Boundless Horizons

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Boundless Horizons

Mongolia's prodigious landscape is dotted with small settlements, home to nomad families that cling to tradition while striving to make a living.

Thatcher Cook for Mercy Corps

Special Report:
Boundless Horizons

Country: Mongolia

A Journey Begins with Two Flat Tires ›

Topics: Peaceful Change, Economic Development, Agriculture

Travel in Mongolia is some of the toughest I've ever experienced: regardless, we rumbled more than 1,600 miles across desert, steppes and mountains.

Preserving Nomadic Life ›

Topics: Agriculture, Economic Development, Peaceful Change

In the sometimes-splendid isolation of the Gobi, Tumurchuluun knows that herding is good work, important work. And Mercy Corps knows that, too.

Miracle Growth ›

Topics: Agriculture, Economic Development, Peaceful Change

This is a story about how political transformation, tourism and tomatoes created an oasis in the southernmost reaches of the Gobi. It begins with a man named Poli.

Shepherding Tradition ›

Topics: Agriculture, Economic Development, Peaceful Change

Here in a nomad camp in Mongolia's southernmost province, the Master Herder is dressed in a black velvet jacket, grey corduroy pants and blue hiking boots.

Better School Lunches - No, Really ›

Topics: Agriculture, Children, Peaceful Change

Throughout much of Mongolia, school meals are the only nutrition that students receive. Mercy Corps helped make them more nutritious.

How does traditional Mongolian nomad furniture end up in children's rooms in Amsterdam, more than 4,000 miles away? A combination of craftsmanship and connections, with a little help from Mercy Corps.

Photo Essay: Faces of the Gobi ›

Here are some of the people and landscapes that writer Roger Burks and photographer Thatcher Cook encountered on a two-week, 1,600 mile journey over Mongolia's deserts, mountains and steppes.

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Mongolia Facts

Population (2008): 3 million
Size: 19th largest country
Human Development Index rank: 112 (out of 179)
Mercy Corps has worked here since 1999
Primary work: Economic development for rural businesses, veterinary and other support to traditional herders, support of local organisations and access to commercial financial services
World's second largest land-locked country
World's most sparsely-populated country