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" What drew me to Kazakhstan was a curiosity to learn about life in this 'middle earth' of steppe between the endless forests of Russia in the north and the world's greatest mountain chains to the south. "

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" I wanted to know what it would be like to get on a horse and ride all the way west to Europe and take a look back at my own culture through the eyes of a nomad. "

Tim Cope

Horse

Know

Look

" Ultimately, it's a sense of camaraderie and friendship with local people that is core to my journeys. "

" Steve Fossett and I would share a common belief that it is possible and good to challenge yourself to the extreme. "

Tim Cope

Belief

Yourself

" In two and a half years' trekking across central Asia, I'd become attuned to the late autumn conditions when the hazards of winter can blow in under the cover of darkness. "

" Meeting Australian mountaineer and author Tim Macartney-Snape when I was 16 in 1994 had a big impact on me. His ascent of Everest from sea to summit captured my imagination. "

" From the rugged cliffs of Cape Liptrap peninsula jutting bravely into the swells of Bass Strait, the coast arcs southeast, hugging the waters of Waratah Bay with sweeping flat lines of fine pale sand and knotty scrub. "

" A single camel can carry around 300 kilograms. Using camels for hauling during migration is becoming a rarity in Mongolia, where mechanized transport is gradually replacing traditional means. "

" The Khoton people are a small minority group of Mongolians renowned for living a traditional nomad life in the remote slopes and valleys of the Kharkhiraa-Turgen mountain range. "

" My three-year ride by horse from Mongolia to Hungary was the most difficult, most revealing, and interesting of any of my travels. Travelling by horse, you're far more engaged and dependent on the land and other people than by any other means. "

" Earth was not built to serve the needs of humans. "

" Finding shelter with nomads in the desert during summer was a matter of survival for me and my animals. "

" Had I not stepped into the saddle in the first place, entire cultures, histories, and most importantly, profound connections with people and animals whom I now counted as my friends would have otherwise passed by, invisible. "

" In Khazak culture, historically, if any traveller comes riding from a long way, there is an obligation to take him into your home. For the first three days, the host doesn't even have the right to ask his name, his destination or his business. "

" When you come out of the storms and sub-zero temperatures into a tiny yurt, there's a sense that family love and care is the most important thing in the world. "

" In the initial stages of my journey, I was trying to travel too fast by horse by sticking to a 'five days on and two off' schedule. On the steppe, time is not measured by days, weeks or hours but the fall of the seasons and condition of the animals. "

" For the traveller, Kazakhstan offers more than just a staging post for the Silk Road, as is often perceived, and there is more than just steppe. "

Tim Cope

Post

Road

" Perhaps most important for nomads was the belief in the symbiosis that existed between wolf and humans on the steppe. Wolves were an integral part of keeping the balance of nature, ensuring that plagues of rabbits and rodents didn't break out, which in turn protected the all-important pasture for the nomads' herds. "

" Much of my journey in Kazakhstan was about understanding the legacy of the Soviet times and finding out what remained of nomadic. "

" It's hard to find a place where you're out of earshot of some kind of noise. "

" I think the nomads really give us inspiration about how we can live in harmony with our environment. "

Tim Cope

Think

Live

" I love the Altai Mountains. Crimea, despite all the conflict, is a remarkable place historically, culturally and physically. The mountains drop down into the sea. Porpoises swim in the shallows. Horses gallop through the grass. There are huge rocks, castles, caves. "

" I have brought many artifacts back with me from the steppe. My favourite is a 90-year-old Kazakh saddle decorated with silverwork in traditional motifs. It symbolises the deep relationship between man and horse on the Eurasian Steppe. "

Tim Cope

Man

Relationship

" I don't think patience is something that any of us grow up with in a large dose. It's a world of instant gratification. "

" In Mongolia, the nomads always told me that wolves were the most dangerous things on the steppe, and I didn't believe them at first. "

Tim Cope

Wolves

Always