 Mongolia |
 |
 May 2011 |
|
 Ikh Nart Nature Reserve Research |
|
 Dr. Richard Reading |
May 7, 2011
First day in Mongolia! Arrived last night and found out that there is no diesel to be found in any of the filling stations in town! The team runs around to find fuel for our upcoming trip to the research station.
I keep most of my clothing and much of field gear in storage, so I retrieve that and pack up for the trip. I meet with several members of the team. It was great to see old friends and students.
May 8, 2011
I had more meetings during the day. In the evening, we meet the Earthwatch team for dinner. We have 4 Aussies and 2 Americans. Seems like a great group!
The team finds diesel, so we are set for our trip!
May 9, 2011
I was up early for some exercise before meeting the team and grabbing the local train to Shivee-Gobi, our jumping off spot for our trip to Ikh Nart Nature Reserve. I gave an overview presentation of our work to the volunteers, read, napped, and played cards on the ride down. We saw herds of gazelle, cranes, and nesting raptors on the slow train ride south into the Gobi.
We saw more gazelle on the drive into camp. Camp is great, settled in our small valley, with beautiful rocky outcrops surrounding us. On this trip we have 10 gers (yurts – large, round tents) set up, but one is for an injured vulture we are housing while we wait for a permit to transport it to a zoo in Jerusalem, Europe, or the States. We also have 2 shipping containers to store our equipment and motorcycles. Behind one is a small stone building sitting on top of a root cellar and housing our fuse box connected to an array of solar panels and a wind mill. We also have a 2 stall wooden outhouse and a shower room with attached changing room.
I took a walk to go birding (migration is on) and looked at argali and ibex and saw two beautiful, big rams, which I got some decent photos of! The day was topped off by a great dinner with our new cook.
