The mountain wind whips our faces, we can barely hear our own voices as the silhouettes of people next to me push a UAZ minibus out of the snow with all their might. It's day 4 of our Mongolia trip with Steppenstrolch, and although Malte and Lennart made it clear to me beforehand that this would be anything but a package tour, this scene is still very unexpected. Our convoy of cars, which we drove today to this mountain pass in the southern Altai Mountains, is stuck deep in the snow. Two hours ago, we were driving through a river valley that looked like something out of Lord of the Rings, but now the surroundings resemble a TV test screen.
In the midst of a snowstorm, our drivers Namba and Saikhnaa followed a nomad who, with his dogs and hay bales on his pickup truck, was heading in the same direction as us: Gobi B National Park. But now our three cars are partially stuck. And it's getting darker and darker. First the nomad's pickup truck gets stuck, then our minibus. The experienced drivers attach a tow rope to the remaining car and pull themselves out of the snowstorm. But the third car also gets stuck 500 meters further on. Breakdown number 2 at -12°C. The order is: everyone out and push! It's getting dark, colder, and the engines are slowly starting to cause problems.
Why did I agree to go on this trip again?
From Marburg to Ulaanbaatar
It all started for me in 2023, when friends of mine organized a steppenstrolch Christmas market stall in Marburg. A year later, in the wooden hut, I ask Lennart if it would be possible to come to Mongolia. As part of my thesis in geography, it would be a good idea to write a research paper on the supply chain and production of cozy yak wool socks and camel hair products. Lennart laughs and simply says, "Sure, we're planning a trip next spring. You're welcome to come along."
12 weeks later: MIAT Mongolian Airlines plane touches down at 4:45 a.m. local time in Ulaanbaatar, where it's a crisp -13°C. The plan for me is to interview nomads and producers as we travel together through the local supply chain and then compile my findings in a visit report. Oh, and that I will also write my final thesis for my teaching degree based on this. Outside the airport, Saikhnaa is already waiting for us with his dark green UAZ minibus, and we head straight for the center of the Mongolian capital. Ulaanbaatar has some of the worst air quality in the world. The four lignite-fired power plants that supply the city with energy, as well as the yurt districts on the slopes of the mountains around Ulaanbaatar, give the red hero a constant smog dome. We explore the market halls, restaurants, bars, the government palace, and the streets, which clearly reveal the socialist past of a country that is undergoing a remarkable modernization process. Just outside this colorful hustle and bustle, on the outskirts of the city, is the production facility for our products, where a meeting among friends is scheduled for day 3. The visit to our producers is fantastic and deserves its own blog article (coming soon...).
Outback on search for Yaks
After packed days full of information in UB, we finally set off early in the morning with our drivers into the Mongolian steppe. The 11-hour journey flies by thanks to the unique landscape, an excellent break with Mongolian cuisine, and our first encounter with a herd of yaks. We all agree – iconic! At the same time, we Mongolia newbies are blown away by the world-famous yurts, the freely grazing goats, sheep, and yaks, and the hospitality of our hosts! After a few vodkas, countless buuz (local minced meat dumplings), and Modern Talking hits, we head to our sleeping yurt in high spirits. We spend the next day hiking, riding motorcycles, and riding wild horses. Among guard dogs, yak herds, and locals who live in a simple and sustainable way and tell us enthusiastically about their country and their lives.
A few thousand kilometers pass, followed by a night of partying at our favorite karaoke bar, before we climb into our packed cars on the morning of day 4. Lennart and the drivers stand together. Everyone is looking at a cell phone and discussing the weather forecast. It's supposed to be cold with precipitation, aka lots of snow. Everything starts off very normally and we drive past herds of goats and sheep through the steppe, which also like to wander onto the road. Around 11 a.m., we see the first herd of camels and the photo team's lenses start flashing. The fact that herds of camels are now considered normal is absurd. After a lunch break in a school cafeteria in a small village (Bugat), we have to cross part of the Altai high mountains to reach our destination for the day. After reaching the first mountain pass, we are faced with a descent into a V-shaped valley that a river has carved into the mountain over thousands of years. It is the most impressive backdrop I have ever seen in my entire life, and geologically simply fascinating! Now, however, it is getting noticeably darker at a rapid pace. And then the snow chaos begins.
We shovel ourselves free
With two shovels and 20 hands, we dig the car out and are back on track after 20 minutes. Several rescue operations and an engine failure later, we decide to wait out the snowstorm and wait an hour for the ranger who will meet us at Gobi B. Lennart sums it up well in his two videos from that day. As long as the nomads remain calm, the tank is full, and our drivers keep their cool, there is no reason to panic. In the dark, we are found and guided out of the mountains and into the national park. We resume our journey, visibility improves, and we quickly descend. We arrive in a remote area of the Gobi Desert. I'll tell you what there is to see in the national park and at the nomad collective we visit in the following days in the next part.
You can watch Lennart's videos from these days here:
