Choosing the taiga

In 2022, I spent a month sharing the daily lives of Tsaatan reindeer herders in the taiga of northern Mongolia. Enkhbayar was born and raised in the city. He worked as a cook, an employee at Ulaanbaatar airport and a television presenter. His life took a different course when he met Girelee, a Tsaatan woman with whom he would have two children. After living together in the capital, the couple decided to join Girelee’s relatives in the taiga. She returned to the world of her parents; he discovered it for the first time.

Enkhbayar learned to raise reindeer, follow the herd’s migrations and live with limited access to healthcare, shops and communications. Their children are growing up between family life in the taiga and school in the city. In turn, they too will have to choose their own way of life. Their story confronts me with a simple question: what am I willing to leave behind, and what do I hope to find in a different life?

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Reproduction of a portrait of a man and a woman posing side by side before a green backdrop.

A man in a pale shirt and a woman sit on rocks above a mountain valley. — Girelee and Enkhbayar on the mountain where they come to call their children in town.

Aerial view of a mountain valley crossed by streams, with low clouds between the slopes.

A reindeer with large antlers stands before two conical tents in a valley beneath an overcast sky.

A herd of reindeer gathers in a mountain valley, their antlers filling the foreground.

An internally lit conical tent beneath a star-filled sky, framed by mountain silhouettes.

A person dressed in red holds a large drum beside a fire in a dark tent.

A person wears blue clothing with multicoloured ribbons and a fringed headdress inside a dark tent.

A woman pours a white liquid from a green ladle into a large steaming pot inside a tent. — Girelee Sambuu aerates reindeer milk inside the tent.

A man smoking and a smiling woman sit side by side on a bench in a valley. — Gana and Girelee talk at camp.

Five women seated around a bench look beyond the frame in a grassy valley. — At camp, women watch the animals being loaded before the seasonal move.

A woman in a green sweater sits on the grass holding a ring-shaped loaf, with mountains behind her. — Dari holds bread baked in the embers of a wood stove.

A man seated outside a tent handles fish in a pink basin on the grass. — Enkhbayar cleans fish before boiling them.

A seated man cuts meat outdoors while other people work behind him. — Gana cuts up a reindeer slaughtered to feed the camp.

A man bends forward to split wood with an axe in a valley beneath large clouds. — Enkhbayar chops wood to build up a supply.

A person in a blue jacket leans towards a child sitting on rocks, facing the mountains.

A person holds a device with an antenna to their ear on a rocky slope above a valley. — A call from the mountain, away from camp.

A standing man and a seated woman occupy a rocky ridge in front of a mountain range.

A person handles a long pole beside a white conical tent in a grassy valley.

A woman in a floral dress carries a child on her back, standing among bags and tarpaulins on the grass.

Several people fasten bags and blankets onto a horse in a mountain camp. — Loading the animals before the seasonal move.

A winding stream crosses a broad grassy valley surrounded by rocky peaks.

Riders and horses laden with bags travel through shrubs in a hilly landscape.

Aerial view of plots and houses with colourful roofs arranged along the shore of a large lake.

Two people prepare food in a room with a patterned floor, around a central stove and a window.

A man wearing a red and blue cap sits beside a window in a dim room.

Red dirt tracks intersect across a vast green plain, with mountains on the horizon.

A man drives a car beneath a grey sky, seen from the passenger seat across the interior.

Aerial view of a clearing surrounded by conifer forests, with mountains in the background.

A motorcycle is parked before a white yurt and people seated in the grass beneath large clouds.

A child drinks in the foreground while two adults prepare meat on the grass behind him.

A long line of animals is silhouetted along the crest of a grassy slope beneath a blue sky.

Small groups of animals occupy a broad green meadow below wooded hills.

A person prepares food on a table covered with bowls and utensils before a window overlooking the grassland.

Two men sit around a small table in a wooden room decorated with colourful fabrics.

Close portrait of a man drinking from a metal bowl inside a dark room.

A solitary white yurt stands in grassland before hills beneath a grey sky.

Aerial view of green hills crossed by tracks, with a small herd on the slope.

A man in a red T-shirt turns a red and gold prayer wheel along a painted gallery.

Two people walk along a pavement beside colourful facades, with cars and a large building behind them.

Four people sit on sofas in a living room facing a wall-mounted television.

Reproduction of a photograph showing a man in a blue jacket seated before a poster and a red curtain.