Well, not much has happened here

After the hectic days in late February with snow leopards behind every rock and traps being tripped, cords being chewed off and Mongolians celebrating New Year, we have had some pretty relaxed days now. Tsagaan sar (New Year) was very interesting, we went to Midgi and Oyuna and some herders and ate some very good food and drank some very good stuff like fermented camel milk and some other not so good stuff that I don’t know what it was. We all paid the price the days after but Geir paid the highest price, being sick and weak for three days. After he had recovered we made a really nice dinner. Figure I should share the recipe so you can all try it: Fry thinly sliced goat, chopped onions, garlic and canned mushrooms in pieces with Indian chili powder in a wok pan and serve with mashed potatoes (made by potatoes, margarine, coffee creamer and hot water). For desert, a can of fruit cocktail. To top it off, you can open a box of orange juice. Yummy! 

We are trying to find a new area to deploy our cameras and later traps in but it’s not as easy as you may think. First we need and area with lots of snow leopard signs, and then there must be plenty of suitable sites for traps. Preferably neither Aztai nor Tsagaan should visit the area to avoid trapping them over and over. Finally, everyone is telling me to catch a female. Honestly, I’m a dirty, bearded Swede living in a tent in the Gobi desert, I’m not exactly David Beckham, what do I know of catching females? We have already tried perfume and nice looking rocks, didn’t work. Geir claims that the snow leopards probably have a mating central somewhere and if we only find it, our luck will be done. Maybe he’s right, it’s just we don’t know what a snow leopard mating central looks like… All suggestions are welcome.

Sometimes I wonder what I am doing, if I am mad who sits in a ger in the Gobi, cold, dirty and pretty alone. Other times I realize how incredibly lucky I am, I’m doing research on snow leopards, trapping them to start the first long term study on the species. It’s really nice to have Jenny and Geir here. Both for their company and because it is always better to experience things with friends and share experiences than to do it alone. But also because every evening after we’ve come back to the ger, with a fire burning in the stove and a kettle warming up and we sit down to bring back some life to our cold limbs, tired and hungry; Geir always says “This is not a bad life you know”. It isn’t. Maybe it’s a bit rough and lonely but we have all essentials and every day brings a couple of unique experiences. That is not bad, and it’s very good to be reminded about it once in a while.