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 Just imagine: less than two people in an area of one square km! With 2,5 mio Mongolians living in an area of 1,566 mio square kilometres, the country is one of the most sparsely populated nations on earth! Yet it's the seventh largest country in the world! But these are mere statistic figures. More than 25 % of the population is living in the capital of Ulaanbaatar, which undisputedly has the charm of a neglected Soviet-style high-rise apartment block, decorated with the chimneys of the central heating system. Even more Mongolian people live and work outside of their homeland; accordingly about 7 mio people speak and read Mongolian, live the Mongolian way of life outside their country. Due to the former political ties, most of them live in the bordering countries Russia and China.  Perhaps
the most interesting group for the visitor to Mongolia are the Mongolian
herdsmen. These nomadic cattle breeder's live in their forefathers' tradition,
that is handed down from generation to generation. There are about 170 thousand
mostly private cattle breeding households in Mongolia. Probably there is no one freer, happier, moving from one place to another with great experience, than the genuine Mongol nomad herders. Their diet is extremely uniform and probably nobody can understand, how human beings can survive on such a small amount of vegetarian components in their daily food rations.  The
herdsmen's life is of course closely connected with his animals, which consits
traditionally of 5 species: camel, cow, sheep, goats and of course horses.
With more than 26 mio animals in total, they outnumber the population 10
times! Enjoy the hospitality of the Mongolian herdspeople in their traditional housing, the ger! |
