This ancient tribe of people, ‘Tsaan people’ has been revolving their lives around their domestic reindeer herds for around 4000 years.

This fact has been confirmed due to the discovery of ancient hieroglyphs on rocks dated 4000 years; these pillar style rock paintings document the Tsaan people coexisting with reindeer.

Today the Tsaan People experience great difficulty in their day to day lives and tribe numbers have diminished greatly.

There are many factors that contribute to this reality, one of the main problems which also effects the vast majority of  people living  in Mongolia today, is that of desperate poverty. 

Poverty has become endemic in Mongolia, Soviet assistance, at its height one-third of GDP, disappeared almost overnight in 1990-1991 at the time of the dismantlement of the USSR. Mongolia was driven into deep recession, prolonged by the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party's reluctance to undertake serious economic reform.

The lure of the big city and all it’s seeming prosperity, is tempting away many of the rural ethnic groups, including the Tssaan,  in hope that they will find riches and success.  Sadly this is not what usually awaits on arrival in the city.

Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia’s capital city boast’s and unemployment rate of around twenty percent and has one of the highest rates of alcholic’s per capita in the world. 

Lack of education mean that the problems will continue, it is vital that these people find a way to educate their children and so look forward to a better self sustained future.

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