The trick is,’ explained our guide, ‘don’t show any fear. If they sense you are afraid it only makes it worse. If the silverback charges, stand there looking submissive and unafraid.’ Submissive and unafraid weren’t two expressions I previously had any reasons to deploy together. I wondered if I could get it right. I’m a [...]

Yesterday I meet a Tuvan Shaman. (Shamanism is a tribal belief in which a person, the shaman, acts as intermediary between the natural and supernatural worlds, using magic to cure illness, foretell the future and control spiritual forces). Most Mongolians are Buddhists but for the Tuvan people who live here in Western Mongolia and Russia, [...]