Responsible travel on the Trans Mongolian railway

Mongolian gers are large, round tents – the shape makes them more wind resilient – that can be quickly assembled and disassembled, to be transported around on the backs of livestock or, more commonly today, pick-up trucks, as the herders move from place to place. The door of the tent always faces south, to maximise the amount of light, as there are no windows. Tents are Tardis-like on the inside, supported by pillars, and usually have a stove and chimney in the center. Men have their area, to keep tools, saddles and other equipment, on the western half of the tent, while women use the eastern half to store cooking and washing utensils. There will also often be a shrine area, the khoimer, where treasured family heirlooms are kept and where visitors are invited to sit.

If you’re staying in a ger for a night or two, it will usually be in either Khustai National Park or Terlj National Park, both not far from Ulaanbaatar. When visiting a ger there are a number of things you need to keep in mind, but don’t worry too much if you forget them as your hosts will be very forgiving. Some of the most important to remember are:

Don’t stand on the threshold when entering. This implies you’re unsure
about whether to trust your hosts. Don’t lean against the central pillars – if only for the sake of practicality. When entering, move in a clockwise direction, so to the left of the door. Try not to point your feet at other people, or at the shrine area. Don’t take food with your left hand. Fires and milk are both seen as sacred, so don’t burn any waste in the stove and try not to spill any milk. Don’t turn your back on the shrine. Don’t whistle inside a ger. It’s believed that it can bring terrible
storms or other natural disasters.

What you can do
Tour leaders and local guides are invaluable sources of information when it comes to correct behaviour, and especially in the case of guides drawn from the community, more reliable than you’ll find in any book. Do some research into Mongolian customs before you travel, and try to respect them.

Visiting herders helps create jobs and bring in valuable income, enabling traditional ways of life to survive. If you’re thinking of bringing gifts, your tour operator will be able to help with specifics but items such as pens and notebooks, clothing and sewing accessories tend to be welcome. Toys are another good idea, but these should be given to the head of the household for distribution, not directly to children.

What you can do
The problem is not new, and improvements are underway. Many people are leaving gers in the city for modern houses with insulation that don’t require stoves. For those that remain, better quality fuel and more efficient stoves are also making a difference.

As travelers, the most important thing you can do is support traditional industries and lifestyles in the Mongolian countryside. The prospect of making a decent income will encourage people to stay instead of moving to the capital for work, and intensifying the air pollution problem there.

If you’re visiting Mongolia during winter, wrap up well in warm clothing so that your hosts don’t need to keep the stove hot all the time. It’s not an issue in the countryside but in Ulaanbaatar certainly you may want to consider wearing a facemask when out and about, especially if you suffer from asthma or other respiratory illnesses.

In tandem with climate change, which is causing Mongolia to see longer, harsher winters and drier summers, the increased desertification of land is risking the sustainability of traditional nomadic herding lifestyles, causing many herders and their families to reject the industry and move to urban areas in search of easier work. The countryside becomes under populated while cities such as Ulaanbaatar grow rapidly, exacerbating issues such as air pollution.

Market demand means that many goats are shorn in midwinter. With little in the way of body fact, they are left exposed and vulnerable to often extremely cold weather which can lead to suffering and death. Pressure to produce large volumes of wool in a short space of time can also mean they are shorn too quickly and violently.

What you can do
The first thing to consider is if you really need to buy cashmere at all. It takes the hair of five goats to make one cashmere sweater, whereas five sweaters can be made from the wool of just one sheep. If it’s cashmere or nothing, then one area you can make a difference is by trying to find garments made from sustainable cashmere sourced directly from herding communities, or even recycled cashmere knitwear. Be prepared to pay a little more; ethical, sustainable fashion is a major trend right now and one we hope is here to stay, but doing the right thing rarely comes cheap.