Bataar Camp: Authentic Mongolian Yurt Experience in Newberry Springs

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hello everyone, this is Howard Fox, host of the Outdoor Adventure Series Podcast, and I am spending another day in Newbury Springs, California. We have been uh meeting a lot of the residents and business owners, uh public leaders here in Newberry Springs. And of course, we are celebrating the centennial anniversary of Route 66. And as I have been escorted around town by Carla Claus, who is uh representative of the Newberry Springs uh Chamber of Commerce, and really just introducing me to some phenomenal folks. And during our conversation, Carla mentioned, Howard, you know, there is a yurt camp here in Newberry Springs. And I said to Carla, I've never been in a yurt. I think I've seen pictures of them. And she goes, Well, why don't I take you over uh to the Batar camp? It's a yurt camp here, uh, just off of Route 66 here in Newberry Springs. And I have the pleasure right now of introducing you to Yumba. Umba is a um, he is uh Mongolian, he is uh lives in California and has established a business uh opportunity out here in Newbury Springs. And so uh it's a pleasure to meet you, and I'm really looking forward to learning more about you and your work and your vision for why this uh camp uh exists. So welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Yes, hi everybody, and hi Howard. Thanks for visiting us. And then my name is Umba, and then I I established this uh youth camp, Mongolian youth camp, four years ago. And then I started camp. It's we we call it it's botar camp. Batar camp. Yeah. And then I started the Botar camp because I wanted to share Mongolian nomadic culture um in a real and meaningful way.

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:05

And then in Mongolia, living in the youth and being close to natural part of everyday life. Okay. When it came Newberry Springs, um to open land quite desert to remind me of the home. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

How did you when you came to the US and living in in Cal uh farther in west into LA, and first off, what is Batar? What is what is that? Is there a significance to that name?

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Batar is is a trabozaur's name, okay, which is found in Mongolia, Gobi Desert.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Okay. So it's like a dinosaur.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Dinosaur skeleton, yeah. Skeleton, okay. Okay. So the Soviet guy founded 1946.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah, and then um recently uh the skeleton um It was borrowed. Borrowed, stolen from somebody, and then he tried to sell a New York uh auction. Okay, and then our our government found out it's ours, and then we took it back. Good for you guys. Yeah. Right. That's so that's terrible. Yeah, that's why I named it this this camp uh Bocar.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Okay, so significance, Gobi Desert. When you were so coming being here in the US, what when you're we're not uh establishing this this camp, and I do understand wanting to really share your culture with others, either other uh folks of your culture who live here and can help reminisce about what it was like back home where we lived, where our family grew up. But also Americans like me, we we want to experience new cultures. What has been your profession while you have been here in the U.S.?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah, I came here to study my to get my uh master's degree uh in 2010. And then uh during I'm studying, I I started my business, uh tourist business, which is for for Mongolians, okay to see the west coast of the United States, like such as like Los Angeles, like Big City, right? Las Vegas and then Grand Camp. Right. And then and then after my graduation, uh this idea came up, and then I found this place.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Now, when you founded the place, is this been just your effort alone? Do you have family, friends who are also helping you establish not only these beautiful yurts, but also the programming and the tours? Are there others involved in the business?

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Oh, yes, of course the family helped to me to establish this. It's a lot of work, a lot of money goes on here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:49

Okay. And you had mentioned that uh Mongolia, the the desert, very s this in this being out here in Newberry Springs, very similar. What specifically attracted you about just being here on Newberry Springs? Because it's very iconic, very well known. We're on Route 66, there's a lot of history there. But what other what what helped you decide like this is where I want to have this camp?

SPEAKER_01 5:18

Yeah, of course, the environment and then the mountains. Also, we have like a two major uh major road, like which is 40 and 5 15. So this is I think this is the like a lot of people going on here. Okay. So I might I I we were thinking it might help uh for our business.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

Okay. Yeah. And when was the uh the camp established? Four years ago? Four years ago. Yeah. And right now, how is the camp being used for your your fellow Mongolians when they come here? What what do they do when they get here?

SPEAKER_01 5:59

They just they just enjoy the environment and then they they they like to breathe the like fresh air and then they make cook outside. They like their own Mongolian dishes.

SPEAKER_00 6:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

So you you actually bring the food in and you you're cooking uh the authentic dishes?

SPEAKER_01 6:19

Not me, but the the guests who can stay in here, they can they can make their own food see here, yeah. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 6:26

So you you literally are uh a little piece of the home country back here and having those that good food. What would be a uh a traditional dish that a lot of your visitors would make?

SPEAKER_01 6:37

We have a like traditional dish, like we call it bose. Bose? Yeah, bose. It's like a dumpling. Okay. Kind of dumpling. It's like like bigger than a little bigger than dumpling. Right. And then um horsur. Horshore is like we have a like fried one, the dumpling. Right. The fried fried version of the dumpling.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Okay, okay. And the folks that are coming, how many yurts are on the property?

SPEAKER_01 7:03

We have five yurts for now, and then one of them just for uh entertainment room.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

Okay, which is we're sitting in the entertainment room right now. Yeah. And the folks that are staying in each yurt, is this like family, pretty much like mom, dad, and the kids, grandparents? Yeah, it's it's families.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

In a traditional yurt, and we're gonna prov for our listeners, we'll provide some photos uh of the the the common area for entertainment as well as the uh the residential uh yurts, but how many would fit into a yurt comfortably? In the yurt uh for adults for a fit, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

Now it right now it's uh I think we're we're like the middle of February. It's the winter time, even though we're out west, it's still winter, hot in the day and cool at night. What is it like to live in a yurt? And I'm assuming this is a four is this a four-season camp, or is it just maybe just two or three seasons?

SPEAKER_01 8:03

It's just for two or three seasons. Yeah, it's seasonally, because we have a like a very hot summer in here. Okay. So yeah, we we do it like only like chills.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

All right. When you have visitors staying in the camp, what types of activities do they enjoy?

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah, we have uh uh here like Mongolian traditional games like like bone sheep bone games. Yeah. And then uh also we have uh archery here. Okay. Also we have a karaoke here. So that's pop karaoke is popular? Yeah. Alright.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

It's very popular actually in Mongolia. Okay, okay, very good. How how do the kids with the families, how do they enjoy it?

SPEAKER_01 8:49

Actually, we had uh like a kids camping events like uh every like the last two two years, like two times in a year. And then with the kids, like 15 to 20 kids, we came here for two and three days. We stayed here, and then kids planted trees over here. Okay. And then also uh we have a like a sponsor company which is bought us like a bicycle for the kids. Okay. We have a like a 10-15 bicycle for the kids. Well, we can ride uh bikes around here.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Okay. Now, when when you have visitors coming into the camp, are there tours originating from here to go visit and then come back? Yeah. Okay. And when visitors come into the camp, how many days are they typically uh staying? Like one or two. One or two days? Yeah, not for long.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Now I understand there's a a very special event that's coming up in a couple years that you're planning for. Can you share a little bit more about that?

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Yeah. We planned, we actually tested last year, 2025, September, uh, end of September, we tested uh the festival, like Mongolian style with the food and dance, music, all of things. We brought here we we brought here like 200 something people last year for three days. Okay and now we we were thinking to do it like every end of September, and then every year. Yeah. We wanna we we're gonna have a festival this year, September 25th to 27th. It's gonna be like a lot of uh Mongolian traditional music, dance, food, archery. We even have a horse riding here.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Oh really? Okay.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

Okay. Now, will there be any activities that you'll be helping to plan for when the Olympics come here in to Los Angeles in 2028? We're only a couple hours away. Any type of activities involved with the Mongolian contingent of the Olympics?

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Yes, actually the main reason for this camp we established is to to get our uh Mongolian athletes before the Olympic Games. Okay. So we're preparing for them to accommodation bef uh they came before, like a one uh one month before the start Olympics, they can train here, then they can change the even jet lag, right? They can um change the weather here and then uh train here before the Olympics. Okay. When the Olympic starts, uh all the athletes go into the Los Angeles. Right, the village, yeah. Yeah, and then we're gonna have uh uh tourists after that, Mongolian tourists for two weeks from start of Olympic to end of Olympic Games.

SPEAKER_00 11:44

That is wonderful. Is there anything else about the camp or the the activities that you would like to share with our listeners? Perhaps I didn't ask that, or maybe they're not in the notes, but you know why really I what's it been like to kind of establish this business and is there something else that you really want to share with our listeners about it?

SPEAKER_01 12:08

Yeah, obviously we have uh like cultural Mongol in your care, you can stay, it's like a lot lot of different experience. Also, if you bring your own like ATV and stuff, you can you can stay here, and then we have a lot lot of roads to to ride it. Okay, and then you can stay here overnight.

SPEAKER_00 12:28

Okay, very good. That's good to know because if I come back to Newbury Springs, I might need a place to stay. Yeah, and I can stay in a yurt. That's good. I like that. If our listeners would like to learn more about uh the Batar Camp and the work that you're doing here to just to promote the uh the the activities and just this venue and the experience, where are the best places to go on out on the internet?

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Yeah, we uh we have a like Instagram and then on Facebook. Okay. So we call it Batar Camp. So you will you you can find it on there.

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Okay. Is there a website also?

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Yeah, we have a website, uh www.batarcamp.com. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Umba, it's been a pleasure to chat with you on the podcast. I hope you enjoyed yourself and really I I wish you the very best. And actually, before I even sign off, I didn't get to ask this question. How does it feel to be here in Newberry Springs and on what we as Americans think of this iconic road, Route 66? I mean, how does it feel to be here a part of history? I'll feel amazing.

SPEAKER_01 13:33

Yeah. Yeah. It's we're gonna have a lot of things this year, so I'm so excited. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Yeah. So you'll be uh you'll have a significant role in the activities. And and I'm sure the the the residents and the the chamber, the economic development, they're very happy to are appreciative of you and the what you're bringing to the community. So I'm sure that they I don't even have to say on behalf of them thank you, but I I know they do that as well, and they're everybody talks about this uh camp. So but again, thank you for spending time with us today. Thank you. Thank you, Halbert. All right, good luck. Listen, we're gonna do a quick close and you and I can have a final chat. All right, folks. We've just been chatting with Umba. He is the founder of the Batar Camp. It's it's uh this little yurt community here in Newberry Springs. Great place uh to bring the folks from who are visiting the U.S. or perhaps live in the U.S. or from Mongolia, and they want that Mongolian experience. And uh Umba and his partners, family have established this camp uh as a way to just feel like they're back at home and lots of great activities. And for folks just like me, if you ever wanted to uh spend an evening or two in a yurt, well, you get to come to Newberry Springs and check it out. Now we're gonna provide backlinks to the website and their social sites in our show notes, and of course, you can listen to this episode uh wherever you get your podcast from, or you can also find us on our website, outdoor adventure series.com. And uh again, hope you enjoyed today's episode, and we look forward to having you join us uh for future ones and listen to us wherever you get your podcast from. All right now, take care of it.