We set off on a journey in a Furgon (a Russian made 4wd van) to look for Mongolian gazelles (Procapra gutturosa). The animals were said to be wintering in the grasslands north-east of the Khenteyn Nuruu (Khenteyn mountains) and Ereeniy Nuruu, Mongolia, about 60 km from the Russian border. It took two days of driving from the capital (Ulaanbaatar) to get to the area, mostly on dirt roads (about 500 km distance in total with about 250 km on dirt roads). The going was slow as the dirt roads are not really roads, at least not all the time. The definition of roads in Mongolia is a rather fluid one; they are often wide zones (sometimes hundreds of meters wide) where people usually travel and they consist of parallel and braided two tracks on open grasslands. The zone with the multiple two tracks gets wider and wider over time as people avoid deep snow, mud, or deeply rutted tracks. There are no road signs and there are many two tracks that veer off, perhaps to gers (yurts) of nomads somewhere else in the valley or mountains. Other two tracks may join the ones you are following a little further up the valley. Orientation is mostly done based on landscape features such as valleys and mountain ridges. You really need an experienced driver with good local knowledge or a GPS with a pre-loaded route and a healthy supply of batteries to find your way in this vast landscape. Click here for other images from Mongolia.

Dirt road and vehicle in winter near Omnodelger, Khentii, Mongolia

Image below: Car on dirt road (parallel two tracks) just north of Khustain Nuruu National Park, Mongolia

Car on dirt road (parallel two tracks) just north of Khustain Nuruu National Park, Mongolia Image below: Parallel dirt roads, near Shiveegovi, Govisümber, Mongolia

Parallel dirt roads, near Shiveegovi, Govisümber, Mongolia

Like Marcel Huijser Photography on Facebook

All content © 2013 Marcel Huijser