My Countryside Research Trip

For my independent project, I am looking at the interactions between tourism and the environment. One of the lectures we received from the National University was on the ecosystems and natural landscapes of Mongolia. The professor, Uuganbaatar, who gave us this lecture was a member of the ecology department, and had just started a program on Eco-tourism. He offered to let me tag along on a field research trip he was taking with his students to Bogd Mountain Strictly Protected Area. He was leaving the next day for another field trip, but said he would call me when he got back on the 25th or 26th.

Flash forward 2 weeks to the 25th at 9:15 am. My phone rings and it's Uuganbaatar:
"Hello, Emily are you ready to leave? Meet at the University in front of building 2 at 10:30."
"AM?"
"Yes"

So, I packed my bag, Allie and Allison ran to the grocery store to buy me some food, and off I went. In true Mongolian fashion, we did not leave the city until 1 even though scheduled departure time was 11. We arrived at the university field station in Bogd Mountain, set up our camp and talked about what we were going to be doing for the rest of the trip. While I was there we went on 2 day long hikes. The first was to the highest point in the park and to a very large ovoo nearby. The second was to an old Buddhist Temple that was mostly destroyed during the purges, but historically housed over 1,000 lamas. The students were looking at the accessibility of each location to tourists (trails, markers, information available, camp sites, tourist camps, etc.) In addition to the hikes, we had classes outlining problems in the area and challenges that the park faces in terms of tourism. What I found from these discussions (or at least the parts that were translated for me), is that the teacher and students were very good at looking at the short falls of tourism in the area, especially from a biological perspective, but struggled a bit in thinking of solutions. Some alternatives were put forth, but the implementation then proved nearly impossible.

In addition to classes, we had a lit of free time. I had a lot of fun interacting with the other students. Even with the language barrier, we could communicate pretty well. Among the things we did were cooking group meals (the Houshuur assembly line was quite impressive), showing the students my pictures, and playing volleyball. However, my favorite was our soccer games. Even in my Chaco's I gave most of the guys a run for their money. All the students were quite impressed with my soccer ability. I guess the 10+ years of experience comes in handy, even in Mongolia.

Love, Emily