About Mongolia
How to describe Mongolia? What words do it justice and convey an essence of the country?
Ancient, Beautiful, Big, Distant, Extreme. It is one of those countries that we all know of – it has added the analogy “like the Gobi desert” to our language, but probably know very little about. Let’s delve into this country….
Ancient History
Numerous peoples from the Scythians through the Huns and the Uighurs to the Qidan have occupied Mongolia, but one man irrevocably put Mongolia on the global map and created one of the largest land empires ever; Genghis Khan. The son of Yesügei, a descendant of Qabul Khan, he was born in 1162 and named Temüchin. After his father was murdered by the Tatars, (quite common in those days), he and his family struggled to survive, but he prospered under this hardship and learnt the value of building strong friendships and alliances. His charisma and strong personality coupled with natural leadership qualities underlined a meteoric ascent to power. In 1189, the Mongol tribes declared him “Genghis Khan of the Mongols – at the tender age of only 27! By 1206 he was declared the Great Khan of Mongolia and by the time of his death in 1227, he had forged a Mongol global empire which he bequeathed to his sons and grandsons. His third son Ogödei was proclaimed the second Great Khan but died as he prepared to attack Vienna in 1241 and his forces retreated temporarily. But you can’t keep a good Khan down and the title passed through the family line with Genghis’s grandson, Kublai Khan, being declared the fifth Great Khan in 1264. By the end of the 13th century, the Mongol Empire was the largest land empire in history, stretching from central Europe to China and Korea and from Russia to Iran and Vietnam. After Kublai’s reign the Yuan dynasty that he had proclaimed in China in 1271 was weakened and the Mongol Empire began to decline. In 1368 a peasant uprising spawned the Chinese Ming dynasty which replaced the Mongol Yuan dynasty. The power of the Mongol Empire declined as quickly as it began and most of the Mongols returned to their nomadic lifestyle on the steppes.
Even today Genghis Khan continues to have a remarkable reputation in both Mongolia and beyond. In Mongolia he is still revered as a national hero who created a written legal system that was enforced rigidly by a well trained military. His laws (yasa) were written down and prescribed a variety of penalties for contravention; death for desertion, theft, adultery and false testimony. Beheading was the usual form of execution, although because it was decreed that noble blood should not be spilled, any miscreant noble was strangled with bowstrings, had their backs broken or rolled in carpets and trampled by horses.
Modern History
The winter of 1989-90 following Gorbachev’s reforms in the USSR was marked by pro-democracy protests, by February 1990 Stalin’s statue in Ulaanbaatur had been removed and that July a general election had been held. A new constitution in 1992 abolished the people’s republic. Whilst Mongolia does have a multi party system, it is mildly confusing as the parties keep changing their names. Suffice to say, the Mongolian People’s Party is currently in power – “Nuff said, we’re only visitors and I don’t pretend for a moment to understand it!”
Geography
Mongolia is big, it is the 19th largest country in the world, a little bit smaller than the friendly folk of Iran and quite a bit bigger than Peru. At 1,564,116 square kilometres (603,909 sq miles), it is roughly the size of Alaska and six times the size of the UK. It is 2,392km west to east and 1,259km north to south, latitude wise it sits between 42N and 52N – in European terms that would take you from Corsica to London.
With a population of 2.9 million people it is the most sparsely populated independent country in the world. It is also the world’s second largest landlocked country after Kazakhstan. However despite the small population it is home to nearly 71 million goats, (remember this is cashmere country….). Mongolia is divided into 21 provinces (aimags) and each province is divided into rural districts, usually about 15-20.
More importantly from a fishing perspective there are 3,800 rivers with a combined length of 67,000km. (Just saying….)
Whilst best known for the Gobi desert, Mongolia has distinct regions. From the perennially snowcapped mountains of the north through the green-brown steppe lands to the grey-gold gravelly ground of the Gobi in the south, the defining theme of Mongolia is how untouched it is. The vast openness of the Gobi affords unprecedented views and more importantly the lack of human development and artificial light offers some of the finest stargazing on the planet. Nearly 2/3rds of Mongolia is covered by mountains and we will be travelling through one of the main ranges; The Altai, which is home to Mongolia’s highest mountain, Khüiten (4,374m). Mongolia is high, an average of 1,580m above sea level
Climate
Mongolia has an extreme continental climate, namely it is hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. Situated so far from the seas and oceans, it has a dry climate and as you head south, the cloudiness of the sky decreases, with average annual sunshine reaching 3,200 hours – pack your sun block and sunglasses!! July is the warmest month with the average temperature 15-20C in the mountains and 20-25C in the south.
The weather can be capricious with strong winds and dust storms in the south – oops, that’s where we are going….Due to the altitude, relief and wind, there is considerable diurnal variation in temperature – it may fluctuate by 30C. Days may be hot but the nights may be quite chilly. As Baden-Powell would say, “Be Prepared!”
People
There are many different tribes that comprise the population, but just over 2 million are Khalkha Mongols and their language (Khalkha) is the state language. There are other regional groups but their numbers are limited. Whilst only 35% of the population live as nomads or semi-nomads away from urban settlements and fewer than 15% are fully nomadic, at heart, every Mongolian is a nomad. Several conditions define Mongol life and culture and the principal one is that people are pastoral nomads and therefore unable to possess precious things, except the absolute essentials. They live and travel as lightly as possible with few personal belongings. As a consequence they tended to ornament items of daily use: knives, saddles etc and the doors and posts of their tented homes (gers). Animal husbandry and herding are not only part of the country’s agri-industry but an integral part of Mongolian heritage and define their respect and treatment of animals, for example they never shout at a horse because it is your friend and they would never put a sweating horse on a hitching post on an overcast day, lest it rain and the horse then gets cold. They care deeply for their animals.
Likewise they have deep respect for people especially their elders;
- never enter a ger with a sigh – it is disrespectful
- never step over a hat – it insults the owner
- never step over a lasso – it brings bad luck (Cecil, pay attention! We know you like a lasso….)
- similarly
- never stamp out a fire with your feet – fire is sacred.
Waiting is a distinctive characteristic, often they wait for a sign or omen before reaching a decision and this can lead to baffling delays especially when little or no explanation is given. So just take a chill pill, relax and wait, they are very laid back.
Finally a mongolian proverb that offers an insight into what we might experience:
“The greatest treasure is knowledge”
Natural History and Conservation
Given Mongolia’s rapid evolution from part of the USSR to independent nation, it might be expected that conservation would not be a high priority, but in fact it is the reverse. Approximately 12% of its landmass is has been turned into national parks with a plan to place up to a third under protection. By comparison 9.3% of England is national park and the average for the whole world is 6%.
Mongolia is part of the central Asian plateau and its ecosystems are of global importance because of their diversity, size and continuity. The climate, topography and natural formations divide the country into six zones which comprise desert, Gobi and steppe (grassland) zones, and forest, alpine (but no skiing on this trip!) and taiga (northern mountain/forest) zones. The fauna and flora are as distinctive as the vegetation zones that they occupy principally because of the country’s unique location between the Siberian taiga and the desert steppe. The statistics are impressive: there are over 4,000 plant species, 136 species of mammals, 533 species of birds, (Guess who is going to be busy….?) 15,000 insect species and most importantly 75 fish species including the magnificent “Taimen”, the largest member of the salmonid family. Sadly 2/3rds of the native Mongolian fish species are on the World Conservation Union endangered red list.
Mongolia is home to some of the rarest mammals in the world starting with the snow leopard (Uncia uncia or Irves in Mongolian). They are so well camouflaged with big black rosettes on their tawny spotted coats that they are almost impossible to see….That does not mean that we shall not be having a very good go at trying to spot one! Sadly rather rare, it is estimated that around 900 remain in Mongolia – spread over a 100,000km2. So bring some good binoculars.
But there are other magnificent species to look for: The Gobi Bear (Ursus arctos) is about as rare as you can get, maybe 25-40 left. It’s small, adults weigh between 100 and 120kg and has a light brown coat.
Whilst there are many domestic camels. Mongolia is also home to the last remaining Bactrian camels in the world with maybe 1,000 left. This is the two humped model as opposed the the single humped dromedary.
Gazelles proliferate with over a million crossing the country in herds of up to 50,000. There are two types; white tailed and black tailed – I’ll leave you to work out what the difference is!
A high point of conservation is the tale (tail?) of Przewalski’s horse (Takhi in Mongolian). Once commonplace in Mongolia they became extinct in the 1960’s. HOWEVER, some remained in the zoos in Europe and the species has been successfully reintroduced, besides having 2 extra chromosones than a domestic horse (66 vs. 64), their appearance varies. They are stocky creatures with mealy mouths, zebroid stripes on the hocks and dorsal strip that runs along the backbone. There are now over 350 Przewalskis in Mongolia so it has been a notable conservation success story.
There are numerous other mammals: red deer, Ibex, wild sheep, wolves and marmots but sadly all are coming under increased pressure from the expansion of mankind. For example hundreds of thousands of gazelle would migrate from east to west until the construction of the fence lined Ulaanbaatar – Beijing railway blocked this migration and restricted them to the eastern half of the country. That said Mongolia does seem acutely aware of the value of responsible eco-tourism, so pack your binoculars, keep quiet and who knows what we might see….