First day with the reindeer nomads

Day: 154

Sunrise:
09:27

Sunset:
17:17

Total kilometers:
1281

Soil condition:
Ice, snow

Temperature – Day (maximum):
minus 15°C

Temperature – day (minimum):
minus 30°C

Temperature – Night:
minus 30°C

Latitude:
51°33’336”

Longitude:
099°15’341”

Maximum height:
1981 m above sea level

We get up late because of the exertions of the last few days and yesterday’s big move. Then, after breakfast, we organize our yurt. We put everything where it belongs and are really happy with our cozy home. At a wonderful plus 10 °C in the sun and minus 15 C in the shade, I tie the three solar panels to the yurt roof. To connect them to the batteries, I use a broom handle to drill holes in the yurt floor through the snow piled up on the outer wall. I also feed the cables from our thermometers to the outdoor sensors through the holes. After the cable connections have been laid, I close the holes again with snow to prevent draughts from entering our realm.

In the afternoon we get our first visit from Purvee, the shaman’s wife and twenty-year-old Monkoo. “Do you want tea or coffee?” asks Tanja, delighted with our first visit. “Coffee,” they both say as if from the same mouth. “Tsaya, who speaks perfect English, later explains that she drinks tea every day here in the taiga. “Coffee is something special for us,” she explains. We have a rudimentary conversation with our guests and have a lot of fun with the words we often mispronounce. The women let their curious eyes glide through our yurt. “Yurt dulaan”, (“yurt warm”) they say. We learn that it is much colder in a tepee, which they call Urtz. “Warm at the front and cold at the back of the tarpaulin,” they explain.

After about 20 minutes, the two polite Tuwa women leave us. “I can’t wait to see who will be visiting us in the coming days,” says Tanja. “I can imagine that they are curious and want to know what it looks like in our yurt. Especially when there’s always delicious coffee. Who knows, maybe we’ll become the coffee yurt at Tuwacamp,” I laugh.

After the two women have left, Tanja sets off to collect snow in the taiga for our water consumption. In Erdenet and Mörön, it was already time-consuming to fetch water from the water distribution points with buckets, and in Tsagaan Nuur it was more difficult to scoop the water out of an ice hole. To make one bucket of water, we have to fill three buckets of snow. With the current poor snow conditions, this is time-consuming work. It is particularly important not to accidentally pick up any reindeer, dog or human excrement in the thin snow cover. When Tanja brings the first snow, we pour it into the wok, which we place in the designated opening of the oven to melt it.

In the evening, Tsaya and her friend Ultsan come to visit us. They are very happy about freshly pressed coffee with milk and sugar and cookies. “It’s nice with you,” says Tsaya. “Yes, really cozy,” says Ultsan. “We also feel very comfortable in our home. We just haven’t got the fire under control yet. Sometimes it’s up to 36 °C and then it’s cold again. The right mix would be good. That can affect your circulation. Shagai has pulled a tent over the yurt so that the reindeer don’t nibble on the felt. This additional cover makes it even warmer in here than before. But I think we’ll know in a few days how much wood we need to burn in the stove to keep the temperature constant,” I tell our new neighbors, as their log cabin is right next to our yurt.

“Ah, we have to go,” says Tsaya at 20:15. “Why is that? Do you have an appointment?” I joke. “Yes, we have. The sequel to the Korean drama starts on TV at 8:30 pm. We can’t miss it,” we hear in amazement. “You have a TV out here?” I ask. “Yes, we run it with a battery that we charge using solar panels. Most of the time, all the Tuwas here come out of their tipis to watch the sequels. This is the only and very welcome diversion for the people here. So we are the camp movie theater,” says Tsaya. “That’s funny. Well, have fun with the episode.” “We will,” Tsaya calls out as she and Ultsan are already on the way to their log cabin.

We look forward to your comments!