THE TSAATAN REINDEER HERDERS

I have done some crazy trips, but I believe this one beats them all.  If you think Mongolia in Summer is an adventure and tough, try winter… it is 10x tougher ! We were unfortunate enough to experience an arctic cold front, temperatures dropped to -50°C.  We were in Northern Mongolia, but that is level with South Siberia, temperatures accordingly, so nothing for the old, weak and faint-hearted.  But I was ready for an adventure, and dressed up for a polar expedition with 5 layers of clothing. Just the bloody gloves, you have to take them off to properly handle your camera, (those zip things don’t really work) and then you freeze your fingers off. Believe it or not, the locals didn’t wear gloves at -30°C or warmer, boy oh boy…. 

We were there to photograph the Tsaatan people also known as the Dukha. A nomadic tribe living deep within the taiga of northern Mongolia. They are among the very few remaining nomadic reindeer herding communities in the world. Today only approximately 400 Tsaatan individuals, about 70 to 80 families, live in small, tightly knit groups, entirely dependent on their reindeer herds for survival. The reindeer serve as means of transportation, are used for hunting, collecting firewood, seasonal migration and visiting relatives. They use the meat, the very nutricious milk and the skins for cover, clothing and boots.

The millennia old traditions today stand at a fragile crossroads. Without careful balance between cultural preservation, environmental protection and modern realities, one of the world’s last reindeer herding cultures risks fading into history.

Day 1

As I arrive in Ulan Batar the temperature is -27°C. The taxi’s windscreen is frozen from top to bottom, you can hardly see through. Even with the fan on super hot, only the bottom 20cm open up, just enough to see where we are going, luckily there is little traffic at this early hour. Welcome to Mongolia in winter !

Sightseeing in the capital city. We go to Migjid Janraisig Datsan. A Buddha Temple complex, the oldest in town. Took us 75 min for 12km, traffic is an everlasting problem here. This was actually quite fast, in rush hour it takes much longer. Amazing such a culture clash, shiny modern buildings downtown, but in between there are lots of temples. This one is the biggest one, plus there are a lot of smaller buildings surrounding it. In the main building there is a big golden buddha of 25m high, surrounded by prayer bells and all the walls are lined with dozens of little buddhas.

Day 2

We fly to Murun in the north, I have to pay 11’000 Tugrik, which is about 2 CHF for my bags 2 kilo’s overweight, that’s bearable. Flight takes 70min, and all goes well but by the time we land in Murun all the snow is gone, bugger. At least it has „warmed considerably“ and is only -22°C. 

We get picked up by Esee, the camp owner of the Tultiin Tokhoi Camp and are driven to camp. All Mongolian highway as he says, to us it is off road, but very much okay. We get a wooden hut, they are warmer than the gers, which is very fine with us. After a lovely lunch: soup and then salad and their beef patties called Khuushuur, we get dressed for the cold and head out to the petroglyphs, a heap of rocks a local farmers stumbled upon when herding his cattle. He sat down to rest and found the drawings on the rock beside him. Some of them are actually quite clear, cool ! We are the first guests he is taking here, and only camp guests get to see them ! The petroglyphs are nice but the views down the valley are even more amazing, so beautiful ! 

From there on to the Uushigiin Deer Stones, a form of rock art, often associated with ritual sites, widespread throughout northern Mongolia. It is a collection of stone pillars with deer motives on them dating back to 500 to 800BC.  Two or three are really amazing, the deer drawings are totally clear in a reddish and beige color, and in the setting sunlight it does look special. My clothing for the extreme cold has just passed the first test, I wasn’t cold for one second, okay with 3 layers of clothing and my ice fighter boots it just had to work, but now I know for sure. 

Day 3

This was probably the coldest night I ever experienced. At some point I got myself a second duvet from the other bed, tucked in until over my head and somehow fell asleep. Around midnight the young guy came and re-lit the stove, which unfortunately had died down. Nice ! It is absolutely freezing in the room, when I breathe out I see big clouds of steam, and the water in the bottle beside my bed now has ice chunks in it. We learn later that happens at -5°to -10°C, it would have been totally frozen below -10°C, which it almost was…. But still, I slept quite well deep down under the covers. 

Breakfast is fine and the camel guy is ready. So lets go. It is so cold the snot freezes in your nose the moment you step outside. Welcome to another freezing morning at -35°C. Unfortunately it snowed a bit last night so the cracks in the ice were no longer visible. We tried camel shots with the very feeble sunrise in the background, then side-lit closer shots, which I liked best. Now lets finally move north to the reindeer people, can’t wait ! 

Ahead lie 180 km until we reach Ulaan Uul (also named Tugul). The first 60km are a tarred road, which is horribly bad, but nothing compared to what came after that, the „Mongolian Highway“. This means a dirt track leading into nothing, either take it or drive anywhere beside it, the choice is yours, just stick to the general direction.

The ride is bad but the views are amazing, we drive along and in a frozen river, cross passes where at the top we see funny blue tipi, covered in all sorts of colorful threads and stuff, they are religious signs for well-wishing and are called Ovoo. First just one, but shortly before we reach our goal a whole load of them. This spot is called Uliin Khalzan Davaa. It is the threshold  to the Darkhan Valley also called Darkhan depression but that is a depressing name for such a beautiful place, valley sounds much better.  The sun is setting, but a few rays still peep through. We have in the meantime reached a new temperature record of -38°C and it is unbelievably cold, my fingers, even in gloves, almost freeze off, I keep having to put the big mittens over them, without those you last 30 seconds at most. So pick what you want to shoot, quickly get your hand out, shoot and back into the mittens ! There are 12 tipi, according to the lunar cycle. I was born in the year of the sheep, the sign is a sheep with big curly horns, well I quite like that. 

Finally we reach the quite large town of Tugul where we have rooms booked at the Tugul Hotel, the best spot in town, and it has central heating, thank god. It is not nearly as cold here as it was yesterday in the hut, but the outside temperature is now down to below -40°C, sorry that is the lowest the car shows, when temperatures gets lower the temperature gauge just blinks. It is probably colder.

Day 4

It is -40°C and at some point the temperature gauge in the car blinks again, it is below -40°C once more. We drive about 45min to get to reindeer family. A tipi is set up at the edge of an escarpment, below us flows the Duut Bulag river, warm springs below it or otherwise it would be frozen stiff. The trees around it are frozen, mist between them, wow, such a lovely landscape, but we stay on top. There is a big mountain range in the background, the biggest one is called Bayan Uul, and we have the Tsaatan reindeer herders to pose with 5 reindeer and the tipi, which is their normal way of housing. They soon light up the stove inside and smoke flows from the hole in the top. 

It is cool, well extremely cold to be exact, my eyelashes freeze together and at times I have to blink fast to get my eye open again, especially the left one which I close when looking through the viewfinder with my right eye. The little family poses like pro’s, go right, go left, just the couple, just her, just him, it is fun but we are all getting really cold so after an hour it is the end of the shoot. They must be cold as well just sitting and standing there, the guy doesn’t even have gloves on to start with, incredible. 

We drive for about 45min through endless white worlds with huge snowcapped mountain ranges in the distance. The road is extremely bumpy, it is not far but mostly we can only do 20km/h, except for the part where we drive over the frozen White Lake, nice and flat and like a highway. We are now officially „little ice road truckers“. We reach the town of White Lake or Tsaagaanur around 13:00 and go for lunch at a private house, first we get a really tasty noodle soup, then steamed dumplings filled with horse meat, best meal yet on this tour. 

Now the fun starts, we are going to the reindeer festival of the West Taiga people. Just follow all the cars going that way, easy. It is quite far outside town and in the middle of a forest. The space where we park is a very unorganized chaos, so we jump out and head towards the festival, let the drivers take care of the parking. Hope we will be able to get out once we leave ! We follow the crowd to an open space, on the right are the gers, on the left the tipi, people all over, there are a few stands which sell poncho, hats, bags knives, spices, herbs, you name it, it’s there. This is the see and be seen event for the reindeer people. 

There are different competitions, the best dog, best loaded oxen, best dressed couple, best reindeer. It is hard to get a good photo, just to busy, but the whole thing is such a very cool, cultural, new and different experience, I love it. Also there are tons of cute kiddies, all wrapped up, but always smiling and when you ask them to pose they stand in line like a military parade, so funny. At the end there is even a reindeer race, about 20 kids ride the reindeer and we all cheer them on at the finish line, and of course take photos of all the action. Just love this kind of thing, even if it is hard to get in a really good photo, too colorful and full, and very busy messy backgrounds. I am hot from all the running around, must be getting used to the cold. Here in cover of the forest it is only -27°C or so, easy. 

As we leave our driver Esee points, look horses. They all love horses here in Mongolia, I believe there are more horses than people in this country ! The horses flanks are white, their sweat instantly freezes giving them a very special icy look. They wave and put up a show for us, so cool.

Day 5

Good morning to another lovely cloudless morning and a temperature which doesn’t show, so well under -40°C. We drive about 45min to the town of Renchinlhumbe, just behind it is the river that never freezes (okay not until it gets below -60°C) which is called Jargant, our lodge is named after it. The trees behind the river sure do freeze with all the mist rising from the river. They look astonishing, deep frozen in white, every branch and needle visible. The river as the one we saw yesterday, starts from hot springs that is why it doesn’t freeze. We were wondering how, since the lake we drove on has ice of 1.5m thick. 

This is the winter tourist hotspot and soon Korean and Mongolian tourist swarm the place, we are the hit with our reindeer, lucky them, they get an extra cool photo thanks to us. We get super sensational photos even though the fog is creeping in more and more. It gets so bad we can’t see the trees anymore, we have to stop, so we warm up in the car and get a nice hot cup of tea. After that, with more light and a temperate of only -38°C we get more great shots, it is so unbelievably beautiful here. 

When all are frozen through we head back home for a good lunch of mashed potato and a sort of hamburger and veggies, very tasty. All to soon we have to leave our lovely warm cabin and head out into the cold again, well it still shows -40°C, so that’s okay. We leave for the same river. Now the sun is setting behind the frozen trees, there are hardly any tourists and we have the place to ourselves. The same couple is there to pose, we get them with the setting sun filtering through the trees, he rides on the reindeer, pulling 2 behind, she poses with 2, then we get to be in the shot, that was funny, but the reindeer are very docile. The girls even get to ride them, I just hold them, I think I am too big and heavy, even though they say I am not, have pity on the reindeer.

Behind us the setting sun turns the sky a lovely pink, so we make him go down the road and come towards us with the nice sky in the background, so lovely of them to do all the crazy stuff we ask. Of course I thank them with big smiles , thumbs up and my best Mongolian „Bajrl la“, which should mean thank you. By the way they smile, my pronunciation might not be the best…

Home just in time for dinner a good, spicy tomato soup with pasta and some meat in it, nice. Back to our cabin to edit and have another sip of Vodka, officially to disinfect, though I doubt any bacteria will survive in this weather, any we are slowly starting to like the stuff. Must go sleep soon, temperature is down below -40°C again and will drop for sure by tomorrow morning. The drivers will get up every 3 hours to start the motor for 30min or the petrol will freeze over the night, poor guys, we will sleep in our nice warm cabin.

Day 6

We’ve hit rock bottom. I’ve never experienced anything as cold as this in my life. Our guide shows us a photo on his phone, of the outside thermometer… -52°C ! Shit, that is a definitely a new record ! 

We reach Tsaagaanur in 75min, then another 75min more to the reindeer village. There isn’t a soul around, a few tipi, a few wooden houses, 2 dogs, not a reindeer in sight. We are welcomed by a grandmother in the first tipi, get to sit inside and photograph her. She lives here alone, her husband died last year. Just a tipi, the little belongings she has, 2 beds, an oven and a battery to charge her phone, but she seems totally content and happy.

Then on to the next wooden house, there is an old couple there, he is the shaman of the village. Their 3 grandchildren pop in and out, very cute kids. He even shows us the shaman mask, but no rituals or so, that is for tomorrow. We stand outside and enjoy the sun, it is quite lovely even though our hats have icicles on them, our hair is white, our scarfs and eyelashes as well. Only -30°C easy, we don’t even need the gloves, we are getting good at this. Unfortunately the reindeer are roaming the forest and cannot be found, so lets head back 

I had really hoped to see a big, big herd of reindeer today and we saw none, bugger, bit of a disappointment but it was cool anyway. Tomorrow we leave at 06:00 for a 9hr drive, with only one stop for lunch, and for sunset we are to meet a shaman back in Murun. Lets see.

Day 7

Not as cold as yesterday, only -49°C….. Shit, getting up at 05:00 is damned early. Could have left at 8:00 easily, don’t know why we have to rush it so much. We take 2 hrs to get to Tugul and stop at the Tugul Hotel for the ladies to use the toilet. It is okay to pee in the wild but you have to be fast, it is damned cold, so this is the luxury way. An early lunch stop at Toom, stir fried noodles and a cup of tea and we are ready to move on. Murun is 120 km still and the road is bumpy as always. When we finally reach the tarred highway it feels like heaven and I soon fall asleep. After 9 hours, including stops, we reach Murun and go check-in at the Tenkhleg Hotel. Officially a 5 star, but it really is 3 star at the best, well just for one night it is okay.

For sunset we do a shoot with a shaman, and some horse in action photos, cool. Glad to do something after all the sitting, and tomorrow will be worse, 800km to Ulan Batar, UB as the locals call it. I get the shaman lady to turn around her axis so the threads of her dress swing and now we really get going. The second lady is even more fun, her dress is much brighter and more colorful and she really puts up a show. Then Esee comes up, his boys on the horses are ready. Good ! The 2 shaman ladies can warm up inside until sunset, the fire is in the correct place, lets do horses. Finally we get it right, the two of them racing in front of the gers. 

By now Kah Wai is calling, the fire is ready. With their enormous blow torches they set the pile,  which I expected to be a decorative tipi-like structure, to fire. Boy that is a bonfire ! The 2 shaman ladies dance around the fire and we try to get in the perfect shot which is quite hard, little light, moving subject, but it is fun. Then they do a real shaman ceremony and in the end we all get a session with the shaman lady, talking with grandfathers voice. Impressive, a little spooky, but very interesting and a great cultural experience. 

Day 8

Just a drive day, about 800km to be exact which takes us 13 hours. We leave at 6:30 after a short stop at the CU to get coffee and some snacks, sorry, no breakfast. A lunch stop in Erdenet and two quick pee stops, but otherwise just drive. My bum hurts from all the sitting but finally at 18:30 we are back at the Khubilai Hotel in UB.

Day 9

We start in the dark, but get a lovely sunrise with a pink sky that stays pink for ages. The road is good, little traffic, beautiful white landscape of valleys and hills. We take about 2 hrs to get to the Hustai NP. It is famous for red deer, white antelope and mostly for the very endangered wild horses called Prezewalski horses. Now let us try find them. We do see a lot of deer but they are very far away, and since I only have the 24-105 lens, they are tiny. Then we finally see the horses, they look pretty against the snowy background, but again very small. On the way back Adiye, the driver in the other car, who also happens to be a very famous Mongolian biologist (working with Kah Wai on the wild camel project), gets us to walk up a hill, and on the other side is a whole group of horses. Get some lovely shots of the horses with the snow covered hills in the background.

We get to watch a short video about the park, we are the only people there except for 3 Mongolian people at the next table. Suddenly our guide Uundra whispers in my ear, they are from Mongolian national television. If they can interview me? Sure ! The lady smiles at me and starts talking in rapid Mongolian, helplessly I look at Uundra for translation. They want to know why I am here and if I like it. Yes ! So I talk and Uundra  translates, so funny. 

We drive back to the city center, to have lunch at the Asiana restaurant in the central tower. All goes well until we reach town, terrible traffic jam. We take 3 hrs to get there, the last 2 hrs for a mere 15km. Luckily our very late lunch at 16:00 is very tasty. Last round of drinks in the Chalbi lounge at the hotel and say goodbye to all.

It was an epic trip, extreme temperatures, long drives, but sensational encounters with lovely, friendly, helpful people and amazing photo opportunities. Mongolia I will be back !

For my favorite photos : go to gallery

 

Tour leader and source of all reindeer information : Kah-Wai Lin

https://kahwailin.com/

Local tour operator: Nomadic of the blue sky

https://mongoliatraveltours.com/

Copyright 2026: photo and text by Astrid Bluemel (with help from Kah-Wai Lin) for bluemelphoto.ch