warns me to follow behind him in case we encounter any dangerous animals. He pulls a torch
light out of his pack and we set off. The network of caves is bigger than I thought, as we climb
up and down a series of caves. Sure enough, Sven’s warning is right as we stumble upon a viper,
or a Central Asian Viper to be exact. It is only about two feet long, but very aggressive and filled
with deadly venom. Sven manages to scare it off with his torch and it slithers off sideways like
a rattlesnake. In spite of the scare, we continue our exploration. After 20 minutes, we reach a
much larger set of caves and noises of other animals echoed even louder. It sounds like horses! In
addition to wild asses, Mongolia also has the only remaining species of wild horses. Anxiously, I
peer into the next cave and, amazed, see a group of wild horses. This species of horse is known as
Przewalski’s horses. They are much shorter than normal horses and have chestnut coats and black
manes. I sit quietly observing them and their interactions. An hour passes before they move on to
another cave. At this point, Sven tells me that we must return to our camp, as it is getting late.
As it turns out, Sven’s prediction is correct. The storm lasts over 2 days, which completely
disrupts my plans but gives me more time to explore the caves. We decide to turn back to
Ulaanbaatar early since we do not have enough time to reach our original destination. I am sad to
leave behind Mongolia and the Gobi desert as there was too much to absorb in only five days. In
the end, I must declare my expedition a failure since I never found any wild asses, but it was the
most successful failure that I could imagine. In place of wild asses, I rode a Bactrian camel and
encountered wild horses and a Central Asian Viper! I must return.
