FULL PROGRAM

Day 01: 09JUL  ARRIVE IN ULAANBAATAR

PM: City tour including Sukhbaatar square, Natinal Khaan Palace museum and Gandan monastery. Overnight at hotel.

Day 02: 10JUL  ULAANBAATAR – NAADAM

First day of Naadam : Depending on the program of the time, you can enjoy a military parade and a traditional costume show “Deeltei Mongol” event in the central square. The first round of archery and ankle bone shooting competition takes place at the Central Stadium. Enjoy traditional folk music and live dance performances from 6pm.

Accommodation: Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 03: 11JUL   ULAANBAATAR – NAADAM

Naadam Festival Day / 100th Anniversary : At 9 o’clock Central Square, nine knights of Genghis Khan ride horses to carry the State Nine Banner and take them to Naadam Stadium. 10:00 Naadam Opening Ceremony. After the official opening ceremony at the stadium, tour Naadam Stadia and enjoy three masculine games: wrestling, archery and ankle shooting. In the afternoon, drive to a racetrack on the outskirts of Ulaanbaatar. Watch horse racing. After that, I moved to Ulaanbaatar city hotel. Participated in the Naadam party.

Accommodation: Hotel
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 04 ULAANBAATAR – SOUTH GOBI

Yoliin am – Early flight to South Gobi. Flight will take 1.15 hrs. Transfer to the gers at the camp and drive to Gurvan Saihan Mountain. Gurvan saikhan mountain or, the Three Beautiful Mountains, is a legendary Gobi oasis. It’s at the eastern end of the Altai mountain range, which forms a vertical rock barrier along the northern edge of the Gobi Desert. It is not a conventional, Saharan style of oasis, with palm trees, but a narrow rock gorge cut into a sheer wall of metamorphic rock. The sides of the gorge are vertical, but there are rock ledges with clumps of stunted juniper. The bottom of the gorge, which only sees the sun when it is directly overhead, is filled with snow and ice. The home of such faunas as small birds, jerboas, rabbits, snow finches, solitary Great Rosefinch, Argali mountain sheep and Ibexes-the wild mountain goats.

Box lunch at the Valley.
Visit to *Eagle valley: Called Yoliin am in Mongolian, Eagle valley is famous for its dramatic and very unusual scenery-it is a valley, stuck in the middle of the Gobi Desert, with 2-3 meters thick ice almost all year around. Visit the small museum at the gate on the main road to Eagle valley, which has a collection of dinosaur eggs, bones and stuffed birds and snow leopard.  On the way, visit camel breeding family to explore the life style of Mongolian nomads, who have kept their life style unchanged for thousands of years. Continue driving back to the camp.

Overnight stay in ger at camp.        

Day 05 SOUTH GOBI – BAYAN ZAG – KHONGOR SAND DUNES

Drive to Khongor sand dunes via Bayanzag for 260kms. *Bayanzag, which means “rich in saxauls” is known as the“flaming cliffs”. Fossilized dinosaur bones and eggs 1^stexcavated in 1922 in Bayanzag. It’s a classic desert of rock, red sands, scrub, sun and awesome emptiness. Drive further to Khongor sand dunes.

Khongor sand dunes: The 800-meter high sand dunes are called Khongor sand dunes. These dunes are 20 km wide and 100 km long. The small Khongoryn River flows along the sand dunes and gives birth to oases. Spend some time at the dunes, trekking, walking or climbing. Overnight stay in gers at camp.

Day 06 KHONGOR SAND DUNES – SOUTH GOBI

Camel Trekking, overnights in our tented camps.

Day 07 KHONGOR SAND DUNES – BAYANZAG

After breakfast, go sightseeing in the Khongor dunes . The dunes are known as “singing sandy beaches” and reach a height of 80m from the plain and extend to a length of about 180km. The spectacular dunes are surrounded by lush vegetation supported by a small river named Khongor. Hiking and sliding in the dunes. Visit camel breeding families and experience short camel riding. In the afternoon, head to Bayanzag (140 km). Andrews first discovered a fossil layer of dinosaur bones and recorded the first dinosaur egg in 1922.

Accommodation: Ger camp
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Day 08 SOUTH GOBI – ULAANBAATAR   – KHOGNOKHAN

Morning flight back to Ulaanbaatar. Drive to Khogno Khaan mountain for 280 kms. Just in the border area of Bulgan, Ovorkhangai and Tuv provinces is the Khogno Khaan Mountain. This is a picturesque area with steppes, mountains, forests and mineral water sources. Plus ruins of the 19th Century temples and monasteries are found in the Khogno Khaan mountain, Trekking and horseback riding tours are available for visitors as an option.

In the 17^th century, the 1^st Bogdo Ghegheen (holy king) Zanabazar of Mongolia, initiated the construction of many temples and one of them was built in Khognokhaan mountain. Zanabazar dedicated this monastery to one of his teachers, Erdene-Tsorj, and eventually the complex became known as Erdene Khamba temple. At the further site was built the so-called Ovgon Temple (Old Man’s Temple), supposedly a much scaled-down model of the Potala in Lhasa.

Overnight in ger at tourist camp.

Day 09 KHOGNOKHAN

After breakfast, you will travel on horseback through Bayan Gobi semi-desert steppes. You will ride on to the admirable landscapes. Riding through the sand dunes is exceptionally amazing and a completely different experience. Have a picnic lunch. You will arrive at the yurt camp in the desert. Dinner and overnight stay will be at the yurt camp (four to five persons per yurt, showers in a separate building).

 Day 10

After breakfast, you will drive through the Orkhon Valley and meet your equestrian guides and horses. You will drive forward (around five hours drive). You will have lunch. Dinner and overnight stay will be at a yurt near a nomadic family (four to five persons per yurt). The comfort is minimal compared to the yurt camps but you will experience the true nature of the nomadic daily life.

Day 11  KHOGNOKHAN – ULAANBAATAR

Drive back to Ulaanbaatar for 110kms. After arrival transfer to the hotel, visit to Natural history museum,which displays findings related to dinosaurs excavations. After the museum shopping. Dinner at local restaurant. Overnight at hotel.

Day 12 DEPARTURE