Mongolia - large but sparsely populated

I'll be working in Mongolia for a few months in the coldest capital on Earth. Mongolia is a large country in the heart of Asia, but sparsely populated. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south.

It is almost three times the size of France, and its capital, Ulaanbaatar, is on the same latitude as Paris. In Paris alone the population is 2.2 million in its centre and 11 million in its totality (as of 2006), whereas the population of the whole of Mongolia is a little more than a million.

In the west and north there are mountains rising over 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) but there are extensive areas of flat or undulating plains which are desert in the south and steppe grasslands in the north and east.

Mongolia has an extreme continental type of climate similar to south-central Siberia. Winters are long and very cold. There is a swift transition in April to a short, warm summer and an equally rapid return to the winter cold in October.

Rainfall is low everywhere - about 500 mm (20 inches) per year in the mountains and only 125 mm (5 inches) in the lowlands. The predominant rainfalls are between June and September. Winter is almost entirely dry with occasional light snow, except in the western mountains where snow is heavier. Conditions during the short summer are said to be quite pleasant, but during the long cold winters exceptionally warm clothing is required. When strong winds arise, the wind chill can be very severe. On many winter days, however, the winds are light, the sky is clear, and there is abundant sunshine.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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