A funny thing happens when you travel through truly remote places. Anxieties drop away. Everything becomes clearer. You feel restored. Alive. No place we can think of gives you quite the same opportunity for renewal as Mongolia.
Its staggering landscapes stretch a twelfth of the way round the planet. Its people, whose hospitality is truly humbling, number the population of San Diego in a land over three times the size of California. There are great dune seas in the Gobi. Dense forests in the north, penetrated only by rugged mountain ranges, deep gorges, rushing rivers and crystal-clear lakes. In the middle, Mongolia’s vast grasslands once heard the thundering hooves of Genghis Khan’s army and the whispers of merchants carrying silk and spice.
All of this provides a more than impressive backdrop to a host of transformative adventures. Guided by hand-selected experts and hosts, you’ll discover on a truly personal level what life in this Asian kingdom is all about. To cross the vast distances, we’ll put planes, helicopters, Harley Davidsons, Land Cruisers and sturdy Russian jeeps at your disposal. Though you can of course fly to the capital Ulaanbaatar, if you’re not on a schedule, why not arrive by train from Beijing, a mere 30 hours away, or even Moscow, a rather more substantial journey of 4 days and 4,000 miles?
"Whatever time of year you explore, and wherever you go, be warned: Mongolia’s epic landscapes and crazy wonderful people will very likely become an addiction."
Come in summer and you can track snow leopard in the Altai Mountains, unearth velociraptor bones from fossil-rich desert cliffs, live with nomadic eagle hunters and camel herders in their gers, take a hot-air balloon flight over the Buddhist stupas of Erdene Zuu, go land sailing in Khustai, and hike, raft and ride (on horses, camels, mountain bikes and Harley Davidsons) to your heart’s content, supported by luxury mobile tents and a crack team to look after you. We’ll try to ensure your adventures include a traditional Naadam festival, Mongolia’s answer to the Olympic Games, featuring wrestling, horse racing and archery–an amazing spectacle and absolutely worth including during your time here.
Mongolian winters are famously chilly, but wrap up warm and you can travel down frozen rivers behind a dog team, track wolves and go skiing with shamanic Tsaatan reindeer herders in the remote Darhad Valley. Whatever time of year you explore, and wherever you go, be warned: Mongolia’s epic landscapes and crazy wonderful people will very likely become an addiction. And it never takes much to escape the tourist hordes, as they were never there to begin with.
