Sept 16, 2025 – Out in the Steppe, Mongolia

Been camping at a nomadic family’s place for the last two days. One day we, the tour group, and the nomadic family corralled the sheep and the man of the family carefully chose one sheep to become our lunch for the next day. After pulling the sheep away it was slaughtered in a unique way.

The sheep was flipped on it’s back and held down while one of our drivers slit it’s belly, thrust his hand through to the sheep’s backbone and pulled the plug on it’s life. I don’t know exactly what the driver did but it seemed like an almost humane method to kill the sheep. This wasn’t fun to watch regardless of how humane the method seemed.

The sheep was butchered and we ate the meat the next day.

The next day, we had all day at the nomadic camp so many of us went for long walks. I walked up a mountain that had snow on top. I was slow but finally made it. As I got closer to the top I heard voices. As I got even closer to the top I saw three guys from our group standing on top of a huge rock that was about 25 ft tall, about 20 feet wide and flat on top.

One of the guys waved and called my name and I recognized who it was and called back. They came down and met me. We chatted, took a group photo and then they started down the mountain toward camp. I sat down, had some water, rested and enjoyed the great view. Then, I started back down toward camp myself.

While walking back down a Mongolian guy in a truck loaded with hay stopped about 100 feet away, high on the mountain. I waved and he gave me a wave back that meant, “Want a ride?” Well, sure.

We bumped down the mountain, not using a road, because there wasn’t a road. Only went about a half mile before reaching a livestock corral and feeding area in a ravine protected from the wind. The guy gestured that he was going to unload the hay but first he poured himself a drink from a thermos. It was fermented mare’s milk, I’m sure.

I thanked him and walked about two miles down to camp. When I got back to camp it was lunch time and the sheep that was slaughtered the day before lay in grilled pieces on a table along with other tasty side dishes. I was especially thankful for the meal that sheep gave us.

Bon appetite