"TSAGAANNUUR, Mongolia - Erdenebat Chuluu, a nomadic herder, shouts words of encouragement to the reindeer he is riding.

“Chu!, Chu!,” he calls, as he urges the animal out of a cedar wood and onto a plain in the southern reaches of the Mongolian Taiga, a predominantly forested area some 200 km from the nearest paved road.

Once in the open, the beast and its rider gingerly step over fallen trees and navigate creeks of melted snow, seemingly oblivious to a late winter chill.

Chuluu has lived all his life in the centuries-old tradition of his Dukha ancestors, renowned for their reindeer-herding and hunter-gathering skills in the forests of the rugged Sayan Mountains straddling the Russian border. "

Thomas Peter and Natalie Thomas report for Reuters May 21, 2018. [2]