Mongolia Reindeer People

Day 1 - Departure to Ulan Bator

Day 2 - Arrival - Ulan Bator
Arrival in Ulan Bator. Pick up at the airport and transfer to hotel on the Genghis Khan Square. The motorcycles are collected in the afternoon pick up the engines. The motorcycles await us at a garage on the city's outskirts.

Day 3 - Darkhan - Erdenet
We ride out of town, following the highway towards the Russian border. Halfway along the route we cross a small pass. Once outside the city, one immediately sees how empty the country is. We follow the Trans-Mongolia railway line for the last part. Darkhan is a town built in the Soviet style to house the miners. We ride a short way back and turn off to the west. It is a long well-surfaced route to Erdenet. Erdenet is the second largest city in Mongolia.

Day 4 - Erdenet - Mörön
A long day riding only on surfaced roads through a landscape of rolling hills. Mörön is a small town with a great hotel opposite a supermarket. We will stock up here for the coming days. It is also good to take additional basic food products, such as sugar, rice and cooking oil, to give to the nomadic peoples herding the reindeer.

Day 5 - Mörön - Tsagaan Nuur
Today we ride into the higher altitudes. The views are stunning and the lakes azure blue. The road is not surfaced and is very bad. We will come across fords regularly and sometimes will have to search for the road. We will cross over two high passes. Twelve blue towers mark  the last pass. This indicates that we have arrived in the land of the Tsagaan shamans. The overnight facilities in Tsagaan Nuur are very basic with an outside toilet and no shower.

Day 6 - Tsagaan Nuur - Reindeer Village
We ride on the motorcycles further north. After a short hour’s journey we come to a remote yurt. We drink butter tea here and the horses are prepared for us. We continue the journey on horseback, through the conifer forest and crossing several rivers. The duration of this ride is determined by the location of the Tsagaan people. In summer this is usually deep in the mountains near the border with Siberia. On arrival at the reindeer camp we are assigned a tent and we cook our own food. The host family eats with us. There is no toilet and no running water available.

Day 7 - Tsagaan Nuur - Lake Khövsgöl
In the morning we mount the horses again and ride back to the yurt where the motorcycles were left behind. After lunch in the village of Tsagaan Nuur we ride onwards to Lake Khövsgöl where we stay overnight in a more luxurious yurt camp on the shore of the lake. If the road is in too bad a condition to complete our route for the day, we will set up camp somewhere along the road and ride on to Lake Khövsgöl in the morning.

Day 8 - Lake Khövsgöl - stay
A day of rest after the demanding nature of the previous days.

Day 9 - Khövsgöl - Orgil
In the morning we drive on a well-surfaced road to Mörön. We lunch here and stock up for the next few days. Onwards from Mörön we ride on dirt roads towards the southeast. We stay overnight near Orgil.

Day 10 - Orgil - Tsenkher Hot Spring
We ride on dirt roads for the whole day, crossing through fords regularly. After visiting the hot springs of Tsenkher, we look for a place to set up camp for the night.

Day 11 - Tsenkher - Ulan Bator
A long journey on surfaced roads only. It is wise to leave early and arrive in Ulan Bator before the traffic jams.

Day 12 - Ulan Bator - stay
A day in the capital before departure. One can visit the Gandan Monastery today. This complex was built in the Tibetan style. In former times there was a close link between Tibet and Mongolia as a result of which the majority of Mongolians were followers of Tibetan Buddhism.

Day 13 - Ulan Bator - departure