Never a dull moment when traveling to the Onon River, but plenty of bonding

Rare Planet   
April 20th, 2010

Rare has a campaign in the Onon River area to protect the taimen fish that works with local people to adopt catch-and-release fishing practices in order to reduce illegal fishing. You can learn more about the campaign and interact with the team running it here.

I’ve met other people who have traveled to the Onon River area, and they always comment how much of a bonding experience it is, which is usually because of three reasons:

1. You spend an enormous amount of time together in one vehicle, so bonding is inevitable.
2. You tend to meet amazing people at every pass of the trip.
3. Even if you aren’t directly experiencing one, you always feel as if you’re on the brink of disaster, which draws people more closely together.

My second trip to the Onon River area once again provided all three of these elements. Here’s a glimpse into what our 13-hour trip from Bogii’s site in Choibalsan to Gaana’s site in the Onon consisted of:

The vehicle: a WWF Land Cruiser dressed with Gaana’s campaign bumper sticker on three of the four sides of the SUV.

The driver: The shy Mr. Yellowman. A man of few words but drives like a champ.

The roads: I prefer to not call these “roads” but rather describe them more accurately as “tire tracks.” The road condition is the primary reason why traveling 350 kilometers takes more than 10 hours (long time in car = bonding ingredient No. 1).

We came across four men whose truck got stuck in the mud on the previous day and was now stuck in mud and ice. We attempted to tow them out, but were unsuccessful as they had too much cargo in their truck (near brink of disaster = bonding ingredient No. 3).

We’ve heard a lot about the harsh winter Mongolia has had – the worst in nearly 50 years – which has caused a dramatic amount of livestock deaths. Here we see some deceased goats and sheep left by the side of the road, one of many piles we passed today (near brink of disaster = bonding ingredient No. 3).

We stopped for lunch at one of Gaana’s target sites, Bayan-Uul, and met a soum coordinator who is helping to manage WWF’s barrier removal and Pride activities within this soum. In the top photo, Gaana is reviewing some art contest entries from students. Many entries featured the taimen, as the students were heavily inspired by Gaana’s recent launch events (amazing people = bonding ingredient No. 2).

While we were visiting the soum coordinator, we stopped into a nearby classroom to meet the local school music director and one of his students – both of whom participated in Gaana’s launch events. The high school boy put on an amazing performance for us. Listen to his music here (amazing people = bonding ingredient No. 2).

Towards the last quarter of our trip, the Land Cruiser started acting up because the spring mud and winter ice were accumulating around the tires. We had to stop several times to knock off the ice so we wouldn’t damage the vehicle and risk being stuck in the middle of nowhere in below freezing temperatures (brink of disaster = bonding ingredient No. 3).

This content originated on our online community inspiring conservation, RarePlanet.Org.

Visit Rare Planet’s yobo profile here

(+13 rating)

 Loading ...

You might also enjoy:

• Local residents in Mexico visit protected marine park for first time, leave in awe
• Why protecting the world’s fisheries and the Coral Triangle is so important (Q&A)
• National Parks Project Exiles Musicians for a Cause
• Keeping Momentum on the Loreto Bay Campaign with Festivals, Contests, Classes and More
• A week’s look at local conservation on the ground in Colombia (photo essay)