A quick run to Inner Mongolia, China.

 

Bidding farewell to my apartment (view from balcony above) today and heading north to Lake Khovsgol for the summer

Last from the Mazaalai trip

Our last stop before entering; Bayan Toroi.

Chansan gedes (boiled insides)

Late night at central camp

chansan Tolgoi (boiled head)

An Argali skull decorating a shaman Ovoo (Cairn)

Ruins from an abandoned border station said to be the location of a massacre of Mongolians at the hands of Kazakh marauders. Above: Erdene peering through the rubble at unidentified bones.

With an estimated 23 gobi bears left subsiding off a harsh landscape under threat of human expansion, these animals are living on the brink. Their isolation and the dedication of a few scientists may be there greatest hope.

Safely tranquilized

Sleeping Mazaalai

Gobi Strictly protected area A

The Gobi Strictly Protected Area A is a huge area of land (~16,000 sq mi) only accessible under direct permission by the Mongolian Ministry of Environment to a small number of researchers and journalists every year in an effort to protect the fragile landscape and endangered animals. Although incredibly harsh with temperatures in a given year from 120 to negative 40, the area supports an impressive variety of plant and animal life in diverse array of landscapes ranging from harsh mountains, vast empty deserts, and marsh like oases.

Note the bear in the bottom right

The above succulent is used as a traditional liver medicine

One of the few plants the bear is able to sustain itself off of as evidenced by traces found in scat elsewhere

Joe scouting for bears

Mazalai (Gobi bear)

I received a call from Harry Reynolds of the Gobi Bear Project and within 18 hours was on a Russian van headed for the Gobi Strictly Protected Area A to start a water monitoring program there. Below is an introduction to the crew.

 

 Harry Reynolds holding the jab stick

 Photographer Joe during a blizzard on our way south

 Writer Douglas

 Bat Biologist  Cori Lausen

 Cook Gerlee

 Odko of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences using genetics to, among other things, determine if the Gobi bear is a new species.

 Bear Biologist Michael Proctor

 Driver Bat

 Driver Erdene

 Ranger

 Ranger Pujee

Bike ride to Terelj

Picked up a bike which I have dubbed Ganbaater (Monoglian for Steel Hero)!

I planned to stay the night in my tent but ended up being invited to stay in a ger which was being put up by some herders who didn't plan to use it for the night.