Local doctor Davaajav Nyamaa rides a reindeer to visit nomads in a forest near Tsagaannuur on April 19, 2018. Nyamaa is an ethnic Darkhad, herders from northern Mongolia who historically inhabited the steppe that borders the taiga forests. He grew up around the Dukha, who he visits as a doctor for checkups and treatments in their tents on a regular basis. #

Baigalmaa Munkhbat dresses her daughter Tsetse, as her husband Erdenebat Chuluu watches, in their tent on April 19, 2018. "My husband is a very good person, he provides for us in every way," Munkhbat said. "My daughter is very smart for her age. I want to make sure my only daughter has all the skills she needs for life," she said. #

Baigalmaa Munkhbat prepares food for her family in their tent on April 19, 2018. The Dukha diet consists mainly of meat and products made with flour, like dough to make dumplings and a local type of pasta. #

Shaman Kyzyl-ool collapses after performing a ritual marking the first day of the lunar month in his tent near the village of Tsagaannuur on April 19, 2018. "When I begin the ritual I know what I'm doing, but when the spirit comes to me, I'm not in control anymore. When the spirit comes, I feel like I'm going into a dark hole," he said. #

Shaman Kyzyl-ool stands outside his tent after performing a ritual on April 19, 2018. "At the beginning I often thought, why me? I didn't like carrying these spirits, but I can't do anything about it, because I was chosen," he said about becoming a Shaman. #

Jargal Gombosed talks with her daughter and granddaughter in their tent on April 20, 2018. "In my day, everything, like rice and flour, were really rare. But now, as long as you have money, you can get anything, any clothes," Gombosed said. "Things were different in the past," she said. "When I was young we didn't have any such thing as a phone, so you would only hear news when you went down to the village center. But now people have phones and also TVs." #

Local doctor Davaajav Nyamaa uses a telephone to call patients in a tent in the taiga forest near the village of Tsagaannuur on April 20, 2018. The nomads use large antennas, which they attach to the trees to connect to the 3G mobile network. #

A reindeer of Erdenebat Chuluu stands in front of a white backdrop in a forest on April 21, 2018. Reindeer lose their antlers once a year and grow a new rack in late spring to early summer. Females, like this one, keep their antlers longer than males. #

Tsetse rides a reindeer in a forest on April 21, 2018. Tsetse spends many hours every day darting through the forest on reindeer back. Because of their lighter weight, children train young reindeer to get them used to carrying a rider and responding to a combination of vocal commands, prodding, heel-kicking, and pulling the leash. #

Smoke rises from the chimney of the family tent of Erdenebat Chuluu near the village of Tsagaannuur, Khovsgol Aimag, Mongolia, on April 21, 2018. "We wake up and have breakfast then release the reindeer. We herd them and at twelve o'clock we make them come back. Then, while they are tied up, I chop some wood and do some other chores. I then relax for an hour or so. Later I release the reindeer again and around seven or eight o'clock, I bring them back and tie them up again. By then, the woman of the family would have prepared some food, so this is how we spend our day," Chuluu said. #

An aerial picture of the village of Tsagaannuur alongside Dod Nuur Lake in northern Mongolia on April 23, 2018. Tsagaannuur is the nearest village for reindeer herders living in the forests. It was built during Soviet times to support a fishing collective that also employed many Dukha, until that ceased operation after the collapse of the Soviet economy in the 1990s. #

Ethnic Dukha pupil Davaajargal Taivan stands outside her family's rented house in Tsagaannuur on April 23, 2018. Taivan's family decided to use the government's monthly handout to rent a house in the village, so that her mother can be with her and her brother while they attend school. #

Pupils leave the village school in Tsagaannuur on April 23, 2018. People who are between 35-40 years old, belong to the last generation that speaks the Dukhan language, linguist Elisabetta Ragagnin said. Together with the head teacher of the school in Tsagaannuur, she is writing grammar and textbooks in the nomad's native tongue to help preserve traditional knowledge, she said. #

Otgonkhuu Tseveen, the son of a Dukha family, talks to his teacher at the village school in Tsagaannuur on April 23, 2018. "Tuvan ... I don't really know ... my parents sometimes speak it as they're older and I've picked up a few words. Even though I know a bit, I can't say a full sentence," he said about the native language of the Dukha. "I regret that I don't know how to speak this traditional language that my parents speak." #