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Kate Humble: Living with Nomads

Episode 3: Mongolia

Duration: 1 hour

First broadcast: on BBC Two HDLatest broadcast: on BBC Four HD

In her final journey of the series, Kate Humble travels deep into the southern Gobi Desert in Mongolia to live with an extended family of cashmere goat and yak herders. Here in the seemingly barren wastes of Asia's largest desert, nomads have lived cheek by jowl with nature for centuries. Chimid, the 78-year-old mother of ten, welcomes Kate into her large family. With their herds of goats, sheep, horses and yaks, this family are successful nomads. They move four times a year with the seasons across the Gobi, to sheltered winter pastures and mountaintop summer grazing.

It's claimed that 30 per cent of Mongolia's population still live a nomadic existence. Nomadism was banned under a Communist regime, but when it collapsed in the 1990s thousands of nomads returned to the Gobi. They continue to battle the harsh weather and attacks from wild predators, wolves and snow leopards. But they are adapting to the 21st century, embracing its benefits like satellite dishes, mobile phones and 4x4s. And despite the modern-day threats of the burgeoning mining industry and the temptations of urban living, these Mongolian nomads seem to have found a balance between tradition and the modern world. Show less

Contributors

Presenter:
Kate Humble
Series Producer:
Alexis Girardet
Executive Producer:
Lucy Carter
Production Company:
Indus Films

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