Northern Mongolia - Mongolia - page 292

Food and cooking fuel is scarce in the taiga; proper preparation includes bringing
everything you need from Tsagaannuur or (even better) Mörön. A bathhouse (per person
T2000) is located 100m west of the school.
TCVC Guesthouse Accommodation GUESTHOUSE$
( 9525 8500; dm T10,000) The Tsaatan Community & Visitors Center offers guesthouse
accommodation in the form of two rooms upstairs from the main visitor centre and a
guest kitchen. The visitor centre is staffed by a Tsaatan caretaker who lives next door; the
money you spend here will go directly back to the community.
Erdene's Guesthouse GUESTHOUSE$
( 9950 8657) A friendly option consisting of a basic bed and breakfast deal. The own-
er's wife speaks English.
Tours
Travellers can visit the Tsaatan year-round. The winter camp is reachable by jeep, where-
as the rest of the year, you must come on horseback.
The TCVC can provide guides (but not interpreters), rent horses and offer information
about the location of the Tsaatan camps. The centre is fully owned and operated by the
Tsaatan and works to both help travellers and give the Tsaatan a chance to control tour-
ism to their community. Arrangements can also be made with the assistance of Zaya ( za-
[e-mail] ) , the English-speaking member of the community. She checks her
email weekly, though the community has no phone reception between mid-June and mid-
August.
Once you've left Tsagaannuur, figure on spending around US$50 to US$55 a day for
horses, guides, accommodation and meals. People typically stay for a couple of days, but
you can stay longer if you're really interested in the Tsaatan way of life.
The Tsaatan live in two groups, known as the east (zuun) and west (baruun) taiga (this
is a little confusing as the west taiga is actually southwest of the east taiga). Most visitors
head for east taiga; the communities communicate via two-way radio. From Tsagaan-
nuur, it can take four to 12 hours to reach either the west or east taiga by horse (the
camps move but are usually closer in the early summer or late autumn). The east taiga is
20km north of the Shishged Gol, with a bridge over it.
Getting to the Tsaatan involves a wonderfully picturesque horse trek through pristine
forest and mountains. If you don't want to come by horseback all the way from Tsagaan-
nuur, it's possible to arrange for horses to meet you at the exchange point (GPS: N