North by Northwest (and then some)

You haven’t experienced true helplessness until your horse has carried you into a tree branch, and you’ve never been truly remote until you’ve traveled to the Taiga in northern Mongolia. The Taiga refers to the northernmost coniferous forests and is also home to the Dukha, Mongolia’s reindeer herders. In 2012, two Peace Corps Volunteers made the 17-hour trek to visit with the families of the Taiga. With a few years of dedicated PCVs and long-suffering Mongolian counterparts, the trip has grown into an annual project committed to providing education, health resources and youth development to Mongolia’s smallest ethnic minority.

Our trip began with 16 volunteers congregating in Murun, Khuvsgul’s aimag center. There we spent two days finalizing lessons plans, purchasing materials and food, and generally accepting the close quarters we would have for the next eight days. The first leg of the trip was from Murun to Tsagaannuur, the closest soum to the Taiga. After 20 minutes on the paved road north, we spent the next nine hours off-roading through rivers, forests and open plains. Exhausted and swearing off nausea, we