By telling us your country of residence we are able to provide you with the most relevant travel insurance information.
Please note that not all content is translated or available to residents of all countries. Contact us for full details.
Shares
We were all assigned a horse. I got a beauty of a white horse with no name. The horses in Mongolia don’t have names. Somethimes they get the name of their age or the color they have. I gave the horse a name myself, namely Tupac. Beceause he was banging his head a few times in a row to get rid of the bugs. You could put music under it. After we all got a horse the journy to the Tsaatan nomads could start. The Tsaatan are the last group of nomadic reindeer herders in the world. They survived for thousands of years inhabiting the remotest subartic Ulaan Taïga, moving between 5 and 10 times a year. They still move so we had 2 guides en 3 horsemen who showed us the way. Two whole days whe drove on the horses to reach the Tsaatan. Along steep hills, bushes, forest, a lot of mud and four seasons a day. The second day it already became dark when we were still riding in the mountains with no clue at all when we would arrive at the Tsaatan. We were more than 10 hours on the horses which were strong, but now also showed signs of fatique. I could no longer feel my knees myself anymore. At the top of the mountain we had to get off the horses because we had to walk down from the top of the mountain to the valley. We were lifted off the horses by the horsemen and we could get used to the different position off our legs. I did my best not to fall down the slippery steep road with Tupac on my right hand and just simple sneakers on my feet. It was dark so I had to lead Tupac safely down instead of the other way around. I could feel he trusted me and walked the way I showed him. And than I slipped. Tupac stopped and I was able to get up again. My heart was rushing into my chest and feelings of fear and adventures excitement held hands. After the scary road down whe reached the bottom of the valley. We get up the horses one more time and drove into the village of the Tsaatan. Even though it was dark it was already impressive. You could see the outlines of teepees and the smoke coming out from the tops. We where welcomed by a nomadic Tsaatan family and we threw us all into a freshly made dinner. I had to pee and walked a bit away from the tipi. A baby reindeer came running towards me. I remained frightened in the squat position but soon found out that the reindeer does not meant any harm and I pet the little fellow.