Into the Far West - the Edge of Mongolia

Feb 20, 2011
John Brundall

Potanii Glacier near the Mongolia-China-Russia border - John Brundall

The article will give you an idea of what the far west of Mongolia is like if you were to visit it. It will focus on the landscape and the Kazakh people.

The far west of Mongolia is known as "the edge of Mongolia". Some think it is the "the edge of the Earth". Certainly it is a different and unique part of the nation. Even getting there is an adventure in itself. Don't try and go by vehicle - it will take close to five days, one way. A better option is to fly from Ulaanbaatar to Olgiy, the capital of Byan Olgiy Province. It is a town of 30,000 people and a good starting and ending place for a tour.

Olgiy and nearby valleys

The town is set in a dry valley with very dry, barren and rocky ridges and hills in the surrounds. The colors strike you: gray, red, purple, blue and green. Folds in the rock layers stand out prominently. Everything about the town suggests a dry, central Asian locality: signs in Arabic, flat-topped dwellings and adobe mud walls. It is a good place to stock up on food, water and petrol, and to get the necessary national park and border permits sorted and stamped.

Travelling along 4WD tracks, up over saddles and into yet another valley, a picture of the landscape emerges. Water is the key. Where there is a stream, the grass is green. Nomadic herders camping on the flats. The grassy meadows with wild flowers are ideal for their livestock to get some weight back on after the lean winter and early spring. The families here are Kazakhs, originally coming from Xinjiang (China) in the 1840s and then more recently from Kazakhstan.

Progress is slow as many of the rivers are too high to ford, but eventually you will enter the national park.

Hoton Nuur Valley

After a long day the Hoton Nuur (lake) comes into view and the 4WD track drops down to the lakeside edge. While the drive north next day beside the lake is slow, time consuming and frustrating at times, the views are stunning. At first the mountains look like those in Norway, rounded with steep bluffs; farther up the valley they look like the Southern Alps in New Zealand with rugged outlines, rocky slopes and alluvial fans below. In places tilted strata show evidence of mountain building processes. Erratics (large boulders of different rock type transported down valley by glaciers) litter the valley floor. In summer snow is still in the high basins, in shady pockets and even on the valley floor. The farthest up the valley you can really go in a vehicle is a small camping and cabin site next to some hot (really lukewarm) springs.

The valley is teeming with pikas (related to rabbits but looking like a very fast guinea pig with a tail), horses, cattle, goats, sheep and herding families.

Tsengel and nearby valleys

After backtracking for some hours, the 4WD track will take you down the Hovd Valley to Tsengel. This small town is notable for a very large, water-filled pot hole that will nearly "drown" your vehicle as it enters, and for the site of Louisa Waugh's stay as a teacher some years ago (wonderfully written up in her classic Mongolian story: Hearing Birds Fly).

Beyond Ulaanhus

Soon amongst the multiple 4WD tracks you can see the small township of Ulaanhus in the distance. Crossing the Hovd River you turn northwest, heading for the border of Mongolia with China and Russia. Bouncing along the dry pediments extending at low angles from the hills, up over saddles and down again you will get to a Border Station, where your permits and passports will be checked.

On the way marmots come and go. They are beaver-looking, orange-brown animals that live in the dry grassland and disappear down holes, chattering about imminent threats. They stand out on the valley floors; any self-respecting, eagle-eyed eagle could spot them from miles away.

After a lot of re-checking with locals about the correct route given the recent weather conditions, you will reach the track-end and a collection of yurts. (A yurt is like a big ger - a felt-lined circular tent - only bigger. The roof is higher and more curved. Exquisitely made mats are used as wall hangings inside.)

In preparation for your day venture into the real edge of Mongolia, you need to wrap up warmly. Snow, hail and cold winters can occur, even in summer. And on a horse you don't exercise your legs and arms. The mountain and glacier views are amazing, all set under a typically brilliantly blue sky. Mongolia's highest mountain (Huiten at 4374m) is here, along with other fine peaks. It really is the edge of Mongolia.

The Kazakhs

Life in the Kazakh camps seems idyllic - at least in summer. They eat well (mutton and noodles rather than fruit and vegetables), sing mightily, talk easily amongst themselves, treat their children kindly and take their religion rather casually.