1 July - Training
 
It was quite cold at night and our tents were covered with frost in the
morning. Ernst got the expedition off to a great start by spotting a group
of three Siberian ibex on the mountain by base camp. These animals were
difficult to see; Ernst will be a great asset to the expedition! After
breakfast in the mess tent, dodging the drops of melting frost as they fell
when the sun rose, we started the training. Risk assessment first, science
with Volodya and then off-road driving. Toby managed the steep hill descent
much more quickly than anyone else; maybe we'll use a lower gear next time
eh! Rob had fun with the failed hill climbs, getting lots of practice in so
he's the expert there! 
 
 

2 July - First survey day
 
Along with Isabella, Heike, Gunter, Ernst and Pete, I surveyed a valley near
base camp. It was stunning, filled with great swathes of wildflowers in
purple, vivid blue, yellow and orange. Spring has been late in Siberia this
year and there were many hollows where the grass was dead as the snow had
just melted; but in the pools of dead brown grass, beautiful pristine blue
gentians had sprung, the vanguard of bountiful life in the short Siberian
summer for that little patch of ground. But it was not the flowers that were
the highlight for me. In the previous six years of the expedition, there has
been only two sightings of snakes of any kind - vipers, by the end of the
day, we had seen five! Fantastic! We have now re-named that survey route
'Viper Valley' :)

3 July - Travel to Tapduair
 
After breakfast we loaded up the Land Rovers with tents, food, firewood and
field guides and headed off to Tapduair on the far side of our mountain
range. It was difficult to find somewhere decent to stop for lunch, so in
the end we had to settle for a hill top with 360 degree views of snow and
ice clad mountains in Mongolia, silky steppe, Himalayan Vultures cruising
by, lakes with ruddy shelduck, flowers all around and the most wonderful
scent of oils from the herbs of the mountain.
 
After lunch I took over driving and as we had plenty of time I decided to
demonstrate how to use the winch to recover a vehicle stuck in soft ground;
that went very well...... 
 
When we had set up camp and had dinner, we sat round the fire sang jolly
songs and told jokes - Gunter was without a doubt the winner here and all
through the night, uncontrollable laughter could be herd from Volodya's tent
as he remembered the tale about Timbuktu..... :)

4 July - Tapduair
 
A big day on a big mountain got off to a fantastic start when David, Toby,
Isabella, Steve, Volodia and I saw three badgers; at 2700 m, this was an
unusually high record, as well as being the first record for the expedition;
wonderful animals.
 
After scanning a cliff, I spotted a big stick nest with a small white fluffy
thing in it. I scrambled up to it to find a young eagle chick; probably
golden or possibly imperial, with all sorts of food remains such as
ptarmigan, chough, grouse and ground squirrel: this was a restaurant with an
amazing view!
 
At the head of the valley that Isabela, Steve and I had climbed, Isabella
spotted a Siberian ibex, silhouetted against the snow. After scouring the
surrounding area, we counted over 50 ibex, the biggest group by far ever
seen by the expedition and a fantastic find as ibex are the main prey of the
snow leopard.
 
Meantime, David, Toby and Volodia were doing just as well, with a sighting
of 23 argali, again important for the snow leopard.

5 July - Bird lakes
 
After the exertions of Tapduair we had a more relaxed day today. After a
long drive across the steppe and a crossing of the Bugazon river that
focused our drivers' concentration, we arrived at a small lake. Being wet,
there were lots of mosquitoes around :( so we doused ourselves in citronella
before setting off. There were lots of beautiful birds, including citrene
wagtails with pristine bright yellow heads and Demosielle cranes that were
displaying to each other, jumping up into the air on their long elegant
legs; wonderful.
 
After the lake, three of us went to see a man about a horse, Marat is the
man and we have hired horses from him before. Biosphere Expeditions has been
approached by a man who wants to join the expedition next year. Having found
out a bit about him and what he has done, he is clearly not disabled, though
he does have only one leg; I discussed with Marat the possibility of
providing a horse for him so he too can help with the expedition. Meanwhile,
Patricia, Heike and Steve had a gallop around the steppe, with varying
degrees of horsemanship...... :)

6 July - Sailugem and glacial lake
 
Today, Patricia, David and I headed up Sailugem mountain whilst everyone
else surveyed a nearby valley and glacial lake. My team started off in a
beautiful larch and flower filled valley and almost straight away, we found
fresh tracks, less than a day old, of an adult ibex that had come down the
valley. We followed the tracks for about 1 km and then we found tracks of a
young ibex along with those of the adult; but why was there no sign of the
youngster further down the valley? We soon found the answer in a patch of
soft mud; fresh tracks of wolf, the same age as the ibex tracks and it had
been running. We followed the tracks of the three animals further up the
valley, it looked like the chase had lasted for at least half a km.
 
Tracking does not always paint so clear a picture though; we also found a
track from a big deer of some kind, or perhaps it was a pigmy hippo or maybe
a tapir.... :)
 
At the head of the valley, we climbed up a rocky ridge and then a scree
slope, a steep scree slope, a steep, loose, scree slope, a long steep loose
scree slope...... Apparently I should apply for copyright for the phrase
'nearly there'....... :) 

7 July - Travel to Kundictikul
 
Today, we made the long drive to Kundictikul by the Mongolian border. All
our drivers did a fine job, negotiating rivers, boulder fields, steep slopes
and soft ground. However, the only bridge on the way was too much of an
obstacle with a gap of 4 m on the far side and a landing, a metre below onto
boulders. We debated the merits of taking a good run at it to clear the
boulders, Evil Knievel style, but we didn't have the spangly costumes, so
decided against it and found somewhere else to ford the river instead.
After a final tortuous bit of driving, we arrived at Naran Gol river and
lake where we set up camp, under the Chicachova mountains that marked the
Mongolian border and that would be our aim tomorrow.
 
 
 
8 July - Chicachova mountains
 
Today we split up into three teams; with me were Patricia, Heike and Rob. We
crossed the river by camp in the Discovery and then started our adventure
for the day. Up one slope to a ridge, down the other side to a second river,
a bit of acrobatics to cross and then we started on the mountain that was
our objective. On the way up, we saw an Altai accentor, a rare bird only
found in Altai, that was carrying grass to an almost complete nest. Leaving
the scree slope, we scrambled up a rocky ridge - much less tiring and also
more productive. We found fresh tracks of ibex as well as dust baths that
Altai snowcock had used to clean themselves. Lunch was at the top of a cliff
where we could look across the valley to see Toby, Peter, David and Volodia
walking up the next ridge. The head of the valley below us was spectacular,
with dramatic cliffs, a glacial lake and massive snow cornices. There were
many ledges on the steep slopes and cliffs that would be favored by snow
leopard; we spent much time methodically scanning them all with binoculars
and telescope, but did not see the elusive mountain ghost. We walked as far
as a saddle just under the snowy summit where animals are most likely to
cross between valleys and hence leave sign of their passing and we found old
resting depressions, probably from ibex, but, discretion being the better
part of valor, we left the steep snowy summit for another day.
 
On the way down we checked out an old nest, possibly of a vulture and looked
for the nest of an Altai falcon we had seen earlier; we didn't find the
nest, but we did surprise each other when we got within 3 m of the falcon
before it flew off from the ground squirrel it was eating - wow!

9 July - Return to base camp 
 
Our campfire from the night before was still smoldering as we had
breakfast, we packed and then set off. We had driven all of 300 m when we
were met by a team of five border guards in tactical formation, ready to
stop us whether we wanted to stop or not; I decided we should stop :) I gave
them our papers, which they checked along with our passports and once they
were satisfied all was in order, they were very friendly and wished us good
luck. Now you all know why we are so insistent about you sending in your
paperwork! 
 
On the way, we stopped at a couple of yurts to ask about snow leopard and
other wildlife. Aidby was very friendly and helpful, telling us about a snow
leopard he had seen, as well as an even more rare species, the manul or
Palla's Cat. We left the yurt full of tea, Kazak bread and rhubarb jam and
with a bag of cheese created specially to break your teeth!
 
Our route home took us through the valley of antiquities, so we stopped to
see the burial tombs, standing stones, stone circles and a tree with a
long-legged buzzard nest complete with two chicks - wonderful. A little
further on, we stopped at a crag that had a steppe eagle nest with two
chicks, then a crag with many petroglyphs and an upland buzzard nest with
two chicks. We were all getting a bit overloaded with wonders by this point
:)

The days between 10 July and 14th July were spent in and around base camp

while Slot one travelled home and Slot two arrived

15 July - Training day
 
After breakfast, we did the introductory talk and health and safety
briefing. Next, Volodia did the science talk; snow leopards, survey
methodology, how our data is used and how it fits into global snow leopard
conservation. Navigation, use of maps, compass and GPS was next and after
lunch, I did the off road driving course whilst Volodia took the non-drivers
for a walk in the woods. Annie was the raptor pellet finding champion and
Volodia was excited by the shrew jaw bones therein – ah well, it takes all
sorts! For everyone else of a more normal disposition however, the highlight
was seeing a fox cub playing in the sun – wonderful. Meanwhile, on the off
road driving course, all was uneventful, which is just the way I like it.
Everyone did well, negotiating steep slopes up and down, boulder fields and
rivers with calm competence. 
 
 

16 July - First survey day Mount Chornie (Black Mountain) and the Bailukem
Lakes
 
All our newly qualified off-road drivers did a fine job of negotiating the
difficult conditions, the Bugazon river on the way being quite high and near
the limits, but we crossed it competently.
 
On arriving at Mt Chornie, we split into 2 groups, one, led by Volodia
headed up the mountain, the other with me, headed round the mountain to a
valley we had never surveyed before, that led to the border with the Tuvan
Republic. All of 5 min after we left the mountaineers, the rain started, but
being hardy mountain types, Volodia’s team…..immediately abandoned their
task and retreated to the comfort of the Land Rovers :-) Meantime, my group
made our way up the valley, stopping every so often to scan the mountainside
looking for animals. At the end of the `track` we stopped, had lunch and
then headed up the valley. The crag to the northwest that marked the
boundary with the next region in Altai was high and impressive. There were
many ledges and some caves which we peered into hopefully with our
binoculars, but we didn’t see anything peering back at us. The valley floor
was filled with many wild flowers and under what was now a deep blue sky, it
was beautiful. We saw no signs that humans had been in the valley; no
tracks, no domestic animals etc. but also, there were no signs of ibex or
argali, a bit unusual. However, there is always something special to be
seen, and the find of the day was made by Sonya who found a very rare
viviparous lizard with a lovely orange stomach.
 
The drive back along the valley was punctuated with frequent stops to take
photos of the fields of wild flowers, in the early evening light and under
the blue sky it was impossible to fail to make a stunning image.

17 July - Start of horseback expedition and overnight trip.
 
Last year I tried to reach an area of mountains north of Kosh Agach as we
had had reports of snow leopard from there and the area looked great on the
map. Volodia’s computer modeling exercise too, had also highlighted the
area as a ‘red zone’ which is very favorable for snow leopard. I tried to
drive there from the east, but the road was appalling and I could not get
close. Next, I tried accessing the area from the west along a road marked on
my map; when I got there, there were15 foot high trees growing on the track.
The only practical way to access the area is by horse. I arranged the hire
of horses from Marat, a local herder/hunter and along with him, Claire,
Arkady (Marat’s helper) and myself headed off for four days to make an
initial survey of the area and to see if further surveys would be practical.
 
We crossed the steppe, passed high red cliffs, went through a narrow rocky
valley and into a flower filled valley with great swathes of edelweiss. At
the top of a pass, Marat stopped and sprinkled the big rocky cairn with some
fresh cow’s milk for good luck on our journey. We passed small lakes with
tufted ducks and Slavonian grebes in a wide green valley. A gentle descent
in the next valley led us through the most beautiful woods I have ever seen.
The trees were mostly Siberian larch, with a few pines, or cedar as they are
known locally and they were quite widely spaced, leaving plenty of space and
light for the most amazing woodland flowers. One area would be dominated
with the blues of monk’s hood and complimented with oranges of daisies, then
the hue would subtly change to the blues of geranium, or of bluebells, but
always, dazzling colour, delicacy and lush abundant life all around. For a
long time, I have wanted to visit the world famous valley of flowers in
India as it is supposed to be spectacular; now, I suspect it may be a bit of
a let down for me.
 
We passed through an area of burnt forest, perhaps the result of a lightning
strike, before arriving at our camp site by the side of a river. This was
the most perfect of camp sites in a lush little flower filled meadow,
surrounded by larch, fairy tale perfect!
 
Meanwhile, Volodia and the rest of the team set off for a 3 day expedition
to the Tekelu river valley, driving up the river itself to get to a camp
site.
 

 
18 July - Into the heart of the mountains.
 
After breakfast, we packed, loaded up the horses and set off. Yesterday, we
had crossed a few rivers that I thought were pretty exciting, but nothing
compared with the river crossing that started our day as we left camp….. As
we headed up the valley, the trees thinned then disappeared, leaving us in a
wide green valley with massive sheer cliffs to the west that I scoured for
eagle eyries, unsuccessfully, and to the east, small crags on top of a high
ridge. A small side valley led up into the heart of the mountains and it was
here we were to leave Marat and the horses and continue on foot. At the foot
of the valley, there was a small wooden hut where two herders lived and
tended their flock of 300 sheep and goats. Whilst talking to them, on the
ground, I noticed the skeletal hand of a bear, shot by the herders in
protecting their animals. Claire and I left Marat and Arkady talking and
drinking tea with the herders and headed off uphill. A small stream gully
was still filled with ice from the winter and had been sculpted into sinuous
curves. There was a small glacial lake, then a second larger turquoise one.
The head of the valley was split by a rocky ridge with rocky corries left
and right; it was up the ridge that we made our ascent. On the way up I saw
a clubmoss, not actually a moss, but a primitive non-flowering plant; this
was the first clubmoss I remember seeing in Altai and looked very similar to
a species I know from Scotland, though it did have subtle differences. After
a long slog up the rocks, we reached the summit plateau at 3333 m. The blue
skies of the morning had gone and the clouds all around created spectacular
lighting for the views out over the Kosh Agach steppe to the south west and
the mountains and valleys all around. We started our descent down the other
side of the mountain to our rendezvous with Marat down a narrow rocky ridge.
We had barely set off when the weather suddenly changed and it started to
hail, heavily. Only a few minutes later, we found tracks in the snow, unlike
any I had seen before. I quickly took some photos before they filled with
the hail; you could clearly see the paw prints, the length of the legs and
the marks of the body, this was the trail of a manul or Pallas’ cat, even
more rare than the snow leopard and a fantastic find for the expedition. By
now the weather had deteriorated even more, thunder and lightning had
started. I could hear buzzing and my eyelashes were standing on end, a clear
sign of serious electrical activity, this was no longer a safe place to be;
we now hold the Altaian speed record for getting off a ridge. On the way
down, the hail piled up, covering the ground, except for clumps of yellow
flowers showing through, an unusual and beautiful sight. We arrived at
‘ozyera adin’ or the first lake to find Marat and Arkady sheltering in their
tent, whilst a white-winged scoter, a bird not previously recorded by the
expedition, flew past.
 
Meanwhile, in the Tekelu river valley, the rest of the team split into two
survey teams, one headed up high onto a mountain whilst the other surveyed a
mountain valley. The mountain group had a hard day, leaving at nine in the
morning and only getting back at six, having endured rain and snow. Down in
the valley, Thorsten in the other group made the find of the expedition;
argali tracks with those of a snow leopard following behind! It has been a
long time since we have found sign of snow leopard, so it was excellent to
get this data. :-)
 

19 July - Glacial lakes
 
We had camped by the first lake in our valley, however there were four
glacial lakes further up the valley; it was these we went to survey this
day. The first glacial lake was interesting; where the water flowed into the
lake, there was a rock field, but all the rocks were orientated to have
their flat sides up and all at the same level, the result was an amazingly
smooth flat surface that you could have driven an ordinary saloon car over,
very strange. Around this area, the birds were wonderful, we saw a
spectacularly red and pink rosefinch, new for the expedition, a white winged
redstart and lots of Altai accentors – endemic to the area. The next lake
was bounded on one side by a steep scree slope that disappeared straight
into the depths of the lake – didn’t look good for crossing at all and on
the other side, by a steep slope, again plunging into the lake, but
negotiated easily with a little scrambling. Glacial lake number three was up
a hanging valley, so we passed it by, but on the way to the last lake, we
started to find fresh sign of Siberian ibex and argali, both primary prey
species of the snow leopard, as well as older sign in the form of two old
ibex skulls. The final lake was as beautiful as the others and beyond,
massive cliffs, at least 2000 feet high, was a very abrupt and spectacular
end to the valley.
 
Whilst we had been surveying the glacial lakes, Marat had taken the horses
further down the valley to where there was food for the horses, so we made
our way there to join him. At the side of the river on the way, we made
another great find, more Manul sign, this time faeces. Marat and our horses
were at the other side of the river, so Arkady took a horse across to ferry
us to the other side. Claire was first across, this was a good thing as when
Arkady returned, we saw a viper at the water’s edge which would have
provoked a major incident had Claire been anywhere near it :)
 
Meanwhile, the rest of the team were having a day off work, starting with a
long lie-in as it was pouring with rain. After a while the rain stopped, the
sun came out and the team made their way back to base camp. In the
afternoon, the team made a trip to some nearby petroglyphs and saw an upland
buzzard nesting there with one big fat brown chick. 
 

20 July - Return to base camp
 
We awoke to a misty wet morning. After breakfast, we crossed the river and
headed down the valley through very spongy ground that the horses’ hooves
disappeared into with every step. We crossed the river near a small
abandoned hut - that was interesting, deep water, big boulders, I was glad
that was behind us. We traversed a meadow on the hillside, completely
covered with yellow flowers, before descending to, yes, cross the river
again. Marat checked all the horses and tightened their straps, not a good
sign, then he got on his horse and headed for the river, and stopped. ‘Nyet’
he said, too much water. I was not about to disagree with the judgment of
an expert, however, I did look for alternatives that might be acceptable to
him. How about going back to the previous crossing and travelling down the
other side of the river, ‘nyet’ the ground was far too soft and hazardous
for the horses. I walked upstream and found somewhere that looked better
that the other crossing. ‘Maybe’ said Marat, so I looked downstream for
another option. I found a crossing that looked perfectly fine to me and on
returning with Marat, he agreed, the only problem was how to get the horses
to it! There were some fallen trees blocking the way as well as thick
stands of willow, but after a bit of exercise with Marat’s axe, we were
there and then easily across the river. Another river lay across our track,
but this was easily crossed too. Next, we made our way up a steep slope and
from behind I heard a commotion, looking round I saw Claire on the ground –
a small but clearly vital piece of tack had broken, dumping saddle, panniers
and Claire onto the hillside. Fortunately, no damage was done. 
 
The rain stopped, so we did too, making a fire for tea. I wrung out the
water from my clothes and then dried them by the fire along with my toes;
that felt good! The break from riding was great, but starting again was not
so great! When we started to get near Marat’s home, the horses realised
where they were heading and quickened their already brisk pace; very fit
horses!
 
At Marat’s Isle, his home, we had more tea accompanied by bread and fresh
cream – that tasted soooo good. The drive back to base camp was interesting
as ever, especially when we saw a Demoiselle crane doing a broken wing
distraction display, trying to lure us away from its chicks: wonderful, I’ve
never seen that before.
 
Meanwhile, the rest of the team had been surveying a valley near base camp
in heavy rain and were rewarded with a sighting of a maral deer; although we
do sometimes find sign of these deer, sightings are extremely rare

 
21 July - Base camp to Sailugem National Park (proposed!)
 
After breakfast we loaded up the Land Rovers with tents and food and headed
off for the proposed Sailugem National Park. Passing through Kosh Agach,
Annie was amazed at the high fashion on display on the dusty streets of
this harsh frontier town: high heeled stilettos, stockings and exposed
mid-riffs mixing with rusty old Russian army lorries, log cabin houses and
dirt roads. 
 
After crossing the Kosh Agach steppe, we got to the Jezator checkpoint where
our papers and passports were checked, this took a bit longer than normal as
we had arrived at lunch time….. When underway again, we drove along a
valley on the main road to Kazakhstan before heading east up a valley into
the proposed Sailugem National Park. Though there was a track marked on the
map, it was difficult to even see it on the ground. The way was rough, bumpy
and at times boggy, but with Dorothy, Sonya and Thorsten driving we made
good progress. Near the highest point of the valley and about 8 km from the
Mongolian border, we set up camp. Woods marked on the map were either a
cartographer’s dream or the victim of a lumberjack’s axe, but the views were
fantastic with dramatic cliffs and snow fringed ridges to the west, rolling
hills to the east and tantalizing Mongolia to the south; in the warm evening
light they looked fantastic. After dinner we had a fantastic camp fire that
warmed parts that even the Nescafe, condensed milk and vodka cocktails could
not reach, and listened to what sounded like a cat calling (manul?) from a
nearby gully. 
 
22 July - Sailugem National Park survey.
 
We split into three survey teams, Sonya, Simon, Herwig, Joerg and I headed
off west for an enormous walk up a 3400 m peak and horseshoe, whilst
Barbara, Claire, Sonya, Thorsten and Rob surveyed a valley and Volodia
headed for Mount Chornia (black mountain) with Dorothy, Annie, Martin and
Marina. As my team climbed, we saw lots of sign of domestic animals, but
mixed in were a few fresh tracks, only about a day old, of what looked like
ibex. Then it started raining. It looked like it would be a passing shower,
so we continued in the mist with our work; it was not a passing shower,
however… We continued uphill, finding sign of ibex, but after about half an
hour of horizontal rain and then hail, the novelty of it wore off and I
decided we should head back, but taking a slightly different route to cover
some new ground on the way. As we walked, we started to find resting
depressions, usually difficult to attribute to a particular species, but
these depressions had ibex faeces in them. Then Sonya suddenly pointed to
something in front of us, further along the top of the cliff. We all looked
round to see 11 ibex appear from the cliff face up onto the cliff-top. As
soon as they appeared, they took flight and ran off down hill and away. We
were all delighted at seeing the ibex so close, about 200 m away. Then more
ibex appeared, 28 of them, including eight young; these too ran off
downhill. We couldn’t believe our luck. Then, an adult and two young
appeared, I asked everyone to stay perfectly still as the three ibex started
walking along the cliff directly towards us! They got closer and closer till
when they were about 80 m away they disappeared from sight behind a fold in
the ground. I got everyone to sit down, and then again stay perfectly still.
The ibex did not appear. We stayed there motionless for what seemed like
ages, had they fled, had they stopped? Then they re-appeared about 50 m from
us, the adult stopped and looked directly at us, but we all stayed perfectly
still and eventually it continued its track towards us. At about 30 m from
us, the three ibex headed off down the cliff, still unaware of or presence -
a fantastic experience and great data for the expedition. Back at camp, the
other teams had returned too, so we dried off and had lunch. Later, when the
weather improved and the sun came out; Volodia and Herwig investigated the
gully from where we had heard cat-like calling the night before, while Rob,
Simon, Sergii, Annie, Claire, Martin and I drove to some lakes to see what
birds they held – tufted duck, Slavonian grebe, whooper swan and pintail. 

23 July - Return to base camp
 
Sonya, Herwig and I drove the Land Rovers out of the valley, negotiating the
boggy ground, Sonya doing a great job of finding the best way. We stopped at
an isle (wooden hut) and had a chat with Misha, a herder. isha was very
friendly and chatted openly, telling us of the big herds of ibex and argali
in the local area. Whilst he had not seen snow leopard, which he confirmed
to be a holy animal, the man who tended the goats and sheep with him had,
twice, on the mountain where we had seen ibex the day before. Misha gave us
kefir - fermented cows milk and cheese - as we talked about changes in land
ownership in Russia, school for his children and what it was like to live in
the beautiful mountains with their chill winds.
 
Just before we re-joined the Kazakhstan / Altai international highway (!) we
stopped at some Kurgin, burial tombs, and their standing stones. Further on,
we stopped for lunch, just as we got onto the steppe, by some massive
boulders that had some petroglyphs of ibex and other animals on them. After
driving across the steppe, we had a short stop at Kosh Agach to stock up on
essential supplies, in my case, ice-cream! We made good time and arrived at
base camp around 16:00, so that after checking the Land Rovers for the long
drive back to Novosbirsk and filling in the last datasheets, we were free to
relax and enjoy the warm sun. A good time was had by all on the last
evening, eating cake and consuming the essential supplies before we went to
bed as it started to snow :-)
 
 

24 July - Base camp to Mikhailovo 
 
After a team photo with the newly snow dusted mountains in the background,
we were off; most sad to leave, others looking forward to a soft bed. We
were all looking forward to a big lunch at the Chui Oozi restaurant,
however, it was closed, so we had to continue to the café on top of the
Chiki Taman pass.

 
25 July - Mikhailovo to Novosibirsk
 
An early start in the rain, stops at silver springs market, then the honey
market where we sampled the worlds best pirozhkis - hot ‘pies’ filled with
either potato, cabbage, meat or egg and onion and bliny - pancakes filled
with fruit :-)
 
So, that’s the end of slot 2, the weather was quite poor at times, but we
still managed to get a lot of survey work completed. Thorsten’s fantastic
find of the snow leopard trail was the find of the expedition, but we’ll see
if we can outdo that during slot 3 or 4.