Day
1 Arrival in Ulaanbaatar – sightseeing
You will be met at the airport on arrival, and transferred
to your 3-star hotel. The day can be spent sightseeing in
Ulaanbaatar, including a visit to Gandan Monastery and the Bogd Khaan
Palace, which is a series of beautiful traditional buildings
in which the last religious King of Mongolia resided. It is
now a museum displaying fascinating artefacts and costumes
associated with the King as well as his collection of European
furniture and stuffed animals. Visit the Natural History Museum
and the Fine Arts Museum. Lunch and dinner will be at local
restaurants. Overnight at the hotel.
Day
2 Fly to Khovd – Buyant River – Namarjin Valley
We will transfer to the airport for a morning flight to Khovd.
Khovd City is the capital of Khovd Province and lies near Black
Water Lake and Jargalant Mountain. You will be met at the
airport by our local guides and drivers and taken to Buyant
River for lunch. In the afternoon we will drive for about five hours to the Namarjin
Valley in the Altai Mountains. You will
be rewarded with the view of this vast wide-open valley filled
with grazing herds of goat, sheep, and yaks, and spotted with
many gers. Towering over the valley is the impressive snow-capped
peak of Tsambagarav Mountain. Because our horsemen’s
families live here you will have a unique opportunity to experience
the nomadic way of life. We will stay overnight in a tented
camp.
Day
3 Namarjin Valley – visit nomadic families – horse
riding
Spend the morning at leisure in the valley, walking and resting
after the journey. The Namarjin is a lush and green valley
with a small stream flowing through it, and is surrounded
by rocky hills. Many nomadic families make it their home in
the summer months. The Kazakhs, who are Muslims and one of
Mongolia’s ethnic minorities, populate this area. After
breakfast we will meet the horsemen and saddle up the horses
for a short ride so that you can accustom yourself to the
horse and tack, and to the terrain. In the afternoon we will
ride to an adjacent gorge to see a glacier. On the way we
will visit a Kazakh family and see their gers and way of life.
Their gers are a little larger than standard and decorated
with traditional hand-stitched colourful rugs. Their traditional
dress is also slightly different to the Mongols as the men
tend to wear large, black dels and small, bright hats. We
will return to the camp for the night.
Day
4 Horse riding – visit Kazakh eagle hunters –
Lake Khongor Olon
Today we begin our linear ride, and each day the camp will
be moved by vehicles. While riding to Lake Khongor Olon we
will visit the mighty Kazakh eagle hunters. Their eagles are
kept near the Kazak gers in the summer months and then taken
out to catch small animals of prey in early winter when the
first snows cover the ground. The eagles are trained from
a young age or caught when they are older having already developed
the hunting instinct. When they are 15 years of age they are
released back into the wild. We will see the birds outside
the gers and watch the Kazakh men with them. We will stay
overnight in the camp by the edge of the lake.
Day
5-6 2 days riding to Lake Doroo – Sukhait Mountains
We will continue riding over the Sukhait Mountains to Lake Doroo
for the next two days. The landscape changes from high
mountains to low grassland and open valleys, which will allow
you to gallop freely across the vast plains. We will stay
overnight in tents by the side of the lake.
Day
7 Day of rest at Doroo Lake
After these days of riding, we will spend a day of leisure
by the lake: walking; bird watching; visiting nomadic families,
and swimming. We will stay overnight at a tented camp.
Day
8 Ride to Khashaat Valley
Today is the last day of riding. We will ride until we reach
Khashaat Valley, where we will have a farewell dinner with
our horsemen. You will be served a special Mongolian meal
of ‘Khorkhog,’ which is mutton cooked slowly in
a huge, metal urn with vegetables, water and hot rocks from
a flaming fire. The meat becomes soft and tasty and the water
turns into a thick meaty broth. We will camp in Khashaat Valley.
Day
9 Drive to Lake Achit , Bayan Ulgii
Today we will travel in vehicles and continue the journey
through the westernmost province of Mongolia, Bayan Ulgii.
We travel to Lake Achit, a drive of about eight hours, passing through
Ulgii, the capital of the aimag. Achit Nuur is a large fresh-water
lake with an abundance of bird life. We will spend the night
in a tented camp by the side of the lake.
Day
10 Achit Nuur – Lake Uureg , Uvs
We will spend the morning at Lake Achit and then drive to
Lake Uureg in the far north of Uvs Province. It is an exhilarating
drive of about 4 hours over a rocky, mountainous road. The
lake, which nestles between mountains, is small in comparison
to Achit, but affords views across to Siberia. Overnight tented
camp at Lake Uureg.
Day
11 Lake Uureg
We will spend a day of leisure at Lake Uureg , walking, bird
watching, and swimming. We will stay at the previous night’s
camp by the lake.
Day
12 Lake Uureg – Lake Uvs
We will spend the morning at Lake Uureg and then drive to
Lake Uvs, passing through the provincial capital of Uvs, Ulaangom.
Lake Uvs is the largest lake in Mongolia and covers 3500 sq.
km. It is surrounded by sand-dunes on the eastern side and
is a salt-water lake. The bird life includes Arctic tern,
sand grouse and rock partridge. They live undisturbed around
the shores of the lake due to the absence of animal and human
habitation.There is also an abundance of shrimp living in the lake.
We will camp on the shores of the lake.
Day
13 Ulaangom – return to Ulaanbaatar
We will drive to Ulaangom for the flight to Ulaanbaatar, departing
Ulaangom at 13.00, and arriving in Ulaanbaatar at 16.30. You will be
met at the airport and taken to your 3-star hotel. Dinner
will be at a local restaurant.
Day
14 Departure
After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport for
your international departures.
Prices
include the following: 2 domestic flights, transportation
within Mongolia, twin accommodation in a 3 star hotel. Single
accommodation can be arranged at an additional cost. Tented
accommodation while on trek, three meals a day, English speaking
guide, all sightseeing costs, transfers, camel or horse hire
where specified, support staff including drivers, horse/camel
men and camp assistants.
Prices
do not include: International transportation, travel
insurance, visas, departure tax, alcoholic drinks, gratuities,
items of a personal nature.
It is
the responsibility of the client to be fully covered with
travel and medical insurance while traveling in Mongolia.
Please
note: An additional ‘single supplement’
price is given with all our prices. This refers to single
room accommodation in hotels only. Upon request, single supplement
in the countryside can be provided at the additional cost.
In case single accommodation in ger camps was not provided
the amount would be calculated based on the missing nights
and reimbursed.
Nomads
cannot be held responsible for over bookings, as long as the
company can prove with sufficient documentation that overbooking
has been the error of the third party.
Should
circumstances beyond our control, such as the imposition of
quarantine restrictions, any changes of domestic flight or
train schedules, require a change of itinerary, we will inform
your agent and propose an equivalent itinerary. Again, Nomads
cannot take over the responsibility for the Airlines or the
National Train Company. The traveler is responsible for having
proper travel documents, such as a valid passport, proper
visa and the necessary passport pictures.
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