Some thoughts and reflections about life in Mongolia

Its warm again. Which is nice, and what makes it even nicer is that it’s not super-hot. Neither the car nor the cook has arrived yet. Kim has worked in Mongolia before so she is not as naive as I am but both of us have learned a few new things about the herder-mentality.

1. As long as there is a tiny bit of something left, you do not need to get more. For example, if a car is going to town (which takes about 1 hour one-way) and there is one slice of bread left, we do not need to buy bread. However, when the car comes back and someone has eaten the slice we are in desperate need of bread and must immediately go and buy more. The same applies to water, vegetables etc. As long as you have some left, there is no need to replenish the supplies. Since many things can only be found in UB or Dalandzadgad this view of life is a bit frustrating. (though, his was not new for Kim).

2. “this water is not so good for drinking, smells a bit bad, good for shower or cleaning” might mean that the water smells a bit because it has been sitting in the jerry can for too long. But it might also mean “someone put gasoline in that can, better not drink the water”. I was a bit surprised when i noticed that the result of my latest shower was not that my body was immensely clean and smelled like roses; rather I had a lingering odor of gasoline around me.

3. 11 days ago Oyuna, our cook, asked if she could have five days off to accompany her daughter to Dalandzadgad. That seemed reasonable and off they went. We haven’t seen her since and are now quite sure that when the locals say, ” I will be back in five days”, it means “I will definitely be gone for five days and god knows when I’ll be back”. It’s not that they are running away from work or so, it’s just that no one knows when there will be a car coming here, or if that car will break down or not… For the last week we have asked Namshur and Midgi when Oyuna will return. The only answer is “maybe tomorrow”.

4. We have been cooking our own food and since neither Kim nor I are too keen on dried sheep meat, we’ve had lots of vegetarian food, pasta sauces and tuna. We are happy but Namshur complains that his stomach gets very acidic from too much bread, vegetables and pasta and that he needs sheep meat. Kind of fun.  I’ve never heard that meat will help against acidic stomachs. On one of the rainy days, Kim made tortillas that we stuffed with beans, rice, sheep and chili sauce. Best sheep burritos in all of Asia I think. That day we also learned how to tenderize your dried sheep meat. You simply choose a piece that catches your delight, put it on a big flat stone (the stone has been sitting on the kitchen floor since we came but we haven’t really paid attention to it before) and beat the crap out of the sheep with a hammer. Kim and I are both eagerly waiting for this to be shown on TV on a cooking show “and now, it is time to beat the sheep…”

5. The standard answer to many questions is “no problem”. Kim and I can’t really agree on what exactly this means. I think that the locals simply leave out the words “life threatening” in between so what they really say is “no life threatening problem” while Kim thinks that “no problem” means something in between “hopefully” and “in your dreams, sucker”.

6. Namshur and Pujii are both very good in English and sometimes we forget that they might not understand what we are saying. This is further enhanced since all of them want to please and help so they pretend to understand. Yesterday I taught Namshur how to use the GPS so he could go and collect a trap camera and bring it back to camp. We practiced with the GPS in camp. I showed him how to store a position, find a stored one and how to set the GPS to show you distance and bearing to the position you want to go to. Namshur practiced for a while and said that he understood and was ready to go. Good I said, so do you know approximately where the camera is? What camera he replied. ” The camera you are going to collect”.
“Oh, am I to collect a camera?”…

So what has happened since last… Not much.
I was wrong about catching a cat on the 2nd of September, too bad, we almost caught one though. A week ago the trap camera in Lower Camp Canyon (I will start writing the place names cause Kim has promised to send a map to Chappen as soon as she gets home) photographed a snow leopard at a trap site. He was standing looking at the big pile of rocks that were stashed between him and the scrape that he wanted to get to. Short explanation: everything takes place at the foot of a cliff wall, the trap is set close too the wall cause snow leopards like to walk along walls (according to Tom and the pictures we’ve taken agree with him), on the other side of the trap we buried a big piece of scrap metal that the snare is attached to and on top of the metal there is a pile of rocks. The idea is that the leopard will walk between the rock pile and the cliff and that the rocks will funnel him into the snare. In theory this holds. It’s just that our spotted friend didn’t agree; he thought that the rock pile looked a bit suspicious so instead of walking between the rocks and the wall, he climbed the rocks and took a pee at the scrape.

A few bad Swedish words could be heard quite far from the camp when we looked at the pictures from the camera…

We had some mail contact with Tom and Chris about the funneling and rock-pile-building. I think that Aztai was the 14th snow leopard ever to be collared and so there is very little knowledge of how to trap them. As I have written previously, Tom really knows what he is doing and I have learned a lot from him.  But, even though he is the one who has caught the most snow leopards, it’s still just six individuals. Naturally, the trapping is based on trial and error and Kim and I have the huge benefit of having cameras at the trap sites so we can actually see what the cats are doing, what scares them and even where they place their feet. The concerned trap was one of the first we set and in the beginning, everyone really wanted to help, and we might have gotten a bit carried away in the rock-pile building…

Anyways, shame on the ones who give up. We went to the trap, threw away all rocks, moved the trap and the metal piece and opened up the area so it wouldn’t look as suspicious.

As we have hiked around and checked and fixed the traps after the rain, we have taken away lots of rocks. In some cases I have replaced them with small thorny bushes, hoping that these will not look as threatening but still do the job of funneling the cat towards the trap.

A couple of days later we downloaded the pics from the Lower camp canyon camera and you can probably imagine that the bad Swedish words that came out of my mouth this time were even worse and could be heard even longer cause on the pictures there was a new cat standing on top of our trap. He has one foot on each side of the %#@#$& trap, looked into the camera for a while, then walked to the scrape, turned toward the camera and really took his time relieving himself…
We looked at the pictures at 5 in the evening and before nightfall, I had pulled a trap that wasn’t in a great location anyway, hiked to Lower Camp Canyon and set a second trap. This one is set so that if anything with spots and a long tail as much as thinks about taking a pee at my scrape, he will for sure end up with an orange dart in his buttocks.

Oh, got to write one last thing. A couple of days ago as I was sitting on my bed changing to my boots I noticed that something was moving in Kim’s bed. Kind of odd I thought and took a closer look. Sure enough there was a snake crawling around in the bed. I called Kim but the snake didn’t seem to appreciate the commotion so it tried to hide in the sleeping bag… Namshur claimed that it wasn’t toxic, grabbed it by the tail and carried it out (that ought to keep mom from visiting the camp…)

Heavy rain in the Gobi desert

Considering that we are at the border to the Gobi desert I must say that it rained quite heavily the night after we caught Aztai so yesterday, we had to check all our traps to make sure that the cloth that covers the hole and the trigger for the trap hadn’t sunken in. Apparently, the dirt that covers the cloth and the snare (a metal wire) can also “cement together” and slow the snare down thereby enabling the animal to pull it’s foot out of the snare before it closes. Hmm, there’s a whole lot of new terms in this field that I’m not really familiar with. I have never tried to explain trapping in English before. Hope that it is comprehensible.

Anyway, Namshur and I went to check some of the traps and Tom and Chris did the others. Nothing much happened except that we got a bit lost trying to take a short-cut through a pass. I was a little weak after my illness but not too bad. The mountains are quite challenging physically (dough as Homer Simpson would have said). I shouldn’t say that we have been carrying an enormous weight up the mountains, I think that my pack has averaged 15 kg or so and most traps are situated in canyons or valleys (though the way to the canyons aren’t exactly flat). It’s rather a combination of the altitude and my physical shape, the camp is situated at about 2200 meters above sea level. Might not sound like much but it sure feels when one is trying to grasp for air going uphill, or climbing. I have no excuses for my shape, other than that I wanted to give my knee plenty of time to heal and maybe that I was stuck behind the desk for six months. The knee is fine, it doesn’t hurt at all except if I’m kneeling and I might as well sit instead.

Kim, Pujii and Pursee have been away for a couple of days to finish the last site-occupancy surveys (they walk line transects searching for snow leopard signs such as scrapes, scats, pug marks). Pujii’ will use this data for her Master’s thesis when she gets back to U.S. Compared to the first week, the past days have been quite slow, I have gone through all equipment in the camp to see what we have, checked the medical kit together with Chris and re-arranged and added some things to the capture kit. Among other, it now contains a flashlight and a leatherman tool kit. I usually carry my multi-tool but it’s hard to remember everything in the mornings and considering my physical situation in the last capture it seems as if I can’t choose when we catch the cats and I figure that next time I will be in the shower or something and turn up in underwear with no equipment at all.  Speaking of the shower, I just had one and I can’t praise it enough. I have promised Namshur a gold medal in shower building (a little Olympic influenced). We have a solar heated shower that contains 9l of water, if left outside for five hours, the water is hot and the bag contains enough for two people to get thoroughly clean. I have my doubts about the shower in winter, there is an apparent risk that my feet might freeze to the rocks. Well, that will be a later problem.

Tom, Pujii, Pursee, Chris and Biamba left the camp this morning. It feels a bit empty; besides Midget and Oyuna, it’s just Kim, Namshur and me here. I don’t know if there’s anyone who knows more about snow leopards than Tom, and Chris has been the best teacher in immobilization and medics. I have really learned a whole lot the last weeks. All this feels good but the downside is that it’s like losing a dictionary when they leave, besides that I liked their company. Well Kim and Namshur will still be here for a few more weeks and both of them are very competent so we will be fine. In a way it feels good that the staff gradually leaves cause this way we will be a team to solve the problems as they appear and I feel far from ready to run the fieldwork and take care of all practical things in camp on my own. But if you think of it, how long would it take before a person would feel: it’s OK guys you can go home now, I feel confident that I can take care of this snow leopard study and research camp in the middle of nowhere even though I don’t speak the language??

I reckon that if ever, it would take quite a while to feel that. When Kim and Namshur leave I will just have to dive in head first and do my best.

First snow leopard capture!

First things first they say but I will not follow that rule today but rather tell the most recent news first.

We caught our first snow leopard today!

He is a 36 kg male, about three years old and his name is Aztai which means lucky in Mongolian. Can’t say that he was too lucky considering that he stepped in the trap but we were really lucky considering which trap he stepped in.

The particular trap is situated at the base of a cliff about 300 meters from camp on the other side of the valley; you can actually see the spot from our camp. I set it a few days ago after Tom had taken a walk and noticed that there were scrape marks there. We were figuring that the leopards would come down a ridge on our side of the valley (where there were also scrape marks), cross the valley, and head for the cliff. Since the valley is quite wide and open it was hard to figure out exactly which way the leopard would travel, especially since the snare is only about 20 cm in diameter and the leopard has to step in it. Anyway, I set the snare between two scrapes, just next to the cliff, hoping that the leopard would hug the cliff as he walked between the scrapes. Honestly, I didn’t like the trap a whole lot. The main reason for setting it was that it was a model that I hadn’t used before and I wanted to practice, we had some hours left in the afternoon, and it would at least have a better chance to catch a leopard if it’s set than if it’s lying in camp. I remember that when I came back I told Tom and Kim that we can pull it out in case we run out of traps cause it ain’t really good. Yesterday morning I attached a trap-transmitter to it that we had to modify a bit. It works fine but there is a rather great risk for false alarms. Yesterday afternoon my stomach started cramping and I got a bit sick, couldn’t even drink water so I headed for bed and stayed there. I woke up this morning hearing that Namshur, who had checked the transmitters from the mountain, had heard that one alarm was on. Apparently, it was the one across the valley. I felt quite weak and was trying to decide whether I could get up or not so to be honest, I was kind of hoping that it would be a false alarm. Pursee and Pujii, our two Mongolian biologists went over to check the trap and after a while I heard Tom shouting “they are running” and a little later “Irbis”, which is Mongolian for snow leopard. I crawled out of bed, mind set that I will try, but maybe let Tom or Chris run the capture in case I felt too weak. (Chris later told me that there was no chance that I was staying in bed and that he would have carried me to the trap if necessary).

Chris and I mixed the drugs, went over to take a look at the leopard, and loaded a dart. Chris then approached it and I walked around it to get a shot at the thigh. As the dart hit, we walked away to let the leopard fall asleep and as I looked up to the camp I realized that the entire staff was sitting outside the gers, drinking tea and watching us in binoculars. Maybe not the way I had pictured a snow leopard capture but it sure was a nice way.

Well the rest of the marking was more or less standard and everything went good. We gave Aztai the antidote and walked away a bit so he wouldn’t be stressed. As he got up and started moving around I decided that I will stop looking for snow leopards in the mountains. Even with binoculars it was almost impossible to see him. Snow leopards are truly magnificent animals and it was a stunning moment to be so close to one. At the same time, I felt bad for him, being stuck in the trap.

As we got back to camp, I sorted out the samples we had collected and then passed out in bed. This afternoon, Chris taught Kim and me how to suture in case any of the staff, or a leopard, gets injured. We used a hamster that was caught in a mouse trap in the office ger last night as a patient but despite our greatest efforts, we where not able to revive the poor fellow.

So, that’s what happened today, lets go back to the beginning.

We have had some very busy days, hiking and climbing to check for good trap sites and setting the last traps. At the moment, we have 17 traps armed and ready. Chris, the Austrian vet came two days ago and we have rehearsed capture procedures, drug dosages etc. I must say that I have learned so much from Tom, Chris and Kim the last week. I am really glad that Tom and Kim are here and it feels great to have them leading this project. Two days ago the alarm on a trap was released for the first time and we were all excited as we were sitting in the van, heading for the trap. Yesterday morning we had our second false alarm, both these times it seems as if a rodent have tripped the wire to the transmitter. Even though everyone was disappointed that there was no snow leopard in the traps, both occasions served as good rehearsals at the same time as they took the edge of the first “panic” when the alarm went.

I can’t think of what more to write, nothing seems important compared to the capture, though I have missed to write some things.

First I think that I have forgot to acknowledge that it is Guillaume Chapron who has designed this page and that it is he who shall have credit for it.

Second, it might be useful with a short presentation of the people working here so I will start from the beginning.

Tom McCarthy and Kim Berger are the two American scientists from Snow Leopard Trust, I think that I introduced in an earlier post (since I can’t read the blog myself, I might repeat stuff or leave important things out, my apologies for this).

The Mongolian staff consists of (we use short versions of their names cause the originals are quite long)

Pursee is a field biologist about my age. He works as a teacher in Ulaanbaatar when he is not here.

Pujii is a Master student working on occupancy estimates. She studies in Minnesota and will go back to U.S. in early September.

Namshur, our Mongolian vet and handyman. He has built a super-nice shower and some very impressive shoehorns of ibex horn

Biamba is our driver

Together with Koustubh, and Indian researcher, and Juan, a student from Argentina; Pursee and Pujii have fixed the camp this summer and conducted the camera and site occupancy studies.

Our Mongolian family consists of:
Midget, who is the caretaker

Oyuna, who is the cook

Benji, their daughter who will leave for school in Dalandzadgad in a little while.

Last person is Chris Waltzer, an Austrian vet, who arrived here a couple of days ago. Chris works in Austria, with cheetah in Iran and with wild ass, wild camels and Przewalskis horse in Mongolia. He is a very competent and calm vet and I have learned a lot from him the last days.

Tom and Chris just came back from the mountain-transmitter-check and no alarms are on tonight.

First field note from the J. Tserendeleg Snow Leopard Research Center

[posted by Chappen]

As we checked in at the airport it turned out that together, the four of us (me, Tom, Kim and Namshur our Mongolian veterinarian) had about 65 kg of overweight. Part of this was due to all scientific equipment and part was because Nadja misunderstood Tom when he asked her to buy some uncut cheese, as in, not sliced cheese.  She bought a whole cheese, as in, not cut at all. Well, at least we will not run out of cheese in a while. And there was really not much of a problem, besides us, it was just three more people on the plane.

In Dalandzadgad we were picked up by Biamba, a Mongolian who has worked as driver for the crew who stayed in the camp during summer. We loaded all luggage in the Russian van (which was already full of all the stuff we sent down by truck two days earlier and headed to the market to but vegetables, bread and some other stuff. Before we could leave the Mongolians were really keen on lunch (I have understood that eating is very important to them).

Unfortunately, the power had been out for three days so it took a while to find a restaurant that was open. With our stomachs full and our minds set on a long drive we took off. I knew that the roads would be bad but I hadn’t expected them to be that bad. Took us a bit more than 10 hours to get to camp with just two short stops. I checked the speed a few times and according to the meter we were doing between 70 and 90 km/h, I agree with the meter cause both we and some of the luggage were flying around in the van a couple of times. Eventually we got to camp, and what a camp!

A lot has happened since the picture below of the camp was taken [note from Chappen: Orjan has not the possibility to email pictures – these ones were taken some months ago].

The sleeping ger contains five bunk beds and some shelves. The Kitchen is really nice with a gas stove and a little table with chairs. There’s sausages and dried sheep meat hanging from the ceiling and all around the walls there are food stashed up. The office has a U-shaped desk with computers, electronic gadgets and boxes with equipment piled up wherever there is room. Everyone have told me that the food in Mongolia is horrible but our cook is fantastic. Considering where we are and what supplies she has, she cooks delicious food.  The cook and the caretaker (the Mongolian couple) lives in a ger about 30 meters behind the camp.
Around the camp there are small stone walls (very small) which make it really cosy. We have a great toilet (a little house built over a hole in the ground) and a shower is under construction. Together with the surrounding this must be if not the best place, than at least top three that I have lived in.  The camp is situated at the mouth of a canyon going into a valley, hard to describe but it means that we see mountains on all sides.  And what mountains. The summits are realy pointy and dramatic. We have seen ibex, owls, falcons lammergeier and lots of other birds from camp.

We spent the first day here unpacking all the gear and I filled up the capture backpack with all the stuff we will need. In the afternoon we went for a short hike o check some trap cameras (hidden cameras with motion sensors) The cameras have been out for two months partly to fascilitate finding good trap sites. There are scrape markings (the snow leopards pee on a cliff and scratch together some pebbles for a visual mark) all over these mountains, there is actually one 200 meters from camp. We found some good places. Man, the mountains are so beautiful and the feeling that there are so many leopards around is thrilling.
Setting a trap takes a few hours, I think that I will describe it in detail when I can upload some pictures but in short, first you nail the trap mechanism to the ground and dig a hole for the trigger. Then you cover the hole with a cloth and lay your snare on the cloth. Then you put dirt on the cloth and sharp stones around it so the leopard will step in the snare. To make sure that the leopard can’t get away you need to attach the snare to a rock (with a spring coil between so the snare will have some resistance instead of being totally numb). Last thing we do is attaching a transmitter that will send a radio signal in case something gets caught in the trap. In case there are no rock around to tie the snare to, you will need a weight of some kind. So day two, we went to Gurvantes, the village nearby to get some scrap metal. As we’re driving around Tom yells out “thats what we want”! In a yard, there’s all sorts of yunk lying around, we negotiate a price and load the van full of transmission parts, generator, wheel rims etc.

For the past days, we have been carrying tools, snares, wire, trap mechanisms and really heavy metal parts up the mountains and setting snares. Today, we have ten traps set.

I could write so much more but it is my time to climb one of the mountains to listen if any of the transmitters has changed signal, in that case, we will be busy tonight. We climb the mountain every morning at five and every evening at eight.

Orjan