The Altai is a mountain range in Central Asia that stretches nine hundred kilometres along Mongolia’s border with China and Siberia. Some of its peaks rise over four thousand metres. Although the climate of this mountain world is extremely hostile to life, the region has been inhabited by Kazakh migratory shepherds for thousands of years. According to the season, they must change their camp eight to nine times each year in order to take their cattle to new pasture grounds.

We set out to visit Semir’s family in their autumn camp at two thousand five hundred metres above sea level in order to familiarise ourselves with their life in the Altai. They are Kazakhs who have invited us to spend some days with them. It will be a six-hour journey by jeep to reach their camp in the mountains.

When guests enter the house, the fire in the stove is immediately kindled. Here, dried cow dung is used as fuel, because wood is scarce in the steppes. Then all kinds of treasure are offered, various types of cheese, lots of butter, cream and Nan, the local bread. Then tea is served and it would be impolite not to drink it, even if it is prepared the Mongolian way, with salt, butter and milk, as is common in Tibet. Sometimes there is also fermented mare's milk.

Despite all the work that still has to be done, Semir decides to go hunting, today is Monday. On Tuesdays and Fridays the Kazakhs don't hunt as on these days there are no business deals to be had. Semir also has to look for his horses, because in bad weather they have the habit of wandering southwards to the Chinese border, and this would mean the irrevocable loss of fifty five horses, which are worth almost forty thousand dollars - although that would only be a small part of his fortune. With his two brothers, he owns over a thousand animals: goats, sheep, yaks, horses and camels and about forty dairy cows, not counting the calves.

It's time to say goodbye to Semir's family. They are now only a few kilometres away from their wintering grounds, hidden in a side valley, well protected from the icy Siberian winds. It’s been an absolute pleasure to experience life in the wild with these wonderful people.