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Mongolia Expedition Diary
Dr. Darron Collins is the Managing Director for the Amur-Heilong program
© WWF
Dr. Darron Collins, Managing Director for WWF's Amur-Heilong program, traveled Sept. 18 to Oct. 1 to Mongolia, where the headwaters of the Amur Heilong river form on the border between China and Russia. The River flows out through the Russian Far East into the Sea of Okhotsk, running a total of 2,750 miles and including 600,000 acres of surrounding watershed and forests.
Darron joined several Mongolian colleagues on an expedition along the Onon River, the headwater river that feeds the Amur. The team was tasked with assessing the management effectiveness of two key protected areas in those headwaters.
Join Darron on his journey, starting in Washington D.C., and learn more about WWF's work in Mongolia.
Learn more about WWF's work in the Amur-Heilong.
Mongolia Expedition Diary
Days 6 and 7 | Days 7 and 8 | Days 8 and 9 | Days 9 and 10 | Conclusion
On Saturday I sat down with my two daughters Maggie (5) and Molly (3) and tried to explain to them where exactly daddy would be for the next 16 days. Only in using their see-through plastic globe did I discover that Mongolia is pretty near perfectly on the opposite side of the world from Washington -- if I were to stick a pin through Washington and maintain the approximate latitude within 5 degrees or so it would emerge from their quickly deflating globe in Mongolia.Now a direct flight over the North Pole would get you from DC to Mongolia very quickly. But such flights aren't very economical from the airline's perspective, so I had to make my way from DC to Atlanta, from Atlanta to Seoul, Korea (a 15-hour direct flight and very painful flight at that), and then a quick three-and-a-half hour jump from Seoul to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar (pronounced "oolyn batter," as in "batter-up!"). I was provoked to explain why I might be traveling to Mongolia to many a neighbor on my various flights:
"I work for the World Wildlife Fund -- you know, the panda logo, WWF, no, no, not the 'World Wrestling Federation' -- and at WWF I manage our Amur-Heilong program. The Amur-Heilong River forms the heart of the program, running a total of 2,750 miles and including 600,000 square miles of surrounding wetlands and forest. Its headwaters are in northeastern Mongolia, it then forms the border between China and Russia, and it flows out through the Russian Far East into the Sea of Okhotsk. I'm going on an expedition along the Onon River, the headwater river that feeds the Amur, and my Mongolian colleagues and I are assessing the management effectiveness of two key protected areas in those headwaters. Mongolia is home to the taimen, the largest salmon that can weigh over 100 pounds. So, of course, I'll do some fly fishing -- you can't go to Mongolia and not wet your line."
I must have shared my story a dozen times. Now, after all the flights, the 20 hours of air time, the endless customs lines, baggage checks, security checks, etc., the plane is touching down in UB -- Ulaanbaatar. Now I will begin a journey that we'd been planning for half a year.
Monday, Sept. 18, 2006
Days 6 and 7 | Days 7 and 8 | Days 8 and 9 | Days 9 and 10 | Conclusion
