THE ROAD TO DADAL
After a very necessary sleep in, we hit he road with throbbing heads. The plan is to drive as far as possible north west towards Dadal (Khentii province). The landscape and weather start to considerably change as we head into Khentii; where the steppe meets the forrest. The usually soaring blue sky quickly turns black which sends wildlife running. We follow the massive herds of bolting gazelles but they are quicker than us and we stop to avoid lightning strikes just 20 metres away! Then massive golf ball sized hail begins to fall. Our amazing driver Ganba decides to continue as the roads are now becoming flooded and as hail melts it creates multiple cracks down the mountain and across already precarious roads. With some very frightening but skilled driving we get to the other side. From outside the car we look in awe at the aftermath of the storm we have survived.
Further along the road we meet a mother and her two children attending their horse after a wolf attack. We feed the horse some candies and decide to camp near the family ger. After setting up camp we watch the kids round up the sheep and goats, the boy on horseback, the girl on skipping rope. It’s such a joy to watch the enthusiasm in their task as work and play. We sleep with family dogs standing guard against wolves.
