The Mongolian government has made a new award – the first ‘Best State Reindeer Herder’. The award was presented to Ch.Batbayar from the Tsagaannuur soum of Khuvsgul province which is home to the Tsaatan people.

The choice of Ch.Batbayar, who has been successfully raising reindeers, was made at the request of local residents, In 2017, herder Ch.Batbayar had 147 reindeers in 2017.

Moving from pasture to pasture every seven to ten weeks, the Tsaatan community of nomadic reindeer herders is one of the few remaining tribes of its kind. But as modern development makes its way into their remote habitat, their ancient traditions are now at risk of dying out. It believed there were once around 200 families living in this remote part of Mongolia. Nowadays, there are probably only 40 families left with about 1,000 reindeer.