Things to keep you warm at night

I was told the other day about a traditional blanket coat that's used a lot in north Africa by travellers crossing through the desert. Its designed to be almost all the shelter you could wish for, warm at night, cool in dazzling heat and thick enough to keep out the bugs and sand. The travellers practically live in them, so i heard? But try as i might I've not been able to find any information on line about them.

This got me thinking about Nomadic lifestyles, people who travel as a culture almost without any choice because it's just what they do. So, for fear of wasting anymore time I began looking a little at some of these cultures. The First that sprang to mind was Mongolia and the Yurts that some people live in. I didn't realise till now just how many cultures use these portable homes from Russia all the way to Pakistan. Passed down from father to son for generations, I read that they can be dated with the build up of smoke stains on the roof from the years upon years of cooking fires. They seem to be quite a big business these days too, springing up in places you wouldn't think of. They look a little bit like upside down nests to me the way the wooden lattice of the roof is described and also the way its covered with the fleece of the sheep that are tended by the families.

I suppose the Scottish version, although its not an accurate equivalent, would be a bothy. Its temporary in that its used for short period of times by many different people, so it becomes communal but also isolated which is a nice contradiction. It's very basic providing only shelter and not much else, in fact I'm not sure if it wouldn't be more homely in a tent? My favourite thing about Bothy culture is the etiquette, as listed in the link, the fact that there are unwritten rules that you are expected to adhere to. The only way to know them is to be told by someone with more experience than you, that passing down of tradition and information and even location is what makes these things special for me.