Selenge River serenity.


transition zone between Siberian taiga and Central Asian steppe, the lake area is protected as a national park larger than Yellowstone. Rolling hills silhouetted the eastern ho- rizon, while the high mountains on the opposite shore still carried snow. The environment created dramatic weather patterns: in the


morning we enjoyed warm July sunshine, but the afternoon skies frequently turned dark and stormy. We spent a week paddling 126 kilometers south to the lake’s major outflow, the Eg River. We arrived at the Eg to find the river in full flood. The


narrow, braided channels caused more difficulties than we had expected. Strainers—fallen trees through which the stiff current flowed heedlessly—hid around every corner. Often just six meters wide, the river sometimes whipped us around a bend only to find a tangle of branches completely blocking our path. Our 17-foot canoes dumped and pinned on several occa- sions. Fishing rods lay forgotten at the bottom of the canoes


44 EARLY SUMMER 2011


as we focused instead on paddling 40–50 kilometers a day. The Eg, and the Selenge River into which it flowed, were


hailed for their world-class sport fishing. Native taimen, members of the salmon family, grew up to 1.5 meters long and weighed up to 50 kilograms, making them some of the world’s biggest freshwater fish. We didn’t see any elusive taimen in the Eg, or downstream


in the equally murky Selenge. Where the rivers met, however, we remembered a local fisherman’s advice: “The best place to fish is at the confluence of two rivers.” Seizing the opportuni- ty, Eric cast a line into the water and was rewarded with a bite. Not a giant taimen, but our hoots and hollers could be heard from miles away as he reeled in our first catch.


I


T IS JUST A FEW HOURS LATER that we meet the Mongo- lian family. It’s not our first encounter with the locals who live along the riverbanks. A couple days earlier we had helped


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