Mongolian nomads say goodbye to herding, hello to smog | Public Radio International
▻https://www.pri.org/stories/2017-07-10/mongolian-nomads-say-goodbye-herding-hello-smog
But things are changing fast in Mongolia. And recently this nomadic family set down its portable home in a place they never expected to end up — a sprawling patchwork of dirt roads, makeshift fences and hundreds of yurts in the country’s crowded capital city of Ulaanbaatar.
A few years ago the family gave up on herding and moved to the city after losing most of its livestock in a harsh winter, known here as a “dzud.”
And they weren’t alone.
“So many nomadic families lost their herds” during that time, says Jargalsaikhan Erdene-Bayar, the father of the family. “So they started moving here. And it’s still happening.”