Hello inmates! I wanted to ask all of you to help us in our endeavor to save a critical ecosystem in Mongolia and support our Mongolian Motorcycle Rally Fundraiser this July. Here is a brief synopsis of the event. Check out the website for more info. Donate if you can or share on Facebook or with your friends. Here is the link to our website. http://bluewavesmongolia.org/?page_id=27 Seventeen motorcycle riders (I am one of them) in the United States are fundraising $9000 each to purchase 17 quality offroad motorcycles that will be given and delivered in person to the rangers at Lake Hovsgol National Park in Mongolia this July. The 17 rangers at Lake Hovsgol currently patrol this globally important lake in Mongolia on foot or on horseback and can't adequately protect the area from illegal mining, poaching of endangered wildlife and illegal logging. The Park is bigger than Yellowstone, contains 1% of the worlds fresh water and is the largest un-polluted lake in the world. It has remained unspoiled because of its remoteness but a road is being built to the lake as we speak and tourism will increase dramatically and access to this pristine wilderness will compound the inability of the rangers to protect this lake. Ono's organization is working diligently to establish a US style National Park infrastructure. The motorcycles we will be donating will have a direct and immediate impact. These bikes will allow the rangers to adequately patrol the vast areas they are tasked with protecting. The participant riders are working tirelessly to raise the money to make this happen and will be paying for their own airfare and donating 2 weeks of their time in Mongolia. All money raised goes directly to outfitting the rangers of Lake Hovsgol with motorcycles and gear. Go to the site...check it out...throw a few bucks towards this. Its tax deductible as well.
Hey guys! A couple hundred of you have looked at this post but no one has responded. We are not just looking for donations. We are hoping you will help us promote this worthwhile cause. Share with your friends on Facebook etc. We are trying hard to bring worldwide attention to Lake Hovsgol, Mongolia so we can save one of the worlds last pristine ecosystems before its too late. Getting motorcycles to these rangers at the lake so they can adequately patrol the lake is a good step towards this goal, but raising worldwide awareness to the significance of Lake Hovsgol is the ultimate goal. Us motorcycle guys can play a big part in this. Check out our campaign website. Share with your friends. Send me a message with any questions or suggestions you may have to help promote what we are trying to do through this rally. http://bluewavesmongolia.org/?page_id=27
Here is a video of the ranger at Lake Hovsgol that I am raising money for. Watch the video...it will make you cry. His name is Batjargal Dorj. I met him this last summer in Mongolia and he is one of the sweetest people you could ever meet. Outfitting him with a motorcycle will allow him to adequately patrol the area of the park he is assigned to protect. Each rider/participant is partnered with one ranger...I am tasked with insuring Batjargal gets a motorcycle. He makes $250 a month and spends weeks on end away from his family as he patrols a huge amount of land by horseback that he is responsible for. Your donation to help get him a motorcycle will not only save this amazing lake but will literally change this mans life! Your donation goes 100% to helping Batjargal. No money is being used for overhead for the Mongol Ecology Center. Every cent goes directly to helping him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LDmWrI4V4Y Here is the link to the campaign website again... http://bluewavesmongolia.org/?page_id=27
I was the first resident US Defense Attache to Mongolia (1998-2000), so when I saw this post it caught my eye. I lived in Ulaanbaatar over a period of three years and worked at the US Embassy there. I visited Lake Hovsgol numerous times. Along with representing the US Department of Defense and liaising with the Government of Mongolia, my charge was exploring the country. I road horseback all along the southern edge of Hovsgol. It is indeed beautiful. The pics are great, but they don't do it justice. I was there in '99 in May when the first ice crack occurred that year. Unbelievable, but so is the whole country. Tell me more about what you're doing with the bikes? Unless things have changed significantly, service for anything but Ural and Dnepr is nonexistent. I have several Mongolian friends, and a few Americans that still travel in and out. Things have come a long way in 13 years from what I hear, but Ulaanbaatar still lacks things we here in the West take for granted, like Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, etc. And despite the pics we all have seen of a GS and Mongolian in traditional garb, travel is some of the roughest in the world due to weather...unless you hit it just right which is really July and August. Ok, it's not as rough as in and around Ramadi or Jalalabad, but it is rough for a peacetime country. I'd be very surprised if there is service within several thousand miles, still, even now 13 years later. And even if there is service for other than Ural and Dnepr, the drive is something that can only be done for about two months in the summer, and it is brutal. Getting parts out, or transporting bikes in for service would be a lot of trouble...perhaps so much that bikes might get abandoned for simply maintenance issues. As for flights, they were at least weekly, but there wasn't a fleet of planes flying back and forth. There was one, with many popped rivets and steel showing through the tires. But many of the seats were bolted down. The last flight I took in left me, a time out of US PACOM, and my wife stranded for two weeks when the 'one' plane broke down. I doubt Mongolian Air has found a sugardaddy to finance a fleet of dependable planes for flights to and fro Hovsgol. Maybe, but I'd lay money the plane flying back and forth today is the same one I flew in. So parts and service out in the back country are serious issues there. And I haven't even begun to describe the weather. 10 months out of the year are sub-freezing, and most of those 10 months are below zero up around Hovsgol. On the same mentioned trip, we were in a blizzard in June. Temps in winter regularly hit -40 (-38 C and -38 F are the same thing by the way), and there was a -72 day there at Hovsgol while I was living in UB. So I'd question the utility of motorcycles most of the year, and availability of parts and service year round...unless Urals or Dneprs which are the norm in Mongolia, easy to fix, and everyone knows how to fix them. They get plenty of practice Urals and Dneprs being what they are. Snow mobiles would get several months more use. But who am I to be Debby Downer...except that maybe I might be an American motorcyclist that lived there. Just food for thought. I'd scrutinize your plan a bit more. Horses can travel year round there, and they have plenty. They run about $25 a head, just a bit less than a camel of which they also have plenty. And like I mentioned, I did the southern side of Hovsgol on a horse in a blizzard. So I know that works. In all my travels, the Mongolians rank right up there with the best folks on Earth if not the very best folks on Earth. But like all struggling peoples, they'll take whatever you give, and the Mongolians do everything with the best intentions, for they are an honorable people, but they may be a bit over-optimistic with the utility of motorcycles for year-round inspection, or even regular inspection of the Hovsgol area. I'm really an optimist, but I've lived and worked throughout Asia, and Europe for that matter. And I'm prior military with lots of time in bad situations. I just don't see this as a winning idea. But it has been a decade since I was last there. Perhaps things have really turned around. Cheers.
Subrosa Thanks for your feedback! You are one of few people that has had the opportunity to experience Mongolia first hand. My wife is Mongolian and runs the NGO, The Mongol Ecology Center, that is putting this Moto Rally on. We live in Mongolia for half the year...and yes we try to be in the USA during the brutal winters. Things in Mongolia have definitely changed a lot since you lived there. As you know Mongolia is the fastest growing economy in the world at 16% a year. The infrastructure has advanced a long way with regular domestic flights anywhere in the country by 4 Mongolian owned airlines. Also, and this is why what the Mongol Ecology Center is working to do at Lake Hovsgol is critically important, a paved road from Ulaan Bataar to Lake Hovsgol is near completion. This road combined with easy air travel will increase the number of tourists to Lake Hovsgol dramatically. The Mongol Ecology Center is working with the US National Park Service and the Mongolian government to establish a US style National Park system before this influx of tourism hits the area. You are correct in stating that the season at Lake Hovsgol only lasts three months and is mostly frozen 7 feet thick the rest of the year. But the lake is going to see an unbelievable increase in tourism during those three months once the road is completed and the border with Russia is opened to 3rd country tourism. Lake Hovsgol is larger than Yellowstone (which has 300 rangers) and is only patrolled by 15 rangers. While horses are readily available they are an inadequate means of transportation for these rangers to patrol the vast areas they are responsible for. The motorcycle scene in Mongolia has changed a great deal with KTM,Kawasaki,Yamaha, Honda and other brands opening distribution in the country. We are currently in negotiations with a couple of Japanese manufacturers to supply the motorcycles so I can't divulge the brand at this time. We are going with a carburated 250 off road motorcycle. Parts for this bike are readily available in Mongolia and service and parts will be provided by the manufacturer in conjunction with continued support by MEC and the Mongolian government. MEC will also be training the rangers in maintenance and riding skills and will be outfitting each ranger with riding gear. This is an ongoing campaign that will be outfitting rangers with bikes in the Gobi Desert in 2015 and more parks in 2016 and beyond. The Mongol Ecology Center is working to set up a protected National Park system in Mongolia to keep these natural wonders from being destroyed by tourism, deforestation and poaching. Motorcycles will have an immediate positive impact in supporting their goal and gives a positive image to motorcycles as a environmentally responsible means of transportation. This Moto Rally is being documented and being made into a documentary to be released in November with the bigger goal of bringing world wide attention to this amazing, globally important and pristine ecosystem. I will be happy to discuss this with you more via phone if you are interested in helping to get the word out seeing as you have been to Mongolia and Lake Hovsgol and know how amazing this part of the world is. Very few people have even heard of Lake Hovsgol but we have the opportunity to preserve it before it gets destroyed so people can experience untouched wilderness for years to come.
Wow! That is great to hear! I'd love to get back there to see it all. Hovsgol is a beautiful place, but so is the whole country. My greatest regret is that I didn't take a bike or ATV when I lived there. We did many, many expeditions by Landcruiser though, and as I mentioned several trips by horse and even camel. But ss there really hard top all the way to Hovsgol now? Wow. And a KTM dealer in UB? Damn. I had to fly in parts for my Landcruiser for me and my driver to fix it ourselves. There was no organized service for anything. You simply hired 'Byambajorg' to see what he could do with baling wire. So that is really great to hear that modernization is happening. And it's great to hear that Hovsgol is getting some business. It was a very poor town and area at the time. Indicative of the poverty at the time was the hospital in Hovsgol. We always visited on every trip, and I remember an old man with a broken leg in one of the beds that was 'pulling on a rope tired to the foot of his bed' for pain relief. There were no medicines to speak of. And a baby girl that had pulled a hot water kettle off the ger stove onto her upper body, and all they had was a sulfer paste for relief. She was screaming bloody murder. It was gut wrenching. So I'm glad things are looking up. Guess I need to visit again. Do you have much to do with GOM officials? Or does your wife? I'm sure she does. What is the affiliation with the park ranger corps' affiliation with the MOD? Probably none. I don't remember a park ranger organization when I lived there. By the way, my family and I lived in Faulty Towers over by the Embassy (if it's still there by the river), across the river and adjacent to the Chinghis Khan Hotel. Is all that still there? There was something very special, romantic and beautiful about the primitive Mongolia (and UB) of those days. Well good luck to you and your venture. Didn't mean to be Debby Downer - guess I should have asked a few questions before pontificating based on my 15 year old experience. Let me know if I can be of service.
Great write up about the Mongolia Rally on motorcycle-usa.com Check it out... http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/846/1...Motorcycle-Rally-to-Support-Lake-Hovsgol.aspx The rally is getting a ton of support! Big Big thanks to the inmates on ADVrider that have been sending their messages of support, donations and help in spreading the word about this Motorcycle Rally! We are actually amazed with the response from ADVriders...You are an amazing group of people. We really appreciate your help! Those of you that have not passed our campaign on to your friends...please help spread the word. And of course...your donations would always be appreciated! Here is a link to the website again so you can see the riders that have dedicated themselves to this cause...I think they really just want to ride across Mongolia for 2 weeks...but who wouldn't! They are all working really hard to raise the money to outfit these rangers at Lake Hovsgol with the equipment they need to protect this amazing place...so that you can one day ride there and experience what we get to see and not another developed and polluted tourist destination. http://bluewavesmongolia.org/?page_id=48
