Summary
The Mongolia group tour was a great experience, friendly people, amazing nature and a capital that offers culture as well as commerce.
We arrived in Mongolia with some basic knowledge about the country, its history and with great expectations and our expectations were exceeded. We found Ulaanbaatar, the capital city, in the areas we visited, easily navigable, clean and inviting. It also helped that prior to the trip we had bought eSIMs from the local provider Mobicom, so we could use translation apps and Google Maps as needed. Paying was easy too, not only in the capital, but across the parts of the country we visited and we could use our credit cards pretty much everywhere. Once out of the capital, the true character of Mongolia started to become visible. Its vast almost empty space, with a Nomadic ger camp every now and again and the freely roaming livestock, leaves an immediate impression and instills a sense of calmness. The trip, due to the vastness of the country, included a lot of driving. According to our tour guide, we covered roughly 2,500 km. But the occasional horses, goats, camels and the beautiful and changing landscape made the drives entertaining and the stops to view vultures, ibexes and other wildlife were the cherry on top.
The homestay provided a glimpse into the tough life of the nomadic families. Children are at boarding school or at relatives to go to school during autumn, winter and spring, while in summer they help their parents with the livestock. This means early mornings, milking cows, goats and horses, taking care of related tasks during the day and herding and milking them in the evening again.
It was also interesting to see how aspects of the culture suppressed during communist times are being resurrected, such as the Mongolian alphabet as well as religious practices.
We had a memorable trip in an impressive country and highly recommend visiting!
(a guided tour is advisable due to the size of the country, lack of paved roads and public transport)
Travel days
15
Mode of transport
Private 4x4 Minivan,
Taxi,
Airplane,
Camel,
escalators,
… and by foot (a lot) … again
Types of accommodation
Hotels: 3 nights
Gers: 8 nights
Tent: 2 nights
Airplane: 1 night
Temperature
Lowest temperature at night:
low double digit
Highest temperature by day:
mid thirties
Rainy night(s)
1 night
Our Mongolian colour palette
