Camel crossing

This morning, I set out on a 1.5-hour trip with a few of our staff to a town called Dulaan Khan. We were delivering school supplies, food and winter clothes to school children who were in great need. About halfway there, we came upon a beautiful herd of camels. Our driver stopped, and the herdsman started riding toward us. Before I knew it, I was out of the van and on top of a gigantic Bactrian camel.

Although you may associate camels with hot, dry, sandy desert, these 2-hump camels are native to Mongolia and thrive in the extreme cold. The big guy I rode had a dusting of snow on his head! He was so huge, he dwarfed the horse next to him. Of course, Mongolian horses are smaller than American or European horses.



It was a fairly large herd, with a few white camels. They were really beautiful animals. But trust me, they don't make beautiful noises. If you agitate them, they sort of squeal and shriek. It was a treat to see, and if you want to see a few more pictures you can click here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=m1glqs2.6v88dyaq&x=0&y=7j3cig