Paying our respects On the way to Borsoy I asked if I could stop off at the place where all my 8000 of my fellow saiga were buried last year, and where the villagers had also buried the 400 which died this year. A sombre mood fell over the team as we drove across the barren steppe on the way there. Even stopping off and discovering a local plant species, whose roots help with sore throats, couldn’t lift the foreboding mood. I don’t know what I was exp...

Conspiracy theories We found a lovely family to stay with in Karaoba. So we decided to stay a couple of days and interview the teachers, children and elders of the village. It’s a really small place with only about 200 people living here, two shops and not much else, the children play out on the street though as it’s totally safe – not many people here have cars. Carlyn tells me that this is the poorest of the villages we have been to so far, with the ...

Today we were invited to go to a local school and fllm a few of the children. If you look at the videos for blog #4 you can see a lovely little girl reciting her saiga poem which she made up on saiga day, as well as two little boys telling us about the challenges saiga face and the way they will help the Saiga Conservation Alliance in the future.....

Following hot on the heels of the herd we stopped at Karaoba. Reports were that 300 of our fellow saiga had passed through days earlier, so we were on track. They don't come so close to the villages as they once did - fearing the humans that live there, so the best people to speak to about the whereabouts of the saiga are the farmers. Hen has spoken to several so far who have been really helpful and wiling to share their knowledge with her. Sightings suggested...

I’ve been in Azhibai for a couple of days now and have hooked up with another saiga called Nancy. She lives in the village as she was left behind during the last migration. Nancy suggested that I wait with her until the herd pass by and we follow them. While we waited we’ve got to know the locals a little more and tried to immerse ourselves into village life, the goats here seem to have it easy as they go everywhere in wheelbarrows! We learnt that about 60...