Adventure holidays in Mongolia
| country: | Mongolia |
| departures: | 2010: 5 Jul |
| price: | £1950 (13 days) excluding international flights. |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
In the Footsteps of Genghis Khan
Just think Mongolia and images of wild horses galloping across the mountain steppes, of Bactrian camel trains crossing the Gobi Desert and of yurt encampments peopled by feral nomads immediately spring to mind.
Eight hundred years after Genghis Khan and his Mongul hordes exploded from the east in an orgy of violent conquest, this distant land in the heart of Asia still resonates with echoes from a different time.
And even today, outside of the capital, Ulaan Baatar, you will feel as though you are travelling in another century. For the adventure tourist Mongolia has the lot: stunning mountain scenery, vast and spectacular deserts, a fascinating and ancient culture, and a warm and welcoming population.
So join us in the footsteps of Ghengis Khan to experience the amazing natural landscapes and the traditional nomadic lifestyle of this distant eastern land.
Just think Mongolia and images of wild horses galloping across the mountain steppes, of Bactrian camel trains crossing the Gobi Desert and of yurt encampments peopled by feral nomads immediately spring to mind.
Eight hundred years after Genghis Khan and his Mongul hordes exploded from the east in an orgy of violent conquest, this distant land in the heart of Asia still resonates with echoes from a different time.
And even today, outside of the capital, Ulaan Baatar, you will feel as though you are travelling in another century. For the adventure tourist Mongolia has the lot: stunning mountain scenery, vast and spectacular deserts, a fascinating and ancient culture, and a warm and welcoming population.
So join us in the footsteps of Ghengis Khan to experience the amazing natural landscapes and the traditional nomadic lifestyle of this distant eastern land.
day-by-day itinerary
| Day 1: | Ulaanbaatar. You will be met upon arrival and transferred to the Bayangol Hotel, one of the best hotels in the country and the best hotel in Ulaanbaatar. In the afternoon we visit the Winter Palace Museum of the last king of Mongolia, Bogd Khaan, and Zaisan Hill, which has a great view of Ulaanbaatar city. Welcome dinner and hotel overnight. Those booking the tour on a land only basis will join the tour this morning in Ulaan Baatar. |
| Day 2: | Ulaanbaatar – Sumber. After breakfast we drive to ger camp in the north of Ulaanbaatar. Lunch at ger camp. Trekking in the nearby mountains. Dinner and overnight at ger camp. |
| Day 3: | Sumber – Amarbaysgalant Monastery. After breakfast we drive to Mongolia’s second most important monastery – Amarbaysgalant. It's history began in the 18th century when the King of Manchu decided to build a Buddhist Monastery in Mongolia in order to calm down the Mongolian fighting spirit. Today a live monastery is serving the locals and receiving tourists at the same time. Overnight Ger camp. |
| Day 4: | Amarbaysgalant Monastery – Bulgan Naadam. Naadam, the three manly sports of Wrestling, Archery and Horse Riding, is the highlight of a Mongolian summer. We are lucky to be out of the rush and heat of Ulaan Baatar and we can enjoy the festival with local families in a relaxed and friendly place. Bulgan town is celebrating its 80th year anniversary and plans to have a big Naadam Festival this year. Every local in town, as well as people from other provinces, arrive at Naadam with their best traditional suit called a Deel. It is very colourful and everywhere Mongols wear their deels on their horses. There are some main competitions such as horse racing, archery and wrestling. All of these games are based on ancient Mongolian Soldiers’ everyday exercises. Overnight at Ger camp. |
| Day 5: | Bulgan Naadam. Today we enjoy the second day of Mongolia’s famous festival by visiting horse racing. Overnight at Ger camp. |
| Day 6: | Bulgan Naadam – Ogii Lake. This morning we drive to beautiful steppe Ogii Lake. It is a wonderful place for birdlife – cranes and ducks, to name just a few species, migrate here. The lake is also renowned for its fishing. Overnight ger camp. |
| Day 7: | Ogii Lake – Kharkhorin. Today we head to Kharkhorin town, the ancient capital of Genghis Khan’s Mongolia in the 13th century. We visit Erdene Zuu monastery, which was built from leftovers of Kharkhorin’s ruined city in the 16th century. Sadly a communist purge destroyed almost everything but a few main monasteries. There are numerous unusual cultural and religious exhibits here. There is a Tibetan-style monastery still live in the Erdene Zuu and still important to the area. Overnight in the Ger camp. |
| Day 8: | Kharkhorin – Orkhon River Valley. After breakfast at the Ger Camp, we join the road heading towards Orkhon River Valley in the Khangai Mountain Ranges. It is one of the major watersheds of the world. Orkhon River Valley is rich in hot and cold springs, ancient tombs and interesting natural sites. Orkhon River has its source in the Khangai Mountain Ranges and it flows for 1124km and joins the Selenge River, draining into Lake Baikal in Siberia. Orkhon Waterfall, known locally as the Ulaan Tsutgalan, cascades from an impressive height of 20m, is 10m in width and extends for 100m from the Orkhon River. Overnight at ger camp. |
| Day 9: | Orkhon River Valley – Tovkhon Monastery. Today we pack for the day and drive to a historic Tovkhon Monastery located on top of Tovkhon Mountains. The original temple complex was built in 1654 by Zanabazar, who came here to meditate and do his artwork. Zanabazar was a religious leader and gifted artist. Many of his famous artworks, including the White Tara, are now kept in Zanabazar’s Fine Art Museum in Ulaanbaatar and Erdene Zuu Monastery in Karakorum. He also designed Soyombo Symbol for a free and independent Mongolia and it has been widely used as a national symbol, namely on the National Flag. Although the temple was largely destroyed by the communists during the 1930s, it has been restored with great initiatives from the local communities and many restoration projects. Overnight at Ger camp. |
| Day 10: | Tovkhon Monastery – Sand Stretch. After breakfast we drive to Sand Stretch, part of Mongolia’s sand dunes. This 80km long beautiful sand dune is located in the meadow of Hogno and Tarniin rivers, and next to Khogno Mountain. Overnight at Ger camp. |
| Day 11: | Sand Strech – Hustai National Park. After breakfast we drive to Hustai National Park, home for the Takhi horse – the only truly wild horse in the world and one of the world's most endangered species. The Sacred Mountain Hustai is best known for one of the world’s great wildlife success stories: the recovery and reintroduction of the Przewalsky horse, or Takhi wild horse. Several decades ago, wild horses had disappeared from Mongolia, victims of habitat loss and poaching for meat. However, small numbers of survivors lived in European zoos, and from this scattered remnant, through a program of careful breeding and international cooperation, the wild population was rebuilt. Now Hustai is home to 250 wild horses of which 130 were born in the wild. We will visit Hustai to explore wild horses. We also visit Human-like stone and Deer stone in this National Park. Overnight at Ger camp. |
| Day 12: | Hustai National Park – Ulaanbaatar. This morning we drive to Ulaan Baatar and transfer to our hotel. In the afternoon we will undertake a small city tour and there will be an opportunity for shopping. Evening visit to Folk concert. Overnight in hotel. |
| Day 13: | Ulaanbaatar - UK. Transfer to the airport for a flight home. Those booking the tour on a land only basis will finish the tour after breakfast in Ulaanbaatar. |
what this trip includes
Trips are on full board basis, and include transport as outlined in itinerary, twin-share accommodation, mineral water and entrance fees. how this holiday makes a difference
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In Central Asia we have developed unique relationships with many of the semi-nomadic peoples of the region and as tourism is becoming one of the main economical sectors of Mongolia, we are committed to making sure that the tourist economy benefits the local people. We work with Mongolian owned hotels and tourist Ger camps directly – these camps in the countryside hire local staff, creating thousands of employment opportunities and ensuring that money goes directly into the community.
Although the tourist season is limited, this income allows country dwellers enough food and supplies to survive the harsh winters. To put this into perspective; Our drivers earns 250, 000 tugrik for one trip - these wages are equal to the cost of educating one child for a year or to feed his family for 1 month. In each part of the trip we employ local guides in addition to our Western guides, such as Bat-Erdene, Tulga and Munkhbat, which again places funds directly in the pockets of local families.  We train our staff (both local and Western) to be responsible travelers in the countryside and to respect local community and environment. Also we have trainers for Leave No Trace Ethic. For our Mongolian staff we organize training of “Leave No Trace”, a program supported by the Mongolian Tour Guides Association. When you take one of our trips, we make a contribution to “Carbon Clear” – an organisation who work with hundreds of organisations to measure their carbon footprint and reduce their carbon emissions. We also support several NGOs around the world such as the Hope Foundation, A-Cet and Adopt-A-Minefield, which are all carefully selected to improve the standard of living for the communities we visit. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |