Silver fox on safari: Being a Refugee… and Jaws from James Bond??

Being a Refugee… and Jaws from James Bond??

I was wondering how long it was going to be before I had enough content but it has rolled around fairly quickly. I’m sitting in my refugee tent with the drone of a generator as the temperature rapidly drops probably to about 4-6 degrees. It has been a beautiful day, first time the sky has been something like clear. For the past 4 days I have been working on top of a 2700m sort of plateau.

Hard to know where to start. Firstly this is about a 10 hours drive from our base camp and although it is only a few (15 km) south of our northern tenement, yes you guessed it, you have to drive round a mountain range to get there and then do a 2hr climb into the hills… nuts! For the google earth fanatics we had go through Jlalabad which sits on the border with Uzbekistan. Apparently there was some sort of attempted revolution down there a couple of years ago and travelling through the city there are half built empty houses everywhere where the Uzbeki type people left following the failure of the revolutions.

The 10 hour drive was fascinating actually saw open fertile farming land (rather than mountains) and bitumen roads. The whole country is committed to agriculture mainly grazing but also things like sunflowers, and where else to process them but on the main (bitumen) road; in doing this they take over half the road, firstly drying the heads, then beating them with sticks to release the seeds then spreading out the seed (say a 30mx5m area) to dry and then they are swept up into piles for bagging – all on the road. You see very little mechanised farming, there are probably some ploughs but often you see hay being cut with a scythe, tractors you do see look about 50 years old (probably left over from Soviet times).

The mountains are used for summer pasture for sheep, goats and cattle. They have grazed the be-jeezus out of the place but summer is coming to an end and they are already heading down to the lower slopes. The vegetation up here has been devastated by hundreds of years of grazing, the hillsides almost have a mosaic of tracks with almost no trees at higher altitude other than a sort of conifer tree that grows about 9” off the ground. This morning we were at the highest peak which must be close to 3000m and expecting to be alone, here was a shepherd asleep on the ground next to his broken down former soviet car.

We are doing some diamond drilling on the mountain, so there is a 24 hour a day operation. The camp is run by the drillers. They are tremendous hosts and always wanting to shake the hand of the visiting international expert which is how I’m introduced. Food is surprisingly good, yesterday’s delicacy was dumplings stuffed with meat and onions – awesome, I have offered to swap their cook for our “big momma”.

Communications are terrible, there is one spot on the mountain where you can get mobile phone coverage, it’s about a 30min walk if there are no cars available, yesterday it worked fine today nothing so I spent about 40min climbing to the top to see if it improved but without success. Again, in the middle of nowhere and on the side of the mountain, out pops a shepherd trying to do the same.

Things I hate about Kyrgyzstan 1) flies, down at our base camp there always seem to be a swarm in the kitchen which I try not to look at 2) mutton, mutton, mutton 3) toilet paper which is like sandpaper and I must confess I’m starting to dislike tomatoes 4) Nothing works as it should, doors always jamb, electrical fittings pull out of the wall, toilets leak, the hot water trickles but the tap gets so hot you almost burn your hand switching it off etc… 5) I hate my bed/s, particularly the one up here in the drillers camp, firstly I have been issued with a USA military sleeping bag which is bulky and almost suffocating if you zip it up so I’ have taken to sleeping on an uncovered foam mattress with the sleeping bag unzipped like a doona being careful to keep the edges tucked in as there is a bit of a mice plague (put earplugs in so I didn’t have to listen to their scratching). When I get back to base I’ll probably love my 1m wide plank. 6) Cheap Chinese knock offs, you get Nescafe, Colgate etc.. often Chinese imitations that taste crap.

The Krgis are a delightful people, as I said very hospitable, polite and welcoming. So far I have managed to avoid vodka and fermented horse milk, I know what the former will do but the later apparently will go straight through you so you need to be near a loo if you drink it, it is considered a bit of a health tonic.. I also spent a day with a Kyrgy geologist, built like a mountain goat and with a headful of stainless steel teeth (yes stainless steel though gold is the most popular style). I could crack him walking up hill but downhill, as your toenails try to dig into the mountain side, no chance! At one point I had to just sit down, count to 10 to calm my nerves and just let him go. I have also been invited bear and wolf hunting which of course I declined but said I’d pay them to take me so I could take photos, the only problem is this involves getting on a horse… hmmm.

Next weeks challenge is avoiding a trip in a Soviet helicopter, we have some hot shot investors coming to visit – there is a spare seat that has been offered but I might just decline.. would love to do it but a 50 year old chopper maintained in Kyrgyzstan???