Mongolia Lakes and Legends

Arrive in Ulaan Baatar and transfer to your centrally located hotel. Enjoy an evening tour of Ulaan Baatar city, including the War Memorial at Zaisan if time permits. 

Meals: Dinner

This will be your day to acquire a good background of the cultural, religious and natural history of Mongolia. You will tour Ulaan Baatar including a visit to Gandantegchinlen Monastery, the largest and most significant monastery in Mongolia, and one of Ulaan Baatar’s most interesting sights. Built in the mid 19th century, it is the only monastery where Buddhist services continued during the communist years, and the temples are thronged during religious services. Also tour the Megjid Janraisig Temple, the most important part of the monastery. This temple, also known as Avalokiteshvara Temple, was built in 1911-1912 to celebrate the end of Manchu domination in Mongolia and, it is said, to have cured the great and revered Bogd Gegeen Khaan from blindness. The Janraisig statue at 25 meters (87 feet) in height and 20 tons in weight, is inside of the temple. Visit the newly renovated Museum of National History, with excellent displays on several millennia of Mongolia’s history beginning with the Stone Age, running through the Turkic and Mongol Empires, the rise of Buddhism, the communist regime and ending with a colorful display of contemporary society. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After an early breakfast at the hotel, fly into Moron, the center of the Hovsgol province. From Moron, you will be driven to the base camp at Lake Hovsgol (approx. 70 miles). With an area of 1,012 sq. miles lying near the Russian border, Hovsgol is Mongolia’s largest freshwater lake. It is more than 800 feet deep, and more than a mile above sea level. The remainder of the day is at your leisure. Overnight at the camp. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast at the camp you will have a full day to explore the breathtaking shores of this beautiful lake.  There is ample opportunity to discover the local nomadic lifestyle. You can plan hiking and photo ventures along the shorelines, which are excellent habitats for wildlife and birds.  Overnight at the ger base camp. Each ger sleeps 4 to 6 people. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast, you will be driven back to Moron to catch your return flight to Ulaan Baatar. Upon your arrival, you will be transferred to your local hotel where you will overnight. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

In the morning, you will fly to the Gobi Desert, one of the most famous and exotic areas in the world. The Gobi occupies about one third of Mongolia and consists of sand dunes and dry mountain ranges. As one of the harshest environments on earth with extreme temperature and seasonal changes, the Gobi is surprisingly full of wildlife such as white and blacktail gazelles, wild ass or “hulan” in Mongolian, wild camel or “havtgai”, antelopes, ibex and argali sheep, the biggest wild sheep on the planet! The majority of Mongolia’s population of bactrian camels live in this area and you can take a camel ride if you like. Upon arrival, transfer to the base camp at the Gobi. You may visit the Yol Valley National Park for a morning trek with opportunities to photograph the stunning landscape, “Gobi Glacier”, and intriguing wildlife. Yol (Lammergeyer) Valley is the narrow canyon of river that flows through Zuun Saikhan Mountain (alt. 9,236’). Its gorge has sheer rock walls and during the rainy season, rain falls at the summit of the mountain and flows down into the sheer canyon to form waterfalls. A small museum marks the entrance to the protected zone and provides information on the petrified trees, and flora and fauna of the Gobi. Return to base camp for dinner and overnight. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Today you will enjoy a day trip to Bayan Zag, also known as the Flaming Cliffs (80 miles), to explore the Gobi “Cemetery of Dinosaurs” and the trail of Roy Chapman Andrews. You will also stop at the Petrified Forest, where you will find the remains of mammals, in particular, the skeleton of a hornless rhinoceros, the largest known mammal in the world. After lunch, return to base camp for your overnight. En route, stop by the Moltsog Els sand dunes to explore the local area. After dinner, visit a camel breeders camp for photo opportunities, camel riding lessons, and learn more about the nomadic lifestyle. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast at the base camp, fly back to Ulaan Baatar. En route to the hotel, visit the Bogdo Khaan Winter Palace Museum. The Bogdo Khaan Winter Palace is the home of the last Mongolian King, Javzun Damba Khutagt VII. The Museum contains a number of Buddhist artworks and the private collection of Bogdo Khaan, composed of gifts from rulers and kings from all over the world. The artworks displayed here were made by the top Mongolian, Tibetan and Chinese master-sculptors of the 18th and 19th centuries and represent the gods of Buddhist pantheon. If you did not have time on your earlier trip through Ulaan Baatar, visit the newly renovated Museum of National History. Overnight at a centrally located hotel. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

In the morning, visit the Natural History Museum in the center of the city. The museum displays exhibits on the geography, geology, botany, fauna, and paleontology of Mongolia. Among the treasures on display are 800 objects from the lower Cambrian Age (500 million years ago) to the Quaternary Age (10,000 to 15,000 years ago), and includes fossils of vertebrates, plants, leaf prints, dinosaurs and mammals. The specimens of dinosaur skeletons and bones vary in size from a few inches to over 100 feet tall, and several are to be found only in Mongolia. You will then be driven to the Hustain Nuruu National Reserve (62 miles), for a look at the Przwalski Wild Horses, recently re-introduced back into Mongolia. The 222,300 acre reserve was established in 1993 and the Takhi (the Mongolian name of wild horses) were brought to Mongolia from zoo parks from Holland. Tour the visitor’s center to learn about conservation projects and current developments. Overnight in a ger at base camp. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After an early breakfast, drive to Bayangobi, a unique combination of steppe, forested mountains and desert-type landscape in one combination. The ger base camp is located along the sand dunes and it is the starting point for travel to the beautiful Hogno Khaan Mountains. You will have time at your leisure for local exploration. You also visit a horse-breeder’s camp to explore the lifestyle of nomads, see the making of airag (the Mongolian national drink of fermented mare’s milk) along with an opportunity to go horseback riding on Mongolian wooden saddles. Overnight in gers at the base camp. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Spend the day attending the Naadam Festival. Enjoy the Opening Ceremony, competitions of the three manly sports: wrestling, horse riding and the archery. Naadam Gala Concert and Gala dinner. Overnight in the gers at the base camp. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

After breakfast at the base camp, transfer to Karakorum (approx. 80 miles). Situated on the banks of River Orkhon, the site of the imperial capital, Karakorum, was chosen by Chinghis Khan in 1220. The city, capital of the largest land empire the world has ever known, served as a supply point for the Mongol armies and was a cosmopolitan and multi-cultural place in its time. Today almost nothing remains of the once-great city, but the sense of its grandeur and importance can still be felt by the visitor. Karakorum was located on trade routes and was surrounded by walls with four gates, each with its own market. The nearby Erdene Zuu Monastery was the first Buddhist monastery built in Mongolia, constructed using stones and bricks from the ruins of the ancient city in 1586. During the communist purges of the 1930s, many of the temples in the monastery complex were destroyed, but the remaining temples and stupas are some of the best examples of Mongolian Buddhist architecture. Erdene Zuu is now both a museum and a functioning monastery. Tour symbolic ruins of Karakorum. Visit Erdene Zuu Monastery and Shanh Hiid, the local active Buddhist temple. The Shanh Hiid, along with the Erdene Zuu, is the only other monastery in the region to have survived the 1937 purge. Overnight in ger at the Karakorum base camp. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Drive back to Ulaan Baatar arriving late in the late afternoon. There will be a farewell dinner at the hotel. Overnight at Edelweiss Hotel. 

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

In the morning, transfer to the airport for your departure flight. 

NOTE: On this wide-ranging trip, participants' endurance and patience may be tested by difficult roads, transportation, and uncertainties like hot, cold, wet or dry weather, but we have great faith in the local company and guides whom we employ.

Meals: Breakfast