Nomadic Life & Gobi Desert

Day 4: Gobi Nomad Lodge Ger camp

After breakfast early in the morning, meet the guide, take a transfer to the airport to take an early flight to Dalanzadgad. The flight takes an hour and a half. Drive to Ger camp. After lunch, visit Yol Valley in Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park. Enjoy hiking and photographing the charming landscape and wildlife. Visit local Gobi museum. Overnight at Gobi Nomad Lodge Ger camp.

Day 5: Khongor Sand Dunes - Camel trek

After breakfast at the camp, we travel through the Gobi Desert to see amazing the Khongor Sand Dunes at sunset. The Gobi desert is one of the world's greatest, it is a no-sand desert of gravel plains and rocky outcrops. Great Gobi National Park is one of the largest World Biospheres, with an area larger than Switzerland. It contains the last remaining wild Bactrian (two-humped) camels and a small population of Gobi bears, the only desert-inhabiting bear. The Khongor Sand Dunes are some of the largest and most impressive white sand dunes in Mongolia with the largest dunes up to 800 metres high. The dunes make a sound like a plane engine on a windy day so it has been named as "Singing Dunes". Visit the local camel herding nomad family and experience the nomadic life in the Gobi, have a camel ride through the sand dunes of Khongori. Overnight at the Ger camp.

Day 6: Bayanzag & Flaming Cliffs

After breakfast at the camp, you will go further to Bayanzag, known as Flaming Cliffs. We shall hike through the cliffs (east trail, suitable for any fitness level) to see the Gobi tree grove named “Bayanzag”.The American paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews arrived here in 1922, on an expedition for the American Museum of Natural History. His team found hundreds of fossilised remains, and Bayanzag became known as a dinosaur graveyard. After lunch, we will watch a short documentary about these excavations. We will return to the camp and have time at leisure. After dinner, we will go back to the Bayanzag to see the sunset, find out why the area is called Flaming Cliffs. Overnight at the Ger camp.

Day 7: Ongi Temple ruins

After breakfast at the camp, you will continue your journey to discover Ongi Monastery ruins through the great Ongi steppe. Ongi monastery was one of the 7 biggest Mongolian monasteries. There are 2 temple ruins which were built up in 1780s. During repression in 1930s’, these two temples were destroyed and over 200 monks were killed, and many surviving monks were imprisoned. In the 1990s, it was decided to rebuild the monastery. The first temple was inaugurated in 2004. There is a small museum in a ger in front of it. One of the stupas has just been reconstructed as well. Transfer to the camp. Overnight at the Ger camp.

Day 8: Karakorum – Erdene Zuu Monastery

After breakfast at the hotel, meet the guide and drive towards to Kharkhorin, formerly known as Karakorum. Embrace the wilderness of Mongolia when visiting Khogno Khan Nature Reserve with mountains, steppes, Gobi-type desert and mineral water sources all in one location, Uvgun monastery or Erdene Khamba khiid. After lunch, continue to travel to Kharkhorin, the legendary city founded by Genghis Khan in 1220 in Orkhon Valley, on the Silk Road. Those days it was a political, economic, administrative and religious centre. But after Khublai Khaan moved the Mongolian capital to Beijing, Karakorum was abandoned and then completely destroyed by Chinese soldiers in 1388. There we shall visit Kharkhorin museum, and the Mongolian oldest and largest monastery Erdene Zuu. Overnight at the Ger camp.

Day 9: Travel back to Ulaanbaatar

After breakfast, meet the driver and take a transfer to return back to Ulaanbaatar, make a stop for picnic lunch on the road. Arrival in Ulaanbaatar. Check-in at the hotel. In the evening, enjoy a farewell dinner in one of the authentic restaurants in the city. Overnight at the hotel.

Day 10: Departure

After breakfast, check out of the hotel. The driver will take you to the airport.