Horse / Camel / Jeep (14 days)

The most classic transportation In the countryside this four-legged horse is still used very often.On this tour you will not only sit in a jeep and drive through the countryside, but you will cover part of the distance on the back of a Mongolian horse and thus get a completely different view of the landscape. The horseback riding tour will take you through the beautiful and historic Orkhon Valley. Long before Chingges Khan founded the capital Karakorum here, the valley was settled by different peoples. Of course, we will also visit Karakorum, the legendary ancient capital of Chingges Khan, with the largest Buddhist monastery in Mongolia – Erdene Zuu – . From Karakorum we drive to the Orkhon waterfall to ride horses in this unique landscape to the Eight Lakes (Naiman Nuur). This part of the riding stage takes you far away from civilization. For this time we do not have a support vehicle and all luggage and equipment will be loaded onto the usual yak carts.
From the Eight Lakes, we will continue by jeep towards the Gobi. But also here we will make an excursion with the typical means of transport for the Gobi, the camel. We will travel with camels along the big sand dune Khongorin Else in the South Gobi. Here we will dive into the world of desert nomads.
This tour is not about seeing as much as possible in as short a time as possible, rather we want to give you a small insight into the way of life of the nomads. If we are on the way by horse, or even camels, then it naturally follows that we will also stop again and again at the nomads along the way and visit them. There is always enough time for a tea and a short conversation.
So that there are no problems with the mounts on the way, you will be accompanied by experienced nomads. You don’t need any riding experience (but it is desirable), but you should be a bit sporty. The Mongolian horses are rather frugal and less temperamental.

1. Day	Arrival in Ulaanbaatar, check-in at the hotel, introduction round, program discussion, city tour, visit to Gandan Monastery, visit to the Natural History Museum.
2. Day	Departure from Ulaanbaatar. You will be picked up by our team and their vehicles. Just behind the city, the Mongolian grass steppe begins. Today you will get the first impression of life in this vastness. The first stop is at an “Ovoo”, a natural religious place of cult. According to an old tradition, in order to make the journey successful, we will go around this “cairn” three times, so that the earth gods will be positively tuned. Our today’s destination, the former capital of Mongolia – Karakorum -, we will reach in the late afternoon. We will visit the monastery of “Erdene zuu” on this day. The monastery was the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia and can be traced back to the middle of the 15th century (Prince Abatai Khan). The name of the monastery can be translated as “Precious Sanctuary”. The monastery was built after the disintegration of Karakorum and the stones of the old city were used to build the monastery. In an extensive tour, we will visit the entire monastery complex.
3. Day	In the morning we will visit the new museum of Karakorum, where we will get a good overview of the history and construction of the city. We will continue our trip through the Orkhon valley to the Orkhon waterfalls. The drive will take us through a very scenic valley. At the Orkhon waterfall there is a possibility to explore the landscape. At the we can go on a short hike to explore the landscape at the waterfall.
4. Day	Pick up the horses, briefing and start riding towards the Eight Lakes (Naiman Nuur). The landscape we pass through is one of the most beautiful in Mongolia. Everything is a bit more relaxed. The luggage and the equipment have found a place on the yak carts accompanying us and we can enjoy the landscape from the back of the horses.
5. Day	Traveling with horses in the Archangai Mountains.
6. Day	Traveling with horses in the Archangai Mountains. Around noon we reach the Eight Lakes and ride the rest of the way along the shore. Around afternoon we reach our destination and can spend the evening in a yurt.
7. Day	Drive via Arwajcheer to the ruins of Ongij Monastery. We have now left the steppe landscape and are nearing the Gobi Desert
8. Day	Visit to the monastery ruins of Ongii. This monastery complex was one of the largest monasteries in Mongolia and was equivalent to the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Walking through the ruins of the monastery, you can still imagine the former size of the monastery. Of the original more than 900 monasteries in Mongolia, Ongij Monastery was the largest. At that time, up to 10,000 monks lived here. The monastery was almost completely destroyed in the 1930s. Only after the “Wende” it was slowly rebuilt. Today only a few monks live here. The monastery is located directly on the Ongii River in a beautiful black rock landscape. After the extensive sightseeing, we continue southward to the rock cliffs of Bayanzag.
9. Day	Along the southern extension of the mighty Altai Mountains, today we will head west to the sand dune “Khongorin Else”. In between there is always the possibility to make a short detour into the gorge system of the Gurvan Saikhan Mountains.
10. Day	In the morning, drive to a nomadic family nearby. Takeover of the camels and start with our camel ride. Here it is a bit more leisurely. This part of the trip is done more at “caravan pace”. The sand dunes at the edge of the route, which must be passed, reinforce this impression.
11. Day	Slowly we continue on the camels through the Gobi.
12. Day	Continue to Vulture Gorge and in the afternoon you will arrive at Vulture Gorge, which we will explore in detail and spend the night in the yurt camp.
13. Day	Optional return flight to Ulaanbaatar (domestic flight), afternoon at leisure in Ulaanbaatar, or return by coach to Ulaanbaatar ( approx. 10 hrs).
14. Day	Morning: Return flight
*) Program and route may be subject to change. Binding is the itinerary as it is sent in the booking confirmation