Horse Poo

and cow poo, and yak poo. Living out on the Steppe, where there are no fences, are many horses, cows, yaks, sheep and goats. Now horses, cows and yaks in particular leave sizeable poos. Mongolia is generally a fairly dry country so these pads dry out very quickly and form a good source of fire fuel. When my favourite Mongolian family travels to the countryside and needs to make a fire to cook, fuel is collected. First thing collected is wood. The wood, however, must be laying on the ground to be used, otherwise it is left. Also collected is dried Poo. In the picture you can see Tseye, plastic bag in hand, collecting poo for the fire whilst the rest of us pitch tents (well, except Thomo who was taking the picture of course).

The poo works really well as a fuel, generating a lot of heat. A few twigs, some dried poo and a match and the fire is started. Add some river rocks in there, wait, then add the rocks to the pot along with meat, potatoes and carrots and hey presto, Khorkhog :-)