Wild Mongolia
Khongoryn Els, the singing sand dunes of the Gobi, climbed on foot and ridden by camel, and Przewalski’s horses on safari in Khustai Nuruu National Park.
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The route
Seventeen nights across Mongolia from Ulaanbaatar into the Gobi and north to Khuvsgul, driven by the travellers themselves with a guide leading. Every night is in a ger camp or a hotel and all meals are included, which matters in a country where the next settlement can be a hundred miles off.
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park opens it, with the Chinggis Khan statue on the way, forty metres of stainless steel standing on the spot where legend says he found a golden whip. The Baga Gazarin Chuluu rock formations follow on the way south into the Gobi, which for the most part is not sand but gravel, scrub and rock.
Yolyn Am comes next, the Valley of the Eagles, a gorge narrow enough to hold ice into the summer, then Khongoryn Els, dunes up to three hundred metres high that hum audibly when the sand shifts, climbed on foot and ridden by camel. The Flaming Cliffs follow, where the first dinosaur eggs ever identified were found in the 1920s.
The route then turns north through Ongii Khiid and the Orkhon valley to Kharkhorin and Erdene Zuu, the oldest surviving monastery in the country, then the Great White Lake, the Chuluut canyon and the open steppe, with bronze age deer stones along the way. Khuvsgul Nuur holds a large share of all the fresh water in Mongolia, and the Selenge river drains it north. Khustai Nuruu closes the trip, where Przewalski’s horses have been reintroduced after going extinct in the wild, though no sighting can be promised. Prices are quoted in US dollars, per person.
Images selected by Stradora to represent the journey.
What's included
- Airport transfers
- fuel and tolls
- 17 nights' accommodation in ger camps and hotels
- 17 breakfasts, 17 lunches, 17 dinners
- services of Compass Expeditions leader and support staff
- access to the Compass Expeditions app, with tour info, route maps and what to expect
- pre-departure material
- Compass Expeditions tour shirt
- entrances to all attractions and excursions mentioned in the itinerary
Not included
- International flights
- visas if required
- personal health and travel insurance
- tips and gratuities
Ready to drive it?
17 days, from $15,205pp
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