Secrets I Can Tell You About Staying In A Ger In Mongolia
My sister and I travelled to Mongolia for two weeks in 2018, at just the right time to see the Nadaam Festival in Ulaanbaatar before heading for the clear vast mountains.
Our accommodation was a ger. Or you may know them as a yurt. A large circular tent with a tiny orange door and no windows. There is enough room to sleep two people and each one has a stove in the centre with a chimney poking out of the top.
They look really cool and they add to the adventure and experience that Mongolia is.
However, I feel like I need to let you in on some secrets no one tells you…
Make sure to duck your head upon entry and exit. If not, it’s going to hurt - real bad. The door frame is wooden and this is a time when it doesn’t pay to be tall or forgetful. You will end up with a bruise or several on your head.
Keep any food you may have with you, locked away. There are hungry squirrels everywhere. They sneak under the material and into the ger, then into your bag and will sniff out your food. They will help themselves. If you don’t have food in the ger then it gives the squirrels no reason to come in.
Expect the ger to have a ‘stable’ smell. The walls are lined with horsehair or wool from the animals. Whilst it is not too overbearing, it is not a particularly pleasant smell at the same time either.
The mattresses on the beds are rock solid. Probably not the most comfortable thing you have slept on in your life. Your hip bones and back will remind you of it constantly.
The top flap is often left open to allow fresh air in. At night though, it gets cold, very cold so it’s a good idea to close it up. There is a long rope attached to the flap that you need to drag halfway around the tent to close. It may take you a couple of goes to get the technique down pat. It includes a fast run around the ger (just make sure no one is watching you).
As the inside is only fairly small you really only need to place one piece of wood on the stove at a time. Any more than this and the ger quickly becomes a sauna and you defeat the purpose of heating it up. We fell for stoking the stove up full (as it is freezing of a night) then had to sit outside in the cold or flap the door wildly just to cool down. It did make for a good laugh though.
Then because you have only put one piece of wood on the stove, it helps to set an alarm for every 45 minutes as a reminder to place another piece of wood in or otherwise your fire will go out.
Workers from each campsite will come to light your fire for you of a morning. It often does not matter what time you ask them to arrive they will still come early. Be prepared to be woken much earlier than expected and even when it is too cold to get out of bed to open the door for them, they insist on knocking, knocking and knocking until you get up for them.
Flies appear from the wall linings if your ger gets too warm inside. Be gentle when killing them as it just encourages more flies to come out from the walls or you may even put a big hole in the plastic roof.
Have you experienced sleeping in a ger before? How did you find it? Can you suggest any tips for our readers? Feel free to join the conversation and leave a comment below.
