I went to Inner Mongolia, and Heilongjiang Province in China both along the Russian border and searched for a Chinese minority people called the “Ewenki People”. They are like our American Indians, except instead of buffalo they herd caribou. It was an experience I’ll always remember. They live in log cabins or birch bark tents or teepees and use birch bark for many things from canoes to everyday utensils like plates and bowls.
While there I drank “Caribou Piss Wine”, which is a “literal translation” (that is all they had besides deer milk - which wasn’t that bad and since I didn’t want the runs – I didn’t drink the water). I was thirsty the whole time I was in those woods.
I ate caribou meat which when compared to Whitetail was awesome in both flavor and texture. Everyday we had some sort of game for dinner. Partridge, wild deer meat, fish and something like a wolverine but I’d never seen one before. This was accompanied with stewed potatoes, dandelion greens and since blueberries were in season – we dipped cakes of bread in smashed blueberries.
I found no Christians among them but a few remembered some Ewenki Catholics before. This minority only number around 40,000 in China and are mainly hunters and gatherers. The government wants them to live in settlements but it is difficult for them. I found some small clusters of government communities, but most of the men were severe alcoholics, which was sad.
Enjoy the photos. I have around one hundred more I can show you when I’ve returned to the States in December.
Here is an Ewenki boy with his Caribou calf.
This is they guy that I stayed with during some of my travels.
Here is what their birch bark summer home looks like.
This is Zar the heard leader- pretty cool eh?
Like I said we ate meat alot- here's a look at how good it looked and was tasty!
That's all for now, more pictures when I get a
