Hustain Nuruu
Mongol Lunar New Year celebration
(Feb 24-25th, 2009)
Location: Central Mongolia
Duration: 2days
Day 1 / Feb 24
Meet out team and transfer to Mongolian Secret History Complex where you will celebrate Mongolian Lunar New Year with Mongolians. Trekking around the area and ski from the mountain. Have lunch in restaurant of Big Ger and see folklore concert. Play Mongolian traditional and interesting games and join.
Have dinner and visit Mongolian family to introduce celebrating Lunar New Year Eve. Stay overnight in ger camp.
Day 2 / Feb 25
Breakfast at the ger camp and celebrate Lunar New Year with family such as how to greet with each other, try Mongolian diary products, and see newborn animals etc. Then explore unique nomadic way of life and see how Mongolian women prepare the dairy product and try milking cows etc. Get little gist from family which is our tradition for Lunar New Year.
Have horse-riding section. Have lunch and back to Ulaanbaatar. Transfer to the hotel.
Eagle festival
(Feb 26th, 2009)
Location: Central Mongolia Khan Khentii Natural Reserve
Duration: 1 day
Day 3. Eagle festival 26 February
After breakfast drive to Terelj National Park to attend EAGLE HUNTING festival. Watch interesting activities such as eagle hunting competition, archery competition from horse back and demonstration about eagle training. Have a picnic lunch on the snow. When festival finish by 5pm drive back to Ulaanbaatar for diner in the restaurant and overnight at the hotel.
Ice festival
(Feb 27th-Mar 02nd, 2009)
Location: Western Mongolia, Khovsgol province
Duration: 4 days
Day 4. ICE FESTIVAL and ICE MARATHON 27 February
After early breakfast drive to airport to catch the flight to Moron town. After short flight will reach Moron town of Khovsgol province. Upon arrival drive to frozen Khovsgol lake. After lunch all competitors, and spectators will taken to the ice field which ICE FESTIVAL and ICE MARATHON will take place. Diner and overnight at the ger camp on shore of the frozen lake.
Day 5. ICE FESTIVAL and ICE MARATHON 28 February
In the morning after relaxing breakfast attend for opening ceremony of ICE FESTIVAL and ICE MARATHON begins with shaman ritual. Today will start for the first round of ice marathon ice skaters will participate for 100km distance. Guests will get plenty of opportunity for picture, for horse riding, dog sledding on the lake ice and visit local families in the area.
After lunch ICE DRIVING competition will take place among local drivers. After diner Mongolian traditional clothing show performance in the ice ger followed by short folklore performance. Overnight at the ger camp.
Day 6. ICE FESTIVAL and ICE MARATHON 01 March
Today ice skaters last round will begin for same distance. Meanwhile spectators will enjoy for reindeer race and reindeer lassoing competition. After lunch short distance ice skating competition, wrestling and rope pulling competition will begin in the area. All winners will hand their winning prices.
After diner closing ceremony included shamanistic sacrificial performance followed by bonfire. Overnight at the ger camp.
Day 7. Ulaanbaatar 02 March
After breakfast drive to Moron town. Have a lunch at the Moron town and take a flight to Ulaanbaatar. Upon arrival transfer to hotel. Diner and overnight at the hotel.
Camel festival
(March 03-07th, 2009)
Location: Southgobi province, Southern Mongolia
Duration: 4 days
Day 8. Camel festival 03 March
Travel to the Gobi Desert to attend the "Thousand Camel Festival,” organized by a local non-governmental organization working to protect and preserve the Bactrian camel population, which has been steadily declining over the past twelve years. This magnificent festival allows travelers a rare opportunity to interact with and learn first-hand about these amazing animals and the camel herders’ nomadic lifestyle.
Highlights of the festival include camel races, performances by traditional Mongolian musicians and dancers, and visits to significant paleontological and cultural sites in the Gobi.
Transfer to the airport for the morning flight to Dalanzadgad (1.5 hours), capital of Omnogobi, Mongolia’s southernmost province of semi-arid desert. Upon arrival, drive to the Three Camel Lodge ger camp (2 hours). Check in to your gers and enjoy lunch at the lodge.
The festival begins at around 2:00pm in Bulgan soum (40 minutes driving) with a “parade” of camel riders. The parade is open for visitors to participate and if you wish, you will have an opportunity to join them on a camelback.(to participate in the camel parade, reservation should be made about seven working days in advance) Competitions of the day include “best looking couple on camelback”, most adorable male and female camels as well as a camel polo which takes place in the central square.
There’s also an exhibition of paintings by local children who participate in the drawing contest called “Camel– My Friend”. In the late afternoon, enjoy a performance by “Altai Snowcock”, a local youth organization for preservation and conservation of the surrounding area.
The entrance fees proceed to the funding of the club’s activities.
Enjoy in the evening a hearty dinner at the Three Camel Lodge. (Three Camel Lodge; L, D)
Day 9 Camel Racing / Competition 04 March
The competition begins with the race of mature camels followed by the two-year-old camel race. For your own enjoyment, you may make a bid for the camel you like.
The camels will be judged on their speed during the 15K and 12K races. The first three camels in the each group are awarded with gold, silver and bronze medals.
Enjoy lunch in the town of Bulgan. In the afternoon, sone of the most awaited competitions begins. This is called “Camel Relay”, a competition consisted of catching, taming, training and finally loading a camel with an actual ger.
There are several groups with 5 members, each of whom execute different roles. The closing ceremony takes place late in the afternoon when the winners will be presented with their trophies. Return to the Three Camel Lodge for dinner and overnight.
(Three Camel Lodge; B, L, D)
Day 10 Flaming Cliffs/Petroglyph 05 March
After breakfast, drive to a nearby mountain to visit an ancient petroglyph. Or after lunch you may to travel to the legendary “Flaming Cliffs” (1 hour), named for its glowing orange rock. It was here, in 1922, that Dr. Roy Chapman Andrews and his exploration team from the American Museum of Natural History found the first nest of dinosaur eggs the world had ever seen. To the trained eye, the red sandstone cliffs of the Flaming Cliffs are rich with dinosaur fossils and paleontological expeditions continue to make significant discoveries at this site.
During the remainder of the day, you may watch any of the documentary films the lodge has including an award winning documentary “The Story of the Weeping Camel”. (B,L,D)
Day 11 Ulaanbaatar 06 March
After early breakfast, drive to Dalanzadgad for your return flight back to Ulaanbaatar. Upon arrival, transfer to your hotel and after lunch we will visit Bogd khan winter Palace and Natural history Museum.
Farewell diner followed by folklore show. Overnight at hotel.
(B,L,D)
Day 12 Departure 07 March
Our team will pick you up from hotel and transfer to airport and international departure.
Dog sledding trip in Terelj National park
Amazing expedition by dog sledding, in the heart of natural parks and valleys where Chinggis Khan and its hordes used to live. Invitation to explore the mongolian nature, nomadic way of life and observe the winter wild fauna and flora. Leading your Alaskan dog team, you will slide on the ice, through endless and peaceful landscapes, in a complete silence and under the eternal blue sky.
Region: Central Mongolia
Interesting sites: Terelj National park
Available: Late December – early April
Length of tour: 11 nights / 12 days
Day 1. Ulaanbaatar
Arrival and reception at the airport, installation at the hotel. City tour including Zaisan monument, where from you have the best view of the entire city. Free time to go to the open air market. Dinner in town. Overnight at the hotel.
Day 2. Ulaanbaatar
After breakfast visit to Gandan monastery the heart of Mongolian Buddhism and National History Museum to learn more about all the tribes and people who lived in Mongolia. Dinner in town and overnight at the Hotel
Day 3. Ulaanbaatar to Terelj National Park
In the morning drive to the Gorkhi-terelj national park, at 80km from the capital. The park, located at edge of the Khaan Khentii Park, created in 1994, includes a big part of the Khentii mountaini range. The region of Terelj is an alpine solid massif where many summits reach 2700m. With a lot of forested areas, Terelj is also a sanctuary for wild fauna. Terelj is composed with steppes, mountains, valleys and astonishing rock formations.
You will meet your guides, mushers and dogs in the beginning of the afternoon. Explanation of the activity : introduction to the dog team and to the specific equipment. Installation in the ger for the night.
Day 4. Terelj – Uliin Bulan – Bosgiin guur
Short transfer by vehicles of all dogs, sleds and people to reach the starting point of your adventure. We are following by car the river for 22 km to reach the small Uliin Bulan camp, named after the mountain that surrounds it. This first day will allow you to get used to the sledge, on an easy way. Many nomads live in this valley, but still the area remains very wild and beautiful. Fauna is diversified and the silence intensified by low temperatures creates an unreal atmosphere… The ice of the Tuul River is more unexpectable than the one on Terelj river. It can be blue in one and dark in another day, it can crackle a little bit under the sledges and make some strange noises. Sometimes, the water comes up to the surface through little cracks and creates small lagoons over the deep blue ice. In winter, this very wild area is almost not unhabited by nomads. For some months, only nature reigns over the place.
We will reach for the night Bosgiin Guur located just a hundreds meters away from the
river, where gers and huts are mixed.
Here live Enkhtaïvan and Mungoo, with whom we will share the warmth of the ger for the night.
Day 5. Bosgiin guur – Khar us
We go back on the Tuul for 500 m and pass under a wooden bridge which gave the name to the camp and marks the limit between Gorki-Terelj Park and Khan-Khentii National Park. The river calms down and divides itself in many small streams.
We will stop at the beginning of the afternoon at Bayamba’s camp, to enjoy the meal in a
warm place. This camp marks more or less half of our journey. 15 more kilometers and we will reach the ger camp of Khar Us (black water). There, 5 families live the whole winter, gathered to be stronger against the cold.
Our hosts will be Tsodoo, his wife and their 2 young children. This camp is the last one in the valley. After that, only wolves, deers, bears, foxes and moose are inhabitant of these marvelous spaces.
Day 6. Khar us
Day of exploration in the wildest part of the trip: no herders, only wolves foxes, the very
rare snow leopard… At the end of the afternoon you come back to Tsodoo’s settlement for a warm cup of tea and mongolian dinner. Nomads don’t move during the whole winter. They even build some wooden shelters for the animals. They leave these shelters behind in the spring to move closer to rivers and green lands for the summer season, and come back to the first place at the beginning of winter.
At the end of the afternoon, you will share some times with our mongolian hosts, and learn the nomadic way of life, peaceful and busy!
Sharing ger for short while is unforgettable experience We’ll discover a different world, a different culture combining ancient and modern habits in harmony, and a different notion of time. Sharing the ger with a family is a privilege. Diner and night in the ger.
Day 7. Khar us – Bosgiin guur
After breakfast sledge for kilometers to Enkhtaïvan’s settlement! Dogs will be champing at the bit… They are used to work hard, in these hash conditions. They run on the ice without any fear, sniffing here and there wolves’ prints, always willing to go on. To reach the night camp, we will follow the same way back on the river. It will give us the opportunity to look at footprints of wolves, foxes and rabbits that came on the river.Diner and overnight at Enkhtaïvan’s camp.
Day 8. Bogsiin guur – Uliin bulan
Departure from Bosgiin Guur. Keep sledding on the Tuul River, and reach the junction with the Terelj river, Uliin Bulan and it will be almost 30 kilometers through wilderness. Our hosts for this night will be Bold, nicknamed « Bondoon bold » meaning « the big Bold » & his wife Tsetsegee. Bold was a local champion of mongolian wrestling. He had the « Lion » title, when he was younger. He will probably show you his medal on his deel. Diner and overnight night in their ger
Day 9. Uliin Bulan – Yoliin am
The Tuul River will lead us west, where it is divided in 2 main streams. We will have a long day, to make the 35 kilometers through this windy valley. Everyone will appreciate the comfort of Yoliin Am camp, meaning “the valley of lamargeyer”, after crossing a windy flat valley.
We will arrive at the camp around 16 o’clock, when the sunlight adds some orange shade to the ice, creating a magical atmosphere for these last minutes of sledding Diner and overnight in a ger.
Day 10. Yoliin am - Terelj
Way back to Terelj village. A very last day to enjoy dog sledding, going upstream on the Terelj river until Terelj camp. Diner and overnight in a ger.
Day 11. Terelj – Ulaanbaatar
Departure to go back to UB. Installation at the hotel and free time for shopping. Farewell diner and night at the hotel.
Day 12. Departure
Transfer to the international airport or train station.
