The Overland Experts and Mongolian Bankhar Dog Project Trip was a great success!
Our group of travelers consisted of a wonderful mix of adventurous minds and hearts that we were thrilled to introduce to the world of the Bankhar dog and the intense culture and environment that is Mongolia.
The desert became our home for the first part of our journey as we watched camels loping across our path and climbed sand dunes that seemed to rise out of no where. In this Gobi region we visited several herders and found that the MBDP placed dogs were doing their jobs! It was thrilling to see that our Bankhar are already greatly decreasing livestock losses due to wolves and snow leopards.
We placed a Bankhar puppy, whose new owner named him Barbus, at Three Camel Lodge in the Gobi to educate future visitors on the importance of Bankhar dogs! Our crew became quite attached to the little fellow, but it was easier to see him go knowing the significance of his job. (Keep an eye out for a post especially on Barbus in the next couple of days!)
As we traveled, the MBDP staff was collecting data on our placed dogs and other promising Bankhar that we came across. We dewormed our dogs and took measurements of their height and weight as well as interviewed their owners about their behavior and efficiency.
During the rest of the trip we saw standing stones with incredible deer designs carved into them (they are called “deer stones” because of these) as well as a whole cliff side of petroglyphs! A Buddhist temple at Kharakorum had us in awe as we headed north once more and east towards Hustai National park. We met a local shaman who performed a ceremony to give our project good luck and to keep our dogs safe and strong.
Now that most of the travelers are home in their different countries, many amazing photos are being posted that we’ll share with you soon, but here are some to start with! A couple MBDP crew members are still in Mongolia helping with the big move– more on that in our next post.