The Mongolian Wastelands

After a couple of days in Mongolia we decided to head out into the Mongolian Wastelands. Many consider the Mongolian countryside to be one of the last true wild lands left on earth and it is easy to see why. There are endless wastelands that are completely empty of people. The only thing you will find here are wild animals ad bushes.

On our first day we drove very deep into the wastelands, our destination was a nomad camp hidden in the mountains west of Ulan Bator. While driving we managed to blow out a tire and it was not a good feeling driving off roads in the middle of no where with no spare tires left. Luckily we made it to the nomad camp without much trouble. There we spent the night in a Ger and got a good night sleep.

On our second day in the wastelands we drove off road for hours. It was real cool watching Oggys driving skills. Oggy was our wasteland guide, he was 65 years old but did not look it. He was full of local knowledge and made sure we got where we were going safely. After riding around looking at sand dunes the sky opened up and it started raining pretty badly. So we headed for another nomad camp to spend the night in. But first we wanted to go see some wild horses. We snuk up on a heard of wild horses but it turns out that sneaking up on a stead protecting his heard can be pretty difficult and we were exposed long before we got close enough. The steed was eager to challenge us to a fight so we backed off for a bit. It was time to head for the second nomads camp. This camp was an example of Mongolian hospitality. We just drove up to some random family and asked if we could sleep in their Ger for the night. They said of course and we stayed the night.

Our third day was spent mostly chatting with the family before heading back to Ulan Bator. What a great excursion, what a strange place.