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Holiday in Mongolia

COUNTRY:
Mongolia
HOLIDAY TYPE:
A small group adventure
DEPARTURES:
2012: 27 May, 10 Jun, 15 Jul, 29 Jul, 19 Aug, 9 Sep
PRICE:
From £1399 excluding flights
VOUCHERS:
Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday
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Holiday in Mongolia

Holiday in Mongolia

Small group adventure holiday
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends its good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as seeing new places.

How this holiday makes a difference

Group size: In order to keep the environmental and negative social impact of travel to a minimum, we operate this tour with a maximum of 15 passengers.

Accommodation: The majority of our hotels are small, locally owned and family operated establishments. This tour includes two homestay nights, which will give our travellers an opportunity to experience the Mongolian way of life firsthand. This tour also includes eight nights in a traditional Mongolian ger.

Local guides and operators: By working with local guides and operators, we provide economic benefits directly to the local people and businesses. Our local guides are experts in flora, fauna, history, culture, and provide our travellers with insight into local knowledge.

Tour leaders: Our tour leaders receive special training in low-impact travel and regional conservation issues and projects. They are also provided with a Sustainable Travel Manual. Tour leaders are selected based on their knowledge of, and commitment to sustainable travel. All our tour leaders speak English and have first aid and CPR certification.

Our foundation: Through our commitment to responsible tourism we have developed our own foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of people and communities around the world through support of international charities, local organizations and community projects in the places that we visit on our tours.

Through this, we support Seva Canada Society, an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the elimination of preventable and treatable blindness. Seva has worked in Nepal and India for 25 years and more recently in Tibet and Tanzania.

Today, nearly 40 million people are blind with ninety percent of the world’s blind living in developing countries. Another 135 million have debilitating low vision. The good news is that most of this blindness can be prevented or cured. Half of the world’s blindness is caused by cataract that is reversible with a 15-minute operation costing $20 - $50 in most developing countries.

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Story of the holiday provider

When Bruce went travelling after University in 1989 he realised he had limited options: he could either go backpacking or stay on a resort. Returning to Canada, he set up a company that bridged the gap and offered young professionals an affordable way to immerse themselves in the culture of different countries. Bruce gave some of the profits back to the communities he passed through. Today he has offices in 38 countries and runs a travel foundation that builds projects all over the world; he is adamant that all staff adhere to his original business model of sustainability and happiness.

Holiday provider no: 294

Holiday in Mongolia

Reviewed 15 Aug 2008 by Sam Grainne1 star rating

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?


The solar eclipse. Also visiting a nomadic family one night.

2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?


Not really applicable as a one-off trip to see solar eclipse and Mongolia along the way. General tips would be Mongolia is a big country with poor infrastructure. Make sure your trip doesn't involve too much driving or you will spend your whole time on a bus and not out seeing things. Covering 400km in one day, while possible, is not pleasant.

3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, and minimized impacts on the environment?


Yes and no. It was run by a Mongolian company on the tour operator’s behalf. Food shopping was done as we went along so the local shops were supported. However there was inadequate supply of drinking water (ie boiled water) so we had to buy a lot of bottled water which has many bad environmental points. Secondly, there was a lot of driving involved in our trip. Most days our drivers would start work at 6.30 and finish well after 9pm (sometimes later if they had to fix the buses).

4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?


I made sure I enjoyed it because I was there. And seeing the solar eclipse was an amazing experience. However I am very disappointed in the tour operator. I don't know whether the fault lies directly with them or the local operator, but of course ultimately it is their responsibility. The itinerary was changed shortly before full payment was due (a flight to the west of Mongolia was removed). Initially this didn't bother me too much - it was replaced with "one long day of driving" and I thought it would be better for the environment. In reality what happened was that we spent 4 extremely long days doing nothing but sitting in the buses to get to the eclipse site, and not stopping at all. And of course, we had similar long days driving back. Other itinerary changes occurred - like the trip was turned into all camping rather than some nights in ger camps and homestays with nomadic families. These latter are things people want to see in Mongolia. In the end these did get put on the itinerary - due to the efforts of our excellent tour leader who went out of his way to rescue the tour.

Read the operator's response here:

Thanks for your comments here. The changes to the itinerary were necessary and were applied for logistical reasons. We understand the impact this had on the tour (i.e. long travel days), but with the distances involved we feel there was no choice. We appreciate your comments in relation to the tenting aspect, and we are working to improve the options and variety for any future tours of this kind.
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Holiday Reviews

We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!

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