Off to Mongolia we go...

This fall, we will be working and living in Ulaanbaatar ("UB" for short), Mongolia - the world's coldest capital city...

Burt will be completing his Clinton School Capstone project with the Business Plus Initiative, a USAID-funded project implemented by Chemonics International; Katie will be doing her Capstone project with the Lotus Guesthouse, a for-profit business whose aim is to financially support (as well as provide vocational training for) the Lotus Children's Center, an NGO that works with Mongolian street kids to provide shelter, food and education. We both feel blessed and honored to have these opportunities.

{Burt arrived in Mongolia on August 28 and started work on September 4. Katie is scheduled to arrive on September 20 and start work on September 24. Until then, we'll have to settle for our twice-daily "Skype dates" - Mongolia is 13 hours ahead of Arkansas and Texas...}

{Before coming to Mongolia, Burt visited his mom, sister and nephew Dallas in Sacramento... He was able to go to Dallas' first soccer game, take Dallas to Chuck E. Cheese, and hang out with his mom and sister...}

 

{Burt spent his first couple days in UB exploring the city, checking out where Katie will be living and working, and visiting a few museums...}

Sukhbaatar Square

Statue of Gengis Khan

National Museum of Mongolian History

Choijin Lama Museum

{On his first weekend in Mongolia, Burt and some new friends went hiking in the Bogdkhan Uul National Park, just outside of UB...}

Mongolia is known for its large population of wild horses...

... and camels!

{Burt's first day of work...}

Burt's office is on the 12th floor of the Express Tower...

{Burt's new apartment...}

Burt's apartment is on the 7th floor of this building...

...the best part is that it is not far from the Lotus Guesthouse, where Katie will be living and working!

{This weekend, Burt went horse trekking with a friend from work through a company called Steppe Riders...}

...he stayed at this ger camp,

 

 

...rode horses,

 

...which provided some amazing views of the beautiful Mongolian steppe,

a herd of goats

...hung out with local Mongolians, drank mare's milk and ate horhog, a traditional Mongolian meal made of goat, which was killed right in front of the group.

...it was a great time, and he's already promised to take Katie there when she gets to Mongolia.

mole national park {ghana's yellowstone}...

{last thursday, we drove 12 hours to ghana's northern region to visit mole national park... }

  {this is what the road looked like for the final two hours...

  {this little guy greeted us as we entered the park...} 

  {we finally made it!...} 

 {the warthog that was standing outside our room the first morning...}

  {our first safari...}

  {baboons!...}

 {african kob...} {two males fighting...}

  {whistling duck...}  {white-backed vultures...}

  {guineafowl...} {red bishop...}

 {roan antelope...} {green monkeys...}

 {bushbuck...} {ground squirrel...}

  {male waterbuck...}

 {female waterbuck and baby...}

 {lined centipede-eater... poisonous} {savannah monitor lizard - look closely and you can see his head in the water on the left side...}

     

  {elephant dung...}
 {saddle-billed stork...}

{on day 2, we tracked elephants through the woods with our guide issah...}

    {footprints!...}

 {katie standing in an elephant footprint...}

{in the words of our dear friend, elmer fudd... shh... be vewy, vewy quiet... we're twacking elephants...}

  {first sightings!...}   

  {by the time we left mole, they were calling katie the the elephant whisperer...}

 

  

   {hammerhead stork...} 

 {stone partridge...}

 {elephant in the watering hole right outside our room...}

  {elephants on one of our safari drives...}

  {the view outside our room was beautiful...}  

 {burt snuck-up on this guy and he wasn't happy about it...}

  {hartebeest...} {red-flanked duiker...}

 {african buffalo... look real closely...}

 {katie swears she saw a hyena/lion/jackal, but there is no picture to verify this claim...}

 {the elephants bid us farewell on our way out...}

 {we were fortunate enough to see two leopards when we were leaving the park on sunday...}

 {our guide told us they've only been seen 4 or 5 times all year...}

{on our way home, we planned to stop at bui national park, where there was - at one time - a large hippo population... that was, of course, before they started building a dam...}

  {there would be no hippo sightings on this day... there hadn't been one in over a year...}

 {...and we declined an invitation to stay here...}

  {...but we did settle for a hike up sunset mountain...}

 {...and the view was incredible...}

{no road trip in ghana would be complete without... a shredded tire!...}