Mongolian nomads’ ultimate dilemma | SLICE I Full documentary

foreign winter is almost over [Music] there the grass will start growing soon my name is I've been taking this trip for 40 years on the Elder I'm in charge of the 10 families on this migration let's see if we can get some reception [Music] foreign this is the last great migration in Mongolia every year we travel over 400 kilometers we passed through several districts and Villages we're now heading towards our spring pastures where it's warmer they've got so much to learn gotta watch them all the time they don't know where to go where to set up camp gotta keep an eye on everything these rings around the Sun mean that the weather is changing a storm is coming we have to move carefully [Music] we need to find shelter soon foreign [Music] budget [Music] foreign [Music] still got 150 kilometers before the next town foreign [Music] [Music] foreign it's really tough thank you I get up and Dawn every day to get the truck ready we get started by six or seven A.M my job is to haul the heavy stuff to the next camp aign I had to build a fire under the truck the crank case was frozen it's really cold it's okay now we can go there are about 160 people left in our herding community now live in town mostly children in boarding schools and the elderly who can't move the rest of us still follow our animals [Music] when I enter a town it feels like I'm in a prison we store our winter gear in this Village [Music] people now live behind fences and walls no more cattle not even a horse to ride how can people live like this is [Laughter] during the Communist time we had a film club in town we used to meet here for movie Nights we're now restoring these old Russian films they're an important part of our past it's our history [Music] whatever happens in the future these films will remain ing thank you [Applause] [Applause] [Music] during World War II Hitler invaded Russia hordes of fascist cannibals attacked our Russian brothers without warning the Mongols helped them by sending supplies tons of meat Furs and even gold and silver were shipped to the front doors was the hero among Shepherds he led Caravans to the front he requisitioned thousands of camels from all over the country never failed he was the perfect Caravan master assistant the Shepherds of thousands those who had increased their flocks beyond the quota of a thousand head [Music] s in the early 90s Communism collapsed you couldn't buy flowers sugar shoes or even a pen the Russian suppliers had pulled out there was nothing left how could we send our children to school in those conditions so all of my seven children became herders like me there's no future in this life we're always short of money that's why I want to go find work in the city drive a big truck for a mining company get a salary [Music] football [Music] tonight it's good because these days we're free to move where we like but it's not so simple if there's not enough grass in one place we'll have to move to another County we have to pay a tax it's become really hard with all these taxes it's also difficult for the kids to be in boarding schools far from their parents foreign why don't they have a nomadic school but no teacher would take this kind of Life they prefer the comfort in town did you round up the ax where's that red horse look it's running away dude my children are tired of packing and moving all the time they don't have the heart for this kind of life anymore the new generation is becoming soft they've lost their ability to survive nomadic life will soon disappear in Mongolia before us our parents traveled these routes as did our ancestors for millennia the government is pushing us to become farmers and shopkeepers but they don't really understand our ways if I settle down my life will become meaningless we're not made to live in towns moving with the seasons is our way of life foreign we belong to the clan of swans the swan is our totem we follow them as they migrate [Music] in summer we live between our father and our mother mountains Arnold's graze here and raise their newborns foreign there are over 300 lakes in the darhart valley like us the swans return here every year to lay eggs and hatch their youngs [Music] okay [Music] [Applause] [Music] hold on I've been keeping this diary for a long time I record everything that happens inside and outside this tent I was born in Ulan County I entered School in 1957. I became a supervisor after my military service I got married my first wife stole my money so I sent her back to her parents I heard her needs a wife so I started looking around I remember how we got married I kidnapped her we escaped along this very Trail about 40 years ago you were cute and chubby just like you are now he was 28 and I just turned 20. we fell in love I stole you away I couldn't formally ask for her hand there was no official wedding my parents refused him so we eloped in the night there are wolves around here foreign [Music] it's that red wolf again [Music] wolves attack our herd when they have nothing left to eat we've hunted out the forests and fished the rivers this wolf has come out of the Tiger wolves can go into a Killing Frenzy and wipe out an entire herd s this year they've already killed 30 sheep and 20 goats wolves are always hungry after a hard winter they can follow us for hundreds of kilometers the impact that's what we're up against out here [Music] after the fall of Communism I bought a hundred sheep from the State Farm [Applause] today my herd has grown to almost 600. [Music] still chasing that dream to have a hurt of a thousand means to retire like a prince among Shepherds videos foreign [Music] laughs [Music] come on you never know where a wolf will strike it runs off in One Direction then attacks from another foreign we call it by its secret names Shaggy head caterpillar King of the mountain the alpha female is the brains of the pack age we killed a young wolf but the alpha female took her Cubs she adopted them like a human being would [Music] [Music] foreign I will hunt down this wolf in his Cubs and sell their skins oh really with that old gun you expect him to be just sitting around waiting foreign thank you foreign I need a big rifle one with longer range foreign [Music] [Music] foreign to kill the parasites we need to throw the animals into a disinfectant bath s prices have really gone up this year we need more money this summer we survived thanks to our Dairy Surplus we made some money selling cream and butter but we spend it all buying food tea tobacco we won't survive another bad winter like the last one and to make things worse these wolves are following us foreign it's become more difficult to survive as a nomad winter storms cut down our herds every few years we've lost too many animals at least these wolf skins will bring in some extra cash foreign if I capture these wolf cubs I can sell them this winter I'll make back money to replace my lost cheats foreign in mid-september we start moving towards our winter grounds we make short migrations called so our animals can make the most out of the pastures and put on fat before the winter storing fat will make the difference between life or death out here for both animals and Men but raising these wolf cubs for Chinese butchers just doesn't seem right [Music] a predator even more dangerous than the wolf has come to these steps the two-legged wolf is worse than the four-legged one the four-legged wolf May kill sheep and goats but the two-legged man wolf devours his own mother earth mining companies were drilling over there last time now they show up here on our pastures there's a kind of grass here that we don't find anywhere else good for fattening up the newborn animals this has been our ancestral right since nine Generations they're offering us thirty thousand dollars to go find other pastors maybe we should take the money they pay cash you're free to do whatever you want you can sell your share of animals move to town you can even go live abroad you're an adult you can sell the animals we've worked so hard to raise I've seen it before you'll spend everything in a few months and come crawling back without a penny in your pocket the neighbor's son got a job in a factory over there in a wood mill in selenge Province yourself virus and went to work in the city after his military service it's never been easy to make a living as a shepherd during the Communist period we learned the real meaning of work just like in the Army discipline and punctuality always ready for action yeah we'll never make enough money [Music] I don't know if we'll make it the demon of greed is heating up this land can there be a future for us Nomads in this new world [Music] foreign [Music] thank you [Music] this wolf is a clever Hunter he has a strategy he attacks and withdraws we follow and fire a few shots but he circles back around us there's another one you need to kill this wolf if you don't we'll lose everything he's seeking revenge for the Cubs you took away men can't measure up to wolves I saw it happen when I was a young girl our neighbors had caught some wolf cubs then the Wolves came back and slaughtered the whole herd in Revenge foreign difficult to track down these wolves these tracks are from today those from yesterday here's the big mail [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] oh hello foreign foreign during the war with the Japanese the Mongols were surrounded foreign the enemy had poisoned all the Water Supplies our soldiers were dying of thirst [Music] condo so my father called the wolves and shot them Mongol soldiers ate wolf flesh and drank the blood to survive in the trenches foreign foreign foreign he sure gave us a run around this year bangs like a tiger this was a great wolf it'll make a powerful Talisman I'll dry his tongue and keep it on my Shrine old customs [Music] [Music] [Music] decided [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] come on [Applause] [Music] foreign foreign foreign [Music] foreign [Music] each other [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] my body will rest on this mountain waiting for the celestial wolf to devour my remains huh [Music]

Channel: SLICE

Views: 3,544,551

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, shortdoc, shortdocs, slice, slicedocs

Id: _NcTKQmdKl8

Length: 47min 44sec (2864 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 25 2022