The Hustai National Park

In May 2013 our friends, John and Daphne, came from Vancouver to visit us in Ulaanbaatar and to see  some other areas of Mongolia. One of our shared excursions was a day trip to Hustai National Park located about 100 km southwest of UB. This park is a conservation area dedicated to the preservation and protection of Mongolia's wild horse, the takhi. Along with the park rangers, these semi-wild cattle keep a close watch on the visitors. 

In Daphne's estimation this is one of the most beautiful cow faces on the planet. We had to agree.

We travelled to and around the park with a driver and guide. Just as well, as Hustai is vast, at 50,620 hectares and it's easy to become disoriented in the steppes. 

In addition to the takhi, Hustai is populated by deer, gazelles, boars, manuls (small wild cats), marmots, wolves, and lynx. We saw a number of small herds of deer, displaying all manner of prowess. Marmots were in evidence, as well. 

The park is rich in birdlife, many of them raptors including eagles, falcons, hawks, buzzards and vultures. 

The takhi, are also called Przewalski's horse, thus named after the Polish explorer who first "discovered" the horse in 1878. The takhi became extinct in Mongolia in the late 1960s but a few remained in European zoos and as a result of the dedicated work of some conservationists they were successfully reintroduced in 3 national parks in Mongolia in the years following Soviet withdrawal from the country. Hustai National Park is home to about 250 takhi. Visitors to the park are not guaranteed they will see these beautiful animals but the park rangers are helpful in directing drivers and guides. We were lucky in having sightings of several small groupings. It was foaling season and we had the good fortune to see a few very young horses. The takhi are the only truly wild horses on earth with a genetic make-up that is different from all other horses; they have 2 more chromosomes in their DNA. Visitors are watched closely and are not permitted to get too close to the takhi, for all the right reasons. 

Our sighting of the graceful - and watchful - demoiselle cranes.

However arid and barren the steppes appear from a distance up close there was an abundance of colour in the alpine flowers that were in bloom in May.