Once a year, in honor of the Nadaam holiday in July, girls and boys between 6 and 12 years old demonstrate how fast they can cover 30 kilometers on horse back. That day, thousands of Mongols from all over the world return to their homeland in order to celebrate the independence they gained from China in 1921.

These children have grown up in saddles. Without a horse, a Mongol is only half human; just like a thousand years ago, the two are deeply connected. But this small girl isn’t quite sure yet what to make of that.


No where else in the world is a country so sparsely populated and no where else are there more animals per person. Mongolia lies in the heart of Central Asia, between two giants, China and Russia. 2.5 million people live in this country, which is seventeen times larger than Austria.


The herds are the center of their lives. Even today, approximately a third of Mongols still live as nomads in their traditional yurts or gers, as the inhabitants call their dwellings.


As romantic as the nomadic life may seem to outsiders, everyday life is hard. 29-year-old Tsetsgee – nomads use only one name – has known this life since she was a small child. She now wants to give it up, for the sake of her own two children.

Tsetsgee:
We lost a lot of animals over the last four, five years. This winter is again supposed to be as harsh. The children soon start school, then we want to move into town. I’m not sure yet how we will survive there. It scares me.


Sanginyamin:
The woman is right. I’ve been an animal herder since I was 16. I don’t know anything else, but maybe we can sell vegetables or something like that in the city.


The magic word is Ulan Bator – the capital of Mongolia. This is where people move to when they no longer can live from livestock alone.

Mongolia has lived through a turbulent history.

The Manchu emperors subdued inner and outer Mongolia. Inner Mongolia still belongs to China today. Outer Mongolia gained independence in 1911, but in reality the Chinese were still in control.

In 1921, Mongolia became communist. Shortly thereafter began waves of political cleansing against other parties. 100,000 people died under Khorlan Tschoibalsan, the new Mongolian dictator – a ruler who was supported by Stalin.

In 1939, Jumshagin Tsebendal took office as secretery general of the Communist Party. But in fact, his russian wife was the secret regent. Later on, Tsebendal became prime minister. But the Russians were still pulling the strings.

The Soviet involvement in Mongolia lasted for 70 years.

The turning point came in 1990. Sit-down and hunger strikes took place in the capital’s central square, eventually forcing the government to step down. In 1992, the country’s first free and confidential elections took place. Since then, the former People’s Republic of Mongolia has simply been known as Mongolia.

The Mongols recently elected a new parliament. For the first time since 1990 and in the country’s history, a coalition government is in power. In the past, Communists and Democrats had taken turns for years.

Gundalai Lamjav
Parliament’s Vice-President
We have to work on further moving Mongolia forward, so that the mistakes of the past few years will not come back, so that Mongolia commits itself again to the democratic values, and that human rights are not harmed here, that the press, the radio and the television are not controlled, that the opposition also has a right to voice its opinion and that everybody doesn’t have to worry about his or her political affiliation.

After 1990, freedom of the press had to first be learned. The country had been cut off from the outside world up until a little more than a decade ago. With a democratic constitution based on the German model, Mongolia has turned its back on socialism for good.

For nomads, radio is the only information source. Non-governmental organizations, such as the United Nations Development Programme, assist media projects financially and with advice for journalists. Even after the 1990 turning point, it could be dangerous for journalists to report about the government’s corruption. Those with differing opinions were fired and replaced with members of the Party. The leaders of the MRVP, the Communist party, controlled and kept the mass media under surveillance. Three journalists were sent to jail for their criticism of leading officials.

Erdene
Journalist
Under the Communists, journalists were indoctrinated. Since the 1990 turning point, a lot – even too many – newspapers have emerged. Some are only interested in making money. The readers will be the ones choosing. They won’t buy newspapers that they don’t like.

The transfer to a market economy has been acccomplished the quickest in the capital, Ulan Bator. Modern dispaly panels let the new generation know about what they don’t possess yet. The old Mongolia is actually quite young: three quarters of today’s population is under 35 years old.

The first free businesses cropped up in the central square, facing the government buildings. Here, photographers sell their services, while race cars for childrens and all kinds of kitsch are offered for sale.

In the countryside, the breakdown of a planned economy looks more like this: this ruin stands where coal once used to be extracted. 95 percent of Mongolia’s external trade used to be conducted over the Eastern Bloc countries.

Today, the poorest of the poor are mining the coal illegally so that they can secure a small income.

The shafts are not secured. The workers criticized the translator for having brought us here. They are embarassed by their poverty.

Bayarchuu
Social worker
Last year, we did a study for the International Labour Organization, looking at children who are not in school. They are part of former nomad families, who now live at the edge of the city. The families were not registered. The children would be sent away to the coal mines. 120 of them now go to school.

Non-governmental organizations try to help these children out of their misery and attempt to re-educate their parents. These girls also used to extract coal.

O-Ton
Altanschagai, 15 years old
I used to get coal for home here. We sold what would be left over. Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten anything to eat. My sister has found work, that’s why I can go to school. I get something to eat there too.

Since 1990, Mongolia has undergone a categorical transformation from a planned economy to a market economy. Not many industry sectors have survived. Here, the United Nations special rapporteur for the „Right to Food“ program informs himself about the situation on-site. Jean Ziegler travels to the world’s poorest countries to report on hunger there. In the Selenge province, 250 kilometers away from Ulan Bator and near the Russian border, milk powder is produced. But the nomads in the surrounding area hardly profit, as 80 percent of the milk comes from closeby Siberia. The cows are said to be healthier there and to produce more milk. Under the same roof, there is a bakery. The cookies are still traditionally kneaded and baked.

Jean Ziegler finds milk powder from Singapour. It turns out that it costs 50 percent less than the local one. The Mongolian owner is destroying his own production. But at least people are still working here.


Jean Ziegler
UN Special Representative
This factory has an advantage, it is still in business. In the meantime, these giant mills out there – they are standing still. At least something is working here. This factory here is a summary of all the inconsistencies of the current economic system. This crazy, useless privatization. On one hand, the owner today is the former second director. A Russian was director and a Mongol was his deputy (it means his substitute!) and he has taken it over. He simply privatized it, putting it in his own pocket, together with two people from the government. But for the 60 employees here, especially the women, they are at least earning something.

In this way, communists became capitalists overnight. After the 1990 turning point, staple foods such as flour and sugar were only available in exchange for food stamps. Even bread was rationed. The empty shelves in stores or at the market are a thing of the past. But not the animosity towards journalists.

Gundalai Lamjav
Parliament’s Vice-President
Privatization was also difficult for the big companies, because we didn’t have any experience and because others, from other countries, used a little money to buy up investors with bribes, etc. So privatization didn’t go so well.

And not only the Parliament’s democrats say that.

For a few, Mongolia seems to have degenerated into a self-service store – especially when it comes to distributing the gold mining licenses. Corruption is rampant. In four years, more than a thousand misconducts by public officials were exposed.

These gold prospectors don’t have licenses. Former nomads and unemployed people can find an income here. They dig 20- to 30-meter deep shafts. Just as with the illegal coal mining, many don’t want to be filmed. The galeries often collapse and bury those seeking their luck. These people often become alcoholics. Crime is an everyday occurence.

This family has been here for three years with its four children. In bags weighing 25 kilos, the earth is carried to the river and washed there. The gold prospectors can earn ten to twenty Euros a day when they find gold – a fortune when you take into account that a government official becomes only about 60 Euros a month.

Illegal gold prospector
Before, I used to sell goods on the street. The money wasn’t enough, that’s why I’m here. My older children are in school, which I have to pay. The big gold companies chased us away. Before we used to find more gold.

The yurt dwellings spring up like mushrooms. The gold seekers refer to settle on the river banks. The families are doing well, apart from the fact that they have sold all of their cattle and only seek gold. Illegal gold prospecting is deadly for nature. If a law was to be passed against it, these people would have no other recourse. For them, the way back to the nomad life is barred for good.


So it is for these family members, who don’t want to reveal their names. Again and again they tell us that they need the money for their children, so that they can go to school. This staff member of the World Wildlife Fund – the worlwide animal protection organization – wants to enlighten the population and point out the destruction of nature they are causing.

Soundbite
Ongonsar
WWF – Mongolia
The local people have to be involved in all of the decisions we take about development projects related to conservation. We first must change the laws. The population has to be made aware of the devastating environmental consequences of mining. Those are the first steps we have to take.

The first Mongolian-American companies extract crude oil in Mongolia. The migration of antelopes has been affected by it. Foreign investors from throughout the world are searching for ground treasures. In the last 14 years, 3,000 Mongolian corporations were stimulated by foreign investments totaling 1.2 million dollars. Environmental protection agencies worry about the effects on nature.

Jerry Cotton
Project Manager - Soco Oil
Here there is a conflict with the government, with the people, with the oil industry and with the environment. We will work together and will try to leave nature and the animal world untouched.

Nobody would want to take the responsibility for anything else. The unspoiled Mongolian steppe and nomadism are glorified over and over again in poems and folk songs.

The Mongolian wild horses, which were eradicated in 1965, are returning to their home. At the end of the 19th century, the Russian researcher Nikolai Prschewalski found the cranium and the hide of a Mongolian wild horse. Back then, the animal was not known of in the scientific world. The horses did eventually survive in zoos and the hope of rehabilitation in Mongolia was fulfilled in 1990.

Sukhtulga is the communications director in the Hustain Nuruu Reserve. He takes care of the horses’ rehabilitation in the 60,000-hectar area. The U.N. Development Programme supports him financially in his efforts. The first horses that were rehabilitated got sick. They weren’t reproducing. A few even died. A long-term study eventually found that the horses needed protective immunization. That helped them produce enough antibodies to survive. The high mortality rates of the animals was thus lowered.


Sukhtulga
Director – Hustain Nuruu Reserve
The Mongols respect and love their horses – especially the Tachi horses. Tachi means sacred and prayer. There was actually no Mongol against this. We had a few problems with the nomads because of the pastures and the disposition of the wildlife sanctuary. Some of the nomads also let their animals graze there. Those were our problems.

Only recently were twelve Prschewalski horses originally born in zoos brought back to Mongolia. The ancestors of the domesticated horse had lived outside of their home for more than 15 generations.


Chris Walzer
Veterinarian – Salzburg Zoo
It’s especially important to gather scientific data in the first phases of the rehabilitation project, so as to support our decision. We can’t just follow our gut feeling for this decision, instead we need tangible data. And so monitoring the horses is especially important; here we use satellite transmitters, which have to be changed once in a while – that is, new horses receive new transmitters.

Christian Walzer is a scientist and veterinarian at Salzburg’s Hellbrunn Zoo. He has developed a remote-controlled anesthetization gun, so as to be able to aim at the animals from great distances. He also collaborated with a fellow veterinarian from the University of Bern to develop the foundation for the Prschewalski or, as they are known in Mongolia, „Tachi“ horses.

The anesthesia arrow is supposed to put the horses to sleep for one hour.

The veterinarian is five hundred meters away and yet can shoot into the horse’s side. The remote-control makes it all possible.

Now everything has to go quickly. The new collar transmitter is attached. The horse’s movements can now be monitored per satellite.

The last penicillin shot against the illness transmitted by ticks. Then the horse has made it, even though it’s still a little unsteady on its feet.

The satellite transmission can be accessed from all over the world. In this way, the horses are monitored day and night.

90 wild horses now live in their original homeland. It is hoped that they reproduce, so that the survival of the Prschewalksi horses is assured in the long term.

Even in a country the size of Mongolia, there are fights about grazing land; indeed, it is the foundation of life for a third of the Mongols. Nomads again and again bring their herds into the protected areas. There, the ground is not overgrazed.

Small garden installations help the inhabitants to eat healthier. In financially difficult times, every new initiative is welcome. The nomad’s staple foods remains meat and milk products. The menu is enriched with wild vegetables and fruits.

When there are visitors from far away, they take their time. In the steppe there isn’t really any other distraction.

Even though most of the nomads now own radios, from which they hear broadcasts from abroad, they like to hear the news from visitors. The tobacco snuff is handed around. In the past, this gesture was part of a welcome ceremony. Today, the elders are mostly the only ones to know about it. It used to be a sign that the visitor had friendly intentions.

In Mongolia, there are only few paved roads. Dirt roads cover the whole country like a spider’s web.

Only few visitors make it to the West of the country, to the Altai mountains – the journey is too arduous. The staff members of the environmental protection agency WWF are on their way there to search for the shy snow leopards.

Higher and higher they go into the mountains; the highest summit is at 4,347 meters. The Russian van does not start up anymore. But the Mongols are familiar with the problem and have resources. Shortly afterward, a fire lighted under the car makes the oil melt. The driver knows what he is doing – it is by far not the first time it happens to him.

Before the 1990 turning point, the simple but robust all-terrain vehicles and vans from the Soviet Union were the most prevalent vehicles. Today, the Mongols love the Japanese four-wheel drive cars. But most likely, they wouldn’t have gotten such a car going as easily again. In those cases, the old Russian cars are just more reliable.

Before 1990, there were only 24 natural sanctuaries widely scattered throughout Mongolia. Today, ten percent of the land is under protection. With its 5 million hectard, the Gobi National Park is the world’s third-largest, following Groenland’s National Park and the Kalahari Parks in Southwest Africa.

Snow leopards were not sighted yet, but instead Ibex antilopes. Mongolian antilopes can merge into herds of up to 20,000 animals. They also migrate into neighboring China.

Chimeg
Former Project Manager – WWF
This picture was taken with a hidden camera. You can see the rocks here, the bushes, the cave. It is a very noble and beautiful animal.

The snow leopard is hunted unscrupulously. Their fur can sell for prices that amount to six months worth of earnings.

Life in the mountains and during winter is especially hard for the nomads. Since 1999, the zud, as the brutal cold of the Mongolian winter is called, raged for three consecutive years. The temperatures fell down to minus 50 degrees. The frozen ground didn’t produce anything anymore. The winter reserves did not suffice. Many families lost a big part of their herds.

During the winter, mostly muttons are slaughtered. The meat is cut into small pieces and cooked. Customs dictate that no bones shall be broken during this process. The guest becomes the most greasy part of the animal – a delicacy for Mongols.

70 years of a socialist planned economy are over – but the memorial for the Mongolian-Russian fraternity remains. From there, a visitor looks upon the ever expanding poor neighborhoods, the yurt settlements. They sprout like mushrooms as the city’s attraction holds. Water has to be bought at central locations. Sanitary facilities are not available – neither is work. Everybody tries to make ends meet.

The old Mongolia is actually quite young. Over three quarters of the population is under 35 years old. For a couple of cents, you can get your car washed; the city attracts consumption. Going back to a nomad life appears improbable.

Meanwhile, 37 percent of the Mongols live under the absolute poverty line. With a per capita income of 400 dollars a year, Mongolia is among the poorest countries of the world.

Monkhor
Unemployed
I worked as a tractor driver at a farming cooperative. It was privatized and everybody lost their job. We don’t have any money and we don’t get anything from the government either.

Mohnkhor has been living in Ulan Bator with his seven children for three years. His wife sells vegetables at the market. That is their only income. Families like this one look for their fortune in the city, but are losing more and more ground.

The U.N. Development Programme supports projects for nomads who know their way around the bureaucracy.

Seema Tikare
UNDP Program Manager
We support programs that the government simply cannot afford. For example, if somebody needs a credit to open a store or a sewing cooperative, then we can help. The government simply has no money to help the poor and needy.

Life is ruled by hunger and unemployment here. The children are often those who suffer most and run away.

In all the places where tourists go, the street children can also be found.

Mungumshagai, 14 years old
I ran away from home because we always fought. My mother sells vegetables at the market. Once in a while, I see her.
But I don’t want to go back.

All these children lived on the street. The police took them in and are now trying to find out their identity and where their parents live. Since the collapse of the Soviet system, which was governed by central planning, violence within families has increased.

Cakes are handed out, thanks to our visit. The children are not used to such treatment. The youngest of them is not even one year old. She was found on the street with her 8-year-old sister. The city authorities would prefer prohibiting nomad families from settling with their jurts. But many can also not survive in the countryside.

Shaafai Naran
Welfare Director – Ulan Bator
The immigration to the cities has social consequences. The jurt settlements keep getting bigger. They don’t have any drinking water, the sanitary conditions are catastrophic. Apartments have to be built, but the financing needed is missing for that.

A project that is receiving support from abroad and within Mongolia is the construction and renovation of the temples. Religion in Mongolia fell prey to the socialist revolutionary movement. In the late 1930s, the religious cleansing campaign culminated: temples were destroyed, monks were commonly jailed and murdered. Now, the old lamas are returning to the temples.

35:43
Soundbite
Dorjsuren
Buddist Lama
I was still young, wenn the lamas simply dissapeared. After that, my parents hid their gods and everything was done secretely. But we always believed in our religion, even though it was forbidden.

Dashjamz
Buddist Lama
Since the 1990 turning point, always more people are coming to ask us to pray to the gods for them. Eveybody here has problems that need to be solved.


And since 1990, families with young sons are again sending them to get a buddist education. Prior to the socialist revolution, 100,000 lamas were studying. In 1921, there were an estimated 700 monasteries in the northern part of Mongolia alone.

Throughout the country, one can find the Owoo, the dwellings of the divinities and spirits. Even the tourist circle the holy sites three times to receive the divinities’ clemency.

The legendary former world empire with its almost untouched nature is worth a trip for many.

Non-governmental organizations take care of nature conservation – including the German GTZ. Hanz Hoffman is their project manager. He has traveled throughout Mongolia for the last four years. The infrastructure still needs work. Per law, 30 percent of the land should be protected.

Hans Hoffmann
GTZ – Project manager
Right now, we have protected 13 to 15 percent, but a large part is only protected on paper. We are also helping with the conservation setup and maintenance and to protect 30 percent would simply be too much. In my opinion, Mongolia cannot afford that.

The nomadic lifestyle does attract tourist. But the everyday life for nomads is not especially romantic. Water is collected from the river. Sanitary facilities don’t exist and winters at minus 35 degrees are not for everybody.

Horses, camels and oxen are the transportation means of the steppe.

Juliane, a student from Berlin, is a guest of the nomads, along with a GTZ staff member. They still have to take down the guest jurt that was leased out to them by the Mongols for 5 Euros per day, including meals. 80 percent of the receipts go to the nature park’s administration, the rest to the 20 families. They are the poorest in the region and don’t have enough cattle to survive. They were the ones chosen for the tourism program.

The jurt isn’t really a tent. It has its own architecture. Wooden grids and rods are connected for the roof and encased with felt mats for insulation.

What is so special about being with the nomads?

Juliane Flurschütz
Student
When you are traveling with only a tent, you are all alone, you look at nature; but when you are with a jurt, you get to know the life, you realize how people have to live with nature here to survive.

A jurt can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms. A cart pulled by oxen or 3 to 4 camels are usually sufficient to transport it.

Tourists – such as these from Korea – can participate in the nomads’ daily life or help with the erection of the jurt. The roof is held up by two stilts. The living space averages between 20 and 30 square meters. The southern part, which faces the sunlight, is always the entrance.

For the nomads, it is not always easy to have guests.

Möngönzezeg
Of course we had to get used to the foreigners. We also cannot really talk to them. We only speak Mongolian. But it helps us financially. We are just nice to them and laugh a lot.

Mönchtuya
I went to school in the city, but I didn’t like it. I like to ride and want to live in the steppe and become a rancher.

The two sisters want to go to the city and study later on. But as long as the 17-year-old girl prefers the independence and expanse of nature to city life, so long the nomads will survive. She cares for the tourist who want to go for a ride.

For non-Mongols, the wooden saddle takes some getting used to.

The horse means everything to Mongols. Praise hyms are sung about the animals. The land has a magical effect on those who live here.

Hans Hoffmann
GTZ Project manager
I think we have brought our help to Mongolia at the right point in time. We have found something that is worthy of protection, that is globally important and that doesn’t have to be constructed artificially. The friendliness of the people, the environment, the winters at -30, -40 degrees, they are fascinating. It really is a fantastic country with very endearing people.

Thanks to the visitors, families can continue to live their nomadic lives. But corruption and favouritism have to be eliminated – as in many other countries after the collapse of the socialist system. A fresh political wind could be carrying new hope for Mongolia.
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