Mongolia

We have visited Mongolia twice, once in 2007 and again in 2015. The Soviets who controlled Mongolia until 1990, had provided educational and health services throughout the country and a market for the herders' livestcok . On their departure in the early 1990s, the country has struggled to manage itself. The discovery of extensive deposits of copper and gold has led to an upsurge in mining which now accounts for 20% of the economy. Privatisation of assets, that once were viewed as communal, forms the edge of another change to Mongolian society. As a result of the mining boom, the capital, Ulaanbaatar has transformed itself from a Russion-style low rise blockhouse type archtecture to that of a modern city.


Ulaanbaatar, 2007	Kuntala in Ulaanbaatar, 2015


Herders 150 km SW of Ulaanbaatar	The gers (yurts in Turkic) are alays open to visitors


Draining the whey from horse milk cheese	The vast rangelands


Rare glimpse of water en route to Middle Govi	Gibber desert


Herders working as informal fluorspar miners east of Khuld	Duststorm over another mining area


Part of Khuld, a hamlet of about 500 houses in Middle Govi	Our accommodation in Khuld, the hamlet's guesthouse


David asleep in the ger	Horses have given way to m/cyles and old Russion vans


An inqusitive camel - losing his winter fur	Mongolian version of an Ikea flatpack for gers

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