet Valley passing the sectacular Flaming Cliffs, which as the name implies, nearly comes alive with its orange glow during the sunrise and sunset of the Gobi Desert.

As history says, the Flaming cliffs are famous for the first nest of dinosaur eggs and other fossils found in the 1920s. Sure enough (and to the delight of our geography spectalist, Dr Roswitha Stolz) it wasn't long before the YEPs discovered bones and fossils resting on the sand. More amazing lessoons for the YEPs!

The last few days were very long and the one thing the YEPs will be looking forward to after returning home is a liitle rest and relaxation.

Today, the 6th of September, the Young Explorers said 'Goodbye' to Mike and are currently on driving back to Ulaanbaatar where they will sleep overnight and tomorrow morning early will take their flights.

FACTS

The Flaming cliffs - this area of the Gobi desert is most famous for the first nest of dinosaur eggs and other fossils found by the American paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews in the 1920s. He nicknamed this site "Flaming Cliffs" for the surreal glowing orange colour of the rock.

In this region researchers also unearthed many other dinosaur skeletons and other fossils. When dinosaurs died at Flaming Cliffs, they died quickly: burial by fierce sandstorms is the only way to account for the discovery of this dinosaur pair as well as numerous, articulated Protoceratops skeletons found standing in the upright position.