The Tsagaan Sar or Mongolian New Year is an important festival celebrating renewal.Eat until hungry at this time announcement prosperity for the year ahead.Enjoy this unique experience in the yurt of a nomadic family in the heart of beautiful National Park GorkhiTerelj.Share with your guests the joy of the New Year before exploring the park dogsled and snowshoe.
The Mongolian winter offers an amazing spectacle and magic. You progress in the silent atmosphere of white forests and frozen rivers.
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. In the evening, you will enjoy a Mongolian Folk Music and Dance Performance “TumenEkh”. Then welcome lunch in a Mongolian restaurant.
Today we will drive to the National Park of GorkhiTerelj.On the way, 54 km east of the capital Ulaanbaatar you will admire the gigantic equestrianstatue of Genghis Khan riding on horseback,which was built in 2008on the bank of the Tuul River at TsonjinBoldog, where according to legend, he found a golden whip. The statue is 40 meters tall and wrapped in 250 tons of gleaming stainless steel. This statue is currently the biggest equestrian statue in the world.
Snowshoeing through a splendid valley. You enjoy unique moments in the heart of a beautiful and wild nature. Then visit to Aryabal meditation monastery.To access, pleasant walk of about an hour in the silence of the forest. Crossing a suspension bridge then arrived at the steps leading to the temple. It stands on an imposing rocky hill which offers a beautiful view of the mountains of Khan Khentii and Terelj Valley.
Transfer by car to the camp of the nomadic family with whom you share the coming days.
Tea ceremony in Mongolian salty milk offered as a welcome. Mutual presentations and first contacts. You discover the way the symbolism of the many components of the yurt, and traditions to respect within it.
Afternoon around the camp and first overview of the organization of nomadic life in winter.Dinner and evening with the family.
Festive atmosphere awaiting the feast of TsagaanSar. This evening called Bituun, the ger is cleaned and peoples ready to welcome the New Year. The family members share a convivial meal and traditional games (ossicles, dominoes, cards) awaiting the dawn. You observe and participate in this magical evening which takes place only once a year.
Short transfer by car to the junction between the Terelj and Tuul rivers. Accompanied by a professional musher, the sleigh route along the Tuul river takes you to the foot of small forested mountains. You enjoy a unique experience in the heart of the Mongolian winter despite extreme temperatures is a magical and surprising season.
Snowshoeing in the mountains of GorkhiTerelj belonging to the mountain range of low Khentii.
The snow-covered valley, forests and frozen rivers offer a show breathtaking.You progress in silent unreal atmosphere and observe wildlife at leisure.
Your stay comes to an end and you leave in the morning the nomad camp. You make your goodbyes to your host family.Taking the road to the Manzuchirmonastery, where the remains of an important lamasery built in the eighteenth century. It was almost completely destroyed in the 1930s during the communist purges, and is being rebuilt in recent years. Built on a rocky outcrop, it overlooks a beautiful valley surrounded by small pine forests and crossing streams. Walk around the site.
Then, after lunch on the way, return in Ulaanbaatar.
Farewell dinner with your interpreter and driver.
Transfer to the airport