10 days HORSE trekking in MONGOLIA - EP 114

The ultimate experience in the land of nomads. For France, 240 kilometers on horsebacks, riding at the border with China and Russia. We settled up for the best and for the worst. New France, no shower, very special creatures, a special link with nature, hailstorms, lots of learning and butt pain. This is Mongolia. We are Nick and Mathilde and we've left everything behind to travel the seven continents with our Land Rover Defender, the Albatross. Europe, North America, South America, Antarctica, Australia, Asia and Africa. A world tour for real, we want to see it all. Join us for the best, the worst, the fantastic, the boring, the headaches, the beauty of every single moment of this journey around the world. This is day 786 and we are in Mongolia. This is the next meridian expedition. Well Albatross, see you in two weeks. Nick and I usually travel the world in our Land Rover 4x4 but every year Nick takes two weeks to work as a motorbike guide. We'll be leading nine guys through the steppes and the Gobi desert of Mongolia. I'm not going to drive a motorcycle, I'll be horse riding over those two weeks. I have been dreaming to visit it for years so after a long month of preparation I embarked with me a handful of adventurous friends for this very special journey. Ready to horse ride and camp for 10 days in the Mongolian mountains. First stop, Ulaanbaatar, the country capital. The whole crew made it to Ulaanbaatar yesterday or during the night. Really this morning. People remember Olivia from Colombia. Yeah Colombia and Mexico. And then we have Chris coming from France also for the horse riding. And missing on this video, Jamie who traveled with us to Antarctica last year. And now we're going around Ulaanbaatar to buy the last few things we need because in the western part of the country it's much harder to get some items. So we're going to the city market. Come to my jacket. And now we found helmets and we found... What did we find Olivia? Oh butt padding. Butt padding. For the saddles that are made out of wood. Because I think if we're scared of one thing it's that pain, butt pain will ruin the trip. Or sores. I've heard that people get sores from the saddles. Our little team embarks into a 50 seater plane that runs once per week to connect the town of Bayan Olgi in western Mongolia. The plan is to rent horses and ride alongside the Chinese border all the way to Tavan Bogd, a mountain range at the crossroad between Mongolia, China and Russia. 240 kilometers over 10 days in nomad country. On the flight I can't help but feeling anxious. Anxious of the cold weather. Anxious thinking of the possibility of an accident. If any of us falls in the middle of the mountain range we would be hours away from the first camp. Let alone the first town. But it is too late to be anxious. Already we are landing in Olgi. This is the tiny plane that brought us to Olgi. It's actually really hard to get tickets on those planes because it flies once per week and gets fully booked very quickly. And we're officially in western Mongolia. Look at this cute airport. Soviet airport. The horse riding group arrives in western Mongolia and we get picked up by Waz, a classic Russian beautiful van. It's the start of the adventure. With our driver Musa and his epic 4x4 Waz van we leave behind us the last village and dive into the mountain range. We are now officially in nomad territory. Gare camps, lonesome horse riders in the distance, herds of horses left to graze and empty endless valleys. There's no doubt we are in the right place. We bounce around the old Russian Waz van. Tracks on our tracks it goes. The ultimate of a land rig. What is that? There's a garbage bin. What is that? What is there? There hasn't been one anywhere but here. There's none in Ulaanbaatar and there's one in the middle. It's quite cute. Six hours later we make it to the herders camp. The idea was to stay just a night to identify and pick up horses for our journey. But that first night in Altai turned out to be something completely unexpected and unique. So we just arrived at our camp and they were getting the sheep and the goats in and now it's milking time. So they tie them up by the head using ropes on both ways like temporarily and then they mill them like this. It's really hard. We had we got to try. We looked so intrigued by the milking and the way at the herder camp that the families handed us all the buckets. What we lacked in efficiency we made up in entertainment for everyone. This is all I can get. It's like just a little bit you know. But then I figured on the other one at least like. Oh there she goes. I've only had that and then it starts coming down. We don't speak a word of Kazakh at that point. The main language in this part of Mongolia. The teenage girl of the house manages to use our phone translator. It's not uncommon that daughters are the most educated family member as sons are expected to stay at home to keep the herds. Within the first two hours of our arrival the family of Azimurat and Gurshash invited us for tea, offered us some local food and showed us how to prepare a fire. It's like custard. It is kind of sweet but natural you know. You don't find wood in those mountains so they collect the horse poop and they pile it up until it dries and then they burn it. And we'll show you where they burn it. It's too light. Ah rubber. Okay weird. Kazakh. So is there a spoon? So we're going to drink kefir. And it's goat and sheep milk together. Together. Okay we try. Why? You? You take it. Take it with your hand. Yay camera! We learned foreigners never really stop around this camp which explains the eagerness of the family to show us around and involve us in their activities. After the milking, the fire, the kefir we joined up the group as they took on the installation of a gear for a new family member moving in. Yeah. Nice. We're coming out for dinner and now they're building a gear. So we see how it works. It's pretty simple and complex at the same time. You're probably sitting enough. What do we think of the program on the first evening? It's amazing. We get to do everything with them. Yeah I didn't know what to expect but this is uh certainly turning out to be a cultural experience. They're just putting us to work at the same time. I can milk the goats, you build the yurt. Ah. Everyone contributes. Like there's literally all the kids and the entire little village on the job. You see them everywhere. We're helping a bit, not much. But clearly it's more complicated for yaks than it is for sheep and goats. It's like they're everywhere except where they're supposed to be. We helped to herd back the animals around the camp and got invited for dinner. Day zero was a success. Tomorrow the real challenge starts. Oh yeah this is amazing. It's breakfast time in the Kazakh house. What is your preferred thing on the table? The chai and the bread. And you Olivia? What's your favorite on the... Bread and butter. The butter is really good. So tasty. Okay and Chris? I have no idea. It's a kind of costume you put on with bread. Everyone got breakfast. Insulated jacket. Yeah and you put like a big belt on it and everything. We're ready for the ride. Ready. We like put the helmet on because too many stories of bad concussion and we want to avoid that. Yes. And everyone's here for the departure. And there's Jamie over there with her step pony. And Olivia getting started. I'm yet to name my horse but apparently one prize on races and it's beautiful. And then we have Chris. Chris and her beautiful white Mongolian horse. After countless negotiations we agree on the logistics that would allow us to pursue our goal to reach Tavern Bogd. Because of its proximity to the Chinese border it is mandatory to be accompanied by a local guide. We also arranged to buy the horses. Rental as independent travelers did not seem to be an option. In exchange we got a gentleman agreements with the herders. They would buy back the horses if they arrived to our destination healthy. We were also supposed to have camels to carry our equipment. But those never made it down the mountain. So it happens in Mongolia. So we hired the WAZ van instead that would meet us in agreed spots. All paid for in cash of course. The show must go on. That's it we're gone. Hello. Our excitement on the first hours of ride was palpable. We were getting used to the Mongolian horses. This is no club pony. Those horses are considered semi-wild as they are left to fetch for themselves eight months per year during the winter. They can only be approached from the left side and get spooked very easily. A fast movement, a feather flowing in their direction or unexpected shadow would be enough to scare them. On the other hand they are strong. Can walk or trot over long distances and carry their load through rocky terrains and rivers with confidence. River crossing! How's it going Olivia? It's going good. About halfway through our first day and I'm not too sore yet but we will see. Yeah and the name of the horse is Picante. This is my horse Picante. He's a little spicy you never know what he's gonna do next. We've been riding for several hours already. We've passed a mountain pass. We have crossed rivers. We saw nomads starting gas. This dog has been following us since the camp this morning and he has three legs. And the herders tried to like send him back to camp but he just like follows. I think we're getting a pretty good vibe of the country and we're not too much in pain. Oh we've got an entire army of Mongolian fighters arriving. As kilometers piled up we started suffering. The excitement of the first hours gave way to proper pain. Pain in the legs and inevitably to the butt. Yeah it's been a long long day and apparently the van is not far so everybody's happy because we've done 60 kilometers instead of 50. 50 was already long but we're getting there. That night I wrote in my journal the painful butt. So let's talk about our riding equipment. Welcome to my tent. Clothing. First things first down layers. The essential we discovered is this sexy sexy cycling shorts. This little padding here has been saving my life. Rain jacket and in this little bag I put rain trousers, rain poncho and it fits. All in this little bag. We have sun cream, money, park permit, passport all in a zip bag. Little bag with a survival blanket, satellite phone and headlamp in case we get stranded. Two liters of water with the filter. A dry bag. Let's say if it's raining I can put my camera in it and tie it up on my bag. And all of that. Pretty compact. Still quite a bit of things. All of that fits. In my little Matador backpack. So convenient. We've been using Matador gear over the last 18 months on our world tour journey. You know why we like Matador? Because we love Matador people. You see Jamie here on the ride with us? Well she is Matador. 10 years ago her and her partner founded the brand. All of our riders are equipped with Matador gear on this journey. Here, here, here, here and here. Everything they do is highly durable, smartly designed and efficiently packable. Everything we need on this type of adventure. So Matador, thank you. The was is gone, the girls are on the horses. Day two. How is the butt this morning? I can feel it a bit but hopefully it'll get better over time. We feel that Picante has a lot of energy. Picante is back to being spicy. And my butt is sore but I think that's what we signed up for. Are you okay? How's the butt? Uh painful. And we still have the dog running with us. The little guy did 60 kilometers on three legs yesterday. And he's still going for it. And but they tried to send him back. He's just following his master. They fed him, he rested, went in the river and he's going for it. This is day two. We really feel that we're picking up the pace. Everyone is way more at ease on the on the horses. And the mountains that you see just behind me, behind is China. And we're going to board a point where like we're at the crossroad between China and Russia. Literally there's herders everywhere. I mean really far apart from each other. So here's a big herd and her herder on his horse. Pretty old guy and they always come and say hi and exchange like a few news. And then they keep going. Far away in this western corner of Mongolia with a deeply rooted traditional culture. We are the witness of a change happening all over the country. Slowly young herders abandon horses for small motorcycles. Coming from China to move their animals. In a place where the lifestyle has barely changed in centuries. Those cheap and robust bikes are creating a little revolution in the steppes. This pile of stones over there that looks very much man-made. Just this thing. And as usual google translates to the rescue. And at first we didn't understand because when I asked them they did the sign. Like something that is cut the head. And we thought maybe there were killing sheep there. And he wrote on the translator the man who died in the war. So we think it's some sort of memorial. So we just saw some graves and tombstones in an area that looks like maybe it has been in a battle. And the really cool thing about the previous Mongol empire is that when they would defeat other enemies they were really clever. And they would come in full charge with their cavalry of horses. And get the enemy to come attack them. Then they would immediately retreat as fast as possible and get the enemy to chase them. So the enemy thought they were winning. And as soon as they spread the enemy out into thin lines they'd turn around and attack them. And then they'd win. So clever. So Clara. And we're riding their horses. And we're riding their horses yeah. Yeah as soon as they would surrender the Mongolians would welcome them as family. But they had to surrender completely. We are now fully at ease on the horses and can use the long riding hours to learn. The memorials, the nomadic lifestyle and the language. By the end of day two we could count from one to ten and use simple words in Kazakh. We made it to camp. The day was really not as long as yesterday. So it feels good we can stop. We went swimming a little bit in the river with Olivia. Swimming is a big word. Cleaning ourselves in the river. That's the camp. That's the waz. And that's the campfire of our guides. And our horses are grazing next to the river. They're not attached. No need to. They don't really go away. But basically they're just here and they're free. The team is feeling better on the saddles. And today is pretty exciting because where we should arrive is a eagle hunter camp. On day four after 120 kilometers ridden we make it to a new nomad camp. And once again no one speaks English. By now we know the customs. As we enter the beautifully decorated Kazakh gher we are welcomed with tea and the usual local food assortment on the table. Nothing grows around here with a yearly average temperature of minus 4 celsius. Milk and meat produce are the only real local food sources. I just said with the butter I put butter. Yeah you gotta find the fat ones so they have the air pocket. Do you think it's the same? This is goats like last time? Yeah I think so. And then we have the cream like last time. The bread. There's the butter. Some butter. Candies. And we're saying goodbye to our guides. Sadly we say goodbye to Azim Murad and Muhammad. Our journey leads us further up north and would be bringing them way too far from their camp. Despite the language barrier we had learned to understand each other. Next stop for us is to pay a visit to a very special person that afternoon. An eagle hunter. There's an eagle. So we thought there would be eagles and eagle hunters at the camp where we stay tonight but there was only eagle hunters and no eagle. No eagle. Which triggered some sort of deception on our end. So we asked our like loyal Musa behind to find us an eagle and he found us an eagle. There are very few eagle hunters left in the region as most nomads are no longer dependent on the hunt to eat during the winter season. Tourism has contributed to make the eagle hunting practice a cultural highlight of the region and in places it somehow turned into a traditional sport showcased in festivals. There are some real hunters left but it is hard to know for sure. The hunters use exclusively female golden eagle captured at a very young age. They will hunt together up until the eagle reached breeding age when it will be released in the mountains. So we're getting new horses and we're seeing if this one likes the camera because I need to be careful with the sound of the cameras and taking stuff in my jacket. The horses can get scared so new batch of horses to go till the base camp. Everyone gets one. Chatty! We have 140 kilometers left to ride until Tavenbogd at the border with Russia. We buy a new set of horses and leave the shores of the lake Urganur with a new herder Hezbollah and his son Adarat. But after four beautiful days our luck is about to turn. The difference in temperatures are a bit crazy every day. We usually have sun in the morning and some rain comes up end of afternoon and today it's not midday but the storm is raging just in the other side of the lake here. We can see the curtain of rain coming on us so yeah we put the camera in a dry bag and finger crossed we don't get soaked too much. After this and after the rain, the hail. We feel the wind strengthening and the first hail storm starts as we pick up speed to try and get out of the storms. The wind and heavy rain start taking a toll on the horses themselves. When heavy gusts would hit they would all stop at once and turn their backs to the wind to protect their heads. In just a few minutes horses and riders are all soaked. So how are you rating the situation right here? It's probably like a 5 out of 10 for me. Right now? Oh it's better than that it's like a 7 out of 10 because it's not hailing. Really? Yeah this is way better. It's type 2 fun? No that was type 12 fun. Type 12 fun? Type 12 fun. Like it's straight midday, I don't feel bad. How do you rate the situation? I mean nothing is waterproof on me so I could be naked right now. Wet to the bone with the winds blasting. After two hours the cold starts catching up on us. We take advantage of an interruption in the rain to relieve the horses from the saddles and set up the tents to warm up. Nothing else to do than hiding and waiting for a better day tomorrow. Priority number one, get warm. Pretty heavy but it's okay. We left the camp, we slept right next to cemeteries. Clearly muslim cemeteries, you can see the symbols of the half moon. And it's funny because it's almost the only kind of permanent construction that you see around here. Otherwise it's guerres or little houses just for the season. Today we start the climb in the mountains so it should get colder and hopefully the way won't be too tricky. I like how they mix all of the animals. This is always so spooky. After the rain came the sun. As we start climbing up the Altai mountain passes, we reached viewpoints on beautiful new panoramas. In the air, a warm breeze and the sound of a Kazakh melody whistled by our guide Esbola. Super good! It was around 4 p.m. Our camp was just one kilometer away. It happened on a small sketchy bridge over the river. I crossed first, leading my horse by the bridle. The herder's son was next. His horse leg got stuck in a hole on the bridge. It fell heavily on its side. We thought the horse leg was broken. Change of plan. Major change of plan. We were yesterday crossing our last bridge. It was a super sunny day. Long kilometers and the bridges are real sketchy over here. You know, it's like some planks put together. One of the horses, the horse of the young herder, got his foot trapped in between two pieces of concrete and fell on the side. It was a horrendous sight. We couldn't do much to help. The horse moved to get himself out and managed to get himself out and fell in the water. The leg of the horse looked pretty bad. He has trouble putting it on the ground. We set up camp immediately. This morning, with the entirety of the group, we decided to ask the herder to stop the journey because of the horse. We want the horse to have the opportunity of fixing his legs. It was a difficult decision to make, also for them, I think, because they think that, you know, we're the tourists, we paid for it. And so we thought about maybe not riding that horse, having someone in the van so that he can walk. But every kilometer we make in the direction we're going is a kilometer further away from where they can actually take care of it from their home. The horse seems to be walking all right this morning. We can see that he's still in a bit of pain. So we hope it's the best decision. Like, we know why we took that decision. The young herder was horrified yesterday when that happened and he was so sad. We arranged to continue with the van up to the ranger stations and then from there we will hike to the glacier. And at least those guys can start the journey back to their place and hopefully fix the leg of this horse. That's about all we could do from here. In the van again, just us and Musa. We embarked back into the old Russian van and its brave driver Musa nevertheless decided to continue our journey toward Tavenborg. If we cannot ride to the top, we will hike it. Did you say it was a footbridge? The accident on the bridge left us without local guides to cross the checkpoints. As per the official rule of the park, we need to convince locals around to let us hike up to the base camp. So around the traditional tea with the help of our translation app, we talk. We reach an agreement. They'd let us go all the way up as long as we check in with the guides at the base camp. So we had the entire evening to meet our neighbors and prepare for the hike. So my new friend here is helping me finding water. You feel this? We embarked to climb the Tavenborg base camp 10 miles all the way to the base of Mongolia's highest peak. It is not how we thought we would make it up, but it does not really matter. I knew then that the three women who came on this trip were the right kind of travelers. So we were supposed to have the horses for the climb to the Maelchen base camp, but because we let the herder go back to take care of the horse, we are the horses now. And we didn't really have hiking packs, so we repurposed our traveling method of packs for the occasion. And it's doing well. Call us the mules. Despite all of the setbacks of the past three days, they went for it with determination and perseverance. No hiking shoes? No problem. Sandals will do. No proper backpacks? No problem. Matador's back would make the trick. No horses to carry our load? No problem. We will carry it ourselves. As we reach the base camp, we are reminded the site is sacred to locals. And of course, in the shamanic fire, a horse. Somehow, I think about the injured horse, and hope whatever prayers they're doing might help it. Ladies, welcome to Altenburg. Tavernburg. What does it mean? Five saints. Olivia is a bit the fact-checking of the expedition. Thank you, lonely planet. Five saints. That's wild. I had no idea that we were on the border of Russia. Now we made it to Tavernburg. The five saints. We're at this crazy place. Look, I put it here. We're at this crazy point. We were like zooming out. We're in the middle of that huge area, huge continent, at this tiny, tiny, tiny corner here. Here's Russia. And that's Russia, just behind. And here is China. And that's China, just behind. It blows my mind we made it. I didn't mention it, but it was a journey I dreamt to do since I'm 12 years old, reading books about Mongolian horsemen in the steppes. You know that kind of dreams? You live up there and you're happy to live up there. Something that you don't really need to do somehow. You just dream about it. And then when Nick was selected to work for the motorcycle company and do a tour in Mongolia, I was like, maybe that's my time to grab that dream that is up there and actually make it happen. It's really nice. And nothing has happened as planned. I had planned it with camels, much more independently. Eventually in this region, it's so remote. It's so hard to even communicate with people. We didn't meet one person, one person since we left Olgi on the first day. That spoke English. No one. It was great. We still learned some Kazakh. We talked Mongol. We milked goats. We carried an eagle. We horse ride through mountain passes. And I'm grateful to the girls who came as well, because it's a bit of a hit or miss adventure, you know, like nothing went as planned and they still went for it. And they still climbed the 15 kilometers to come here at the base camp and celebrate the end of the journey. So it's beautiful. This journey horse riding in Mongolia was in so many ways different from what the teenage me had pictured. In my dreamt version, there was no bad pain or hailstorm. There was no special permits needed or mandatory guides. But what my dream didn't anticipate either is the beautiful encounters we would make from day one. The pride of making it through the freezing rains, the beauty of a simple Kazakh melody we sold in a valley. In my dreams, I had never known I would learn so much from the nomads. We thank Musa, Hazramet, Mohamed, Hezbollah and everyone else we met on our way. We are not done with this country. In next week's episode, we embark with Nick to explore different regions of Mongolia. And this time on motorbikes. Click click on the subscribe button. I promise you, you will not regret it. That is the toilet. So it's basically just a hole and then the wallpaper is amazing. Wallpaper in the toilet.