Live like a reindeer herder in the world's most remote Airbnb

Travel


Live like a reindeer herder in the world's most remote Airbnb

By Anna Brech

7 years ago

A new Airbnb experience offers a rare look into the lives of Mongolian reindeer herders, with a taste of a nomadic existence that may soon disappear forever

If you’re yearning to get away from it all, a new Airbnb listing could be just the ticket. 

The reindeer family teepee in Northern Mongolia claims to be “the most remote Airbnb on the planet”.

The unique experience opens a window onto the lives of the Dukha people, a small nomadic community who live in “taiga” winter forest region of Khovsgol. 

From £94 a night, guests get to bed down in a basic teepee tent with an open-fire stove, and a bathroom that is the woodland wilderness. 

They will be surrounded by Dukha families, plus their dogs and reindeers, throughout the stay, for a rare insight into their daily lives.

As the Dukha move from place to place around the forest plains, Airbnb has teamed up with digital location company What3words to manage the listing and track where the Dukha community will be at any given time, the Evening Standard reports.

The hosts will meet their guests by horseback and accompany them back down the mountain to the teepee, according to “Cameron”, the only person to have reviewed the stay so far.

You’ll then be greeted by the whole family and treated to reindeer milk tea, in a “once in a lifetime experience”.

“If you like high thread count linens and perfume soap in the bathroom - this is not the listing for you,” Cameron says. “However, if you want to connect with the most remote tribe in the world and sleep surrounded by a herd of reindeer… then this is it!”

Dukha herders rely on reindeers for nearly all aspects of their livelihood, as well as their spiritual identity.

Anthropologist Hamid Sardar-Afkhami says there are probably only around 40 Dukha families left in Mongolia, where once that figure stood at around 200.

They are, he says, “a dying culture”, whose ancient traditions are at risk from gold mining and urban migration.

“The number of families has fallen because a lot of them have been synthesized with the mainstream community,” he tells CNN. “Many of them have moved to the towns and even to the capital cities.”

Images: Getty, Airbnb

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