Mongolia - Vast Steppes & Nomadic Cultures
Mongolia’s vast landscapes, rugged mountains, beautiful deserts, and nomadic people have long been on my list for exploration
Mongolia’s vast landscapes, rugged mountains, beautiful deserts, and nomadic people have long been on my list for exploration (although that list is long, frankly). In August 2023 that opportunity came when I spent a couple of months in Asia and there was an open slot on Daniel Kordan’s Mongolia tour. I rarely go on guided group photography tours during my travels, as I often find them limiting in flexibility and scope, but the dates fit, and this tour definitely had some great aspects to it that are more difficult to achieve solo. In addition, it was led by my good friend from Dubai, Andy Marty, and also allowed me to fit in a short stopover in Beijing.
Mongolian Moments - Watch this to get an Overview
We continued our way onwards to the south and further west, with the final destination being the sand dunes of the Gobi desert, getting ever closer to the borders with China, one of Mongolia’s two mighty neighbors - the other being Russia in the north. Together, they make it the world’s largest landlocked country. As we approached our camp for the night, we got the chance to stop for a beautiful sunset…
… which quickly turned into a heavy storm, with rainclouds approaching in the distance.
As we arrived at our “hotel” for the night - one of the many ger (a traditional yurt-like tent still commonly used by the locals) camps that are dotted around the landscape, the rain clouds turned into thunder and lightning. Of course I couldn’t resist, threw the luggage into the ger, and set up the camera before the rain arrived. Using Olympus’ amazing Pro Capture feature makes catching lighting relatively easy in many situations, without having to set up triggers or even a tripod - these were handheld at 1/5s exposure!
The Gobi Desert - Dunes for Days
The endless shapes and flowing patterns of these dunes make for countless compositions and different abstract motives, especially as the light slowly illuminates their sharp edges.
As the sun set and darkness creeped in, we had a short window to capture the Milky Way over the dunes before the moon rose.
As we left the dunes of the Gobi Desert, our route back to Ulaanbaatar had another stop in the plan, which was not only interesting to me from a photographic point of view, but also due to its geological and archeological history 🦖.
After a small break at a local well in the steppe of the desert, where the nomadic families raise drinking water for their horses and camels, we arrived at the so-called Flaming Cliffs: A geological locality from the Cretaceous period, deriving its name from the red glow the rock formations exhibit, especially during sunset - luckily the time when we were there.
Beyond their obvious beauty, this area is where some of the most significant fossil artifacts in the world were discovered: The very first finds of several dinosaur species, as well as the first-ever fossilized dinosaur nest, including the matching Oviraptor eggs. Another incredible paleontological find includes a pair of fighting dinosaurs, now immortalized as a statue on the small museum built on the site.
It meant the night before our final drive to the capital was short (very short), but we got some fun images to take away.
The Bayan-Ölgii Province - Home of the Eagle Hunters
After a night in Ulaanbaatar, the next destination was the very western region of Mongolia close to Kazakhstan (although the two countries do not share a border): a two hour flight brought us to the province of Bayan-Ölgii. The reason? To spend time with the infamous Eagle Hunters of the local nomadic tribes that once settled here after leaving the east of Kazakhstan for political reasons. Even today, the vast majority of the population is Kazakh, Mongolian is not the primary language, and Islam is strongly represented here.
The outskirts of Ölgii feature a common sight in Mongolia, very different from traditional city structures: small houses with gerts owned (and sometimes occupied) by the local families, dotted in the yards. Even today, 30% of the population falls under the “nomadic” category, regularly and seasonally moving between locations.
Our primary purpose here was found a little bit outside the city, in the endless hilly landscapes of the area, where nomadic people live with their animal herds - and in some cases, with their eagles.
For the last 25 years, a festival takes place every year in October, where participants show off their skills and get judged on agility, speed, accuracy, and also style and dresses. While this has created a new income stream for the local population, especially after media coverage over the last 10 years, it is said that over the years the eagles utilized for the festival have been raised, trained, and kept differently than the ones actually used for real hunting in the winter, for example by ensuring they are accustomed to crowds. Even among the human component of the equation, the emergence of the festival and its associated tourism industry has changed the perception and purpose of eagle hunting, reducing the focus on its original purpose in exchange for winning competitions and gaining recognition.
While the practice of eagle hunting is male-dominated, women can be found among the Eagle Hunters, and kids start learning to ride horses and care and interact with the large birds (their wingspan reaches 2 meters) at a very young age, albeit often beginning their journey with a falcon instead. Daiynbek Ay Moldir is one of the most famous Eagle Hunters of her generation, having won prizes at just 13 years old - and she definitely has the skill (and humor) of a champion.
We had plenty of opportunities to observe the Eagle Hunters in action, skillfully managing both horse and eagle in a coordinated union.
Before making our way back, the opportunity to once more capture some Milky Way photos in the dark skies of the small city’s outskirts could not be missed.
Impressions from Ulaanbaatar
The capital is also by far the largest city in the country. With 1.6m inhabitants, over half of the population lives here. It’s a relatively modern and clean city with a mix of traditional vibes, paired with modern architecture, and remnants of soviet influences.
While August is quite an enjoyable time to visit Ulaanbaatar - or most of the country for that matter - it does hold the title of the coldest capital in the world, with temperatures regularly dropping to 40C below 0 in the winter months.
While I didn’t explore much of the city, I did want to visit the Natural History Museum of Mongolia and get a few more glimpses at its paleontological treasures, of which there are quite a few, including the fossilized dinosaur eggs and many well preserved skeletons. Unfortunately the museum itself doesn’t have a lot of English descriptions and background information.
And that was the end of my time in Mongolia - but it’s another country that has so much to offer (and much of it unexplored) that I definitely want to see more: finding snow leopards, experiencing the gobi desert covered in snow, exploring more amazing geological features, and witnessing the nomadic culture are all reasons to come back.
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Tanzania - National Parks and the Origins of Humanity
After visiting Zanzibar back in 2016, it was time to add mainland Tanzania to the travel itinerary.
After visiting Zanzibar back in 2016, it was time to add mainland Tanzania to the travel itinerary. Despite visiting Lake Natron and four National Parks as well as some of the country’s most important sites of human history, I still feel there’s a lot left to explore, particularly the lesser known southern parts. Read on for what I did manage to see, which includes incredible landscapes, amazing wildlife sightings from the ground and the air, and some of the most significant places in the development of our species.
The trip started at Kilimanjaro airport, landing with the backdrop of Africa’s tallest mountain around sunrise - as it happens though, the peak is better photographed from the Kenyan side. As they say, you go to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro (which I didn’t) and to Kenya to photograph it (which I did). More on that in another blog post…
Kikuletwa Springs
Hence, the first photos I took were of a little unknown gem east of Kilimanjaro: Kikuletwa Springs, a small hot spring which on the morning I visited was luckily also completely empty, resulting in the calm, clear, colorful waters you see below.
Take a look under water and see what I found…
Lake Natron & The Mountain of God
A 6h drive through mostly bumpy dirt roads brought us to Lake Natron by the late afternoon, where I spent 2 days. The area is full of incredible natural wonders to explore, which I did with my great guide Mohammad, and a local Maasai called Mwenga, who was incredibly helpful, knowledgeable and friendly - and became a model for some of my photographs in the process.
The area is also home to the beautiful Ngaresero Waterfalls - a small hike through the canyon rewards you with these views and an optional very wet exploration of a small cave under the waterfall.
Flamingo Lake with Special Features
The lake is the only regular breeding area in East Africa for the 2.5 million lesser flamingoes, and also home to Greater Flamingo and many other bird species such as Pelicans. Its high salt content and temperatures up to 60C make it inhospitable for many other animals, including predators, but supports the development of organisms these birds feed on. These organisms are also responsible for the lake’s reddish hues, best seen from space. Despite the lake’s massive size (a maximum of 57 kilometres x 22 kilometres), it is only up to 3m deep.
Human Traces
Tanzania’s Wildlife Parks
Arusha was the starting point for the second part of my Tanzania trip, a wildlife photography journey with Andrew Goddard, organized by Guiding the Wild. We started the trip through the country’s parks in the north with Tarangire, followed by Lake Manyara and its national park, and the Ngorongoro crater and region, as well as the Serengeti.
Tarangire
An afternoon game drive in the park.
Lake Manyara
A walk on the lake followed by a visit to the thick rainforest of the Lake Manyara National Park, both together a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Ngorongoro Conservation Area and its Crater
The highlands and their famous volcano, with the world's largest inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic caldera, were our next destination - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
In the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, we encountered this Cheetah mother and her two cubs with a fresh kill near the Ndutu lake. One of the cubs happened to look for some shade under our vehicle for a while, with barely its tail sticking out beside the tire. The mother had a GPS tracker for ongoing research, due to the declining population in the area.
The Seat of Humanity
The Ngornogoro region is also home to Tanzania’s most treasured prehistoric sites, which played an essential role in understanding human evolution. I took some detours from the standard route to reach two such places.
The Serengeti from the Ground - and from Above
A collection of wildlife images from what is maybe the most famous National Park in Africa, covering almost 15,000 sqkm - it is aptly named after the Maasai word siringet, meaning "the place where the land runs on forever".
While the Serengeti is impressive from the ground, an aerial view of its vast savannah and many animal herds take things to another level. After a - literally - bumpy start, we had a great balloon flight with Miracle Experience Balloon Safaris.
The Great Migration
Why we came to the Serengeti: The world’s longest animal migration, with 1.5 million wildebeest and 250,000 zebras following the rains in an 800km circular route every year. We caught it in full swing, with the largest herd we saw approaching 300,000 wildebeest according to our guides - it was an incredible sight difficult to capture in pictures.
My journey wasn’t as long and dangerous - hopefully still enjoyable to follow along.
Sharjah Light Festival
Organised by the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, the Sharjah light festival illuminates 19 locations across the emirates with light shows accompanied by music and other activities, telling stories and bringing together the community. On the last day of the festival, I ventured out to a few of the locations to capture some of the artistic vision.
Organised by the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority, the Sharjah light festival illuminates 19 locations across the emirate with light shows accompanied by music and other activities, telling stories and bringing together the community. On the last day of the festival, I ventured out to a few of the locations to capture some of the artistic vision.