This itineraries of 10 days where 4 days trekking in the Khentii province, which is one of the wildest regions, perfectly combines hiking and discovery of the nomadic lifestyle.
With few transfers by vehicle, this trip is ideal for families with children. Accompanied by pack horses, walking from ger to ger through the hilly and wooded steppes irrigated by rivers. The Khentii presents a landscape typical large Mongolian plains, and has the advantage of being still very little frequented by tourist groups. Each evening you will be welcomed by farmers in the region in the privacy of the family ger. You will discover the daily activities and tasks of the nomadic life, authentic and still very much alive in Mongolia.
Difficulty: 2/5 – Discovery tour
Altitude: 2500 m
Average: 20 km, or 4-5 hours of walking a day over hilly terrain of low mountains. Up to 25 km a day, so little gradient.
Portage: small knapsack for picnic, water and personal belongings, the rest is carried by pack horses. This trek presents no difficulty and is accessible to anyone physically fit.
Also: The establishment of the summer camp of nomadic families changing slightly each year, the route and/or the running order in families may be modified. We will remain vigilant to maintain maximum balance in the intensity of hiking days.
Arrive in Ulaanbaatar the capital city of Mongolia. Our guide and driver will greet you at the airport. Transfer to your hotel. Depends on time of your arrival, taken on city sightseeing tour including a visit the Gandantegchilen Monastery or “Great Place of Complete Joy”. It features a 26.5-meter-high statue of Avalokiteśvara. Then our tour takes you to the Chinggis Khan monument on the Sukhbaatar square which is heart of the city, and visit the Museum of National History. In the evening, you will enjoy a Mongolian Folk Music and Dance Performance “Tumen Ekh”. Then welcome lunch in a Mongolian restaurant.
Today our countryside travel will start with 280 km driving on the paved roads of mountain steppes to a nomad family, in the Khenti province, homeland of Genghis Khan. Stop in front of the monument dedicated to Genghis Khan. Then you will see Mongolian beautiful landscapes, large green steppes, flocks, isolated gers and forests. In the evening, we will arrive first nomadic family. Hospitable Mongolian nomadic family will welcome you and will treat the traditional Mongolian tea.
Then, the first encounter with the family members, as well as their daily lives and first overview of the organization of nomadic life.
Welcome dinner and evening with the family.
You meet the local guide who will accompany you throughout the hike. It’s time to say goodbye to your first host family and beginning of the trek accompanied by pack horses that carry your bags and equipment. During 2 days, you grow in a landscape of wooded and hilly steppes. Several rivers, including the Tsenkher River, lakes and irrigate the plains. You walk in the foothills of the Khentii mountain range. Passage near several camps and meet breeders always ready to offer you tea. By late afternoon you are greeted by nomadic families, with whom you share your evenings in the ger.
Today you spend the day in your host family, to discover the nomadic lifestyle. You will have one full day to observe what nomads do daily, Iearn their custom and tradition and taste home cooked meals. Volunteering to help nomads is available to milk animals, fetch water, prepare drinks and regional dishes, cook traditional meals and cookies, make dairy products from milk, tend livestock, collect horses riding on horseback, see how horses are caught, play traditional games, help milking animals and much more.
Traditionally, tasks around the camp are given to women and those who need to get away from returning to men.
Continuation through the vast green plains, hills and walking to the camp of the 4th host family. Possible passages unbridged rivers. You walk in a wild and typical Mongolian context. In the region live many squirrels of steppes and marmots, but also foxes, deer, wild boar and wolves. On your way you cross freely grazing herds, under the watchful eye of breeders. On the seventh day you come back to the first family that you met.
Our vehicle joined to the nomad camp. Drive to the Gorkhi Terelj Natural Park. Visit the monastery. Short walk to get there. Panorama breathtaking on the massif of Khentii and across the Terelj natural park. Then horseback riding in the afternoon along the Terelj River. Also called “Mongolian small Swiss”, you ride through forests in a beautiful valley dotted with yurts and flowers and overhung by wooded mountains.
Drive back to Ulaanbaatar. You will have an opportunity to shop at cashmere and souvenir shops. Farewell dinner with your interpreter and driver in a Mongolian restaurant.
Transfer to the airport