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Independent Travelers
SSS offers flexible tour itineraries, which means you or your group can choose what you want to see, do and experience in Mongolia. We believe that by giving you the information needed to understand what you would like from Mongolia then together we can develop a tour to suit your needs. This means that we can make anything from a day tour to Terelj to a major expedition from the north to south of the country. Of course at SSS Travel our emphasis is helping travelers to understand Mongolia, and this means that we encourage and provide you with educational tourism options that you can incorporate into your tour so that you can do more than just enjoy Mongolia but partly understand it as well.
The destination that we travel to
What services we offer to our travelers
For the traveler Mongolia is still a place to be explored. But be prepared
for something different, our roads are amongst the worst in the world and
few people in the country side speak English. We provide jeeps and drivers,
the best form of transport for any Mongolian trip, wirh guides and/or drivers
that speak English. (please note that we can also arrange German, Korean,
Russian and Japanese speaking guides).
We are also here to provide the local knowledge that you need to design
a tour, for example, which roads are in good condition, where there is something
to see and how long a trip will take etc.
Our General tour planning procedure is:
1. You tell us what kind of Mongolian experience you want.
2. We tell you what there is to see and do
3. Tell us where you want to go, if you dont know we can tell you some of
the best spots.
4. We will arrange everything for you,
5. Then we enjoy the trip together.
If want to combine your trip with one of our other tours this is possible
We are also happy to combine the tour that you have designed with one of
our other tours for example you can travel to Khusgul then travel back to
Ulaanbaatar on the Understanding Mongolia’s ancient and modern history
tour itinerary, then finish up with the day walks on development tour in
Ulaanbaatar.
Our other tours
"A Day Tour with an educational, motivational look at difficulties
faced by Mongolians"
" A walk through one of the many illegal-logging trails that surround
Ulaanbaatar. Learn about the forest ecology vs issues regarding poverty."
"An interactive day in the Garden. This project has had some amazing
results over the last few years teaching people to grow vegetables in Mongolias
harsh environment."
"A tour that explores Urban Migration, ger districts and social issues
within Ulaanbaatar"
"Explore the Urban environment before heading out to the Takhi horse
conservation project at at Hustai..."
"Take a journey, from Chinggis Khaan to the Qing Dynasty, onto communism
and finally democracy"
Cost of the tours
Due to our tours being flexible our tour costs are as well, thus our prices
can vary. This means the more you want the higher the cost.
But to give you a rough idea, our tours range from $14 per person per day
(a basic tour) to $100 per person per day (which includes domestic flights,
ger camp accommodation, meals, the lot). An average price for an expedition
style tour would be around $40 per day, with meals a range of accommodation,
admission fees, jeep, guide etc.
Destinations
Terelj is 70kms from Ulaanbaatar and is a good choice for a quick trip.
It is a small settlement that is surrounded by forest covered granite mountains.
The mountain's rock formations, range from spectacular to weird to the most
amazing natural depiction of a turtle known to man are really worth seeing.
The area has plenty of locals who will hire their horse for treks along
the river and the typical choice of accommodation is the ger camp (gers
are the Mongolian round felt tents). The area is proably best known as a
place to relax and/or go for a hike.
We can arrange a variety of activities for you if you wish to visit Terelj,
for example:
Horse and Yak riding
Transportation to from and around the area
A trip to the ruined monastery Gunjiin Sum
A wide range of accommodation choices, ranging from budget to very comfortable.
In 1733 the Manzshir monastery was established in a forested valley of the
Bodg Khan mountain range. Today there are only dirt walls remaining due
to the communists destroying in the 1930s. This is not to say that there
is nothing to see at Manzshirs, on the contrary, a temple style museum has
been established next to the ruins at it now houses some amazing Buddhist
artifacts from the time of the monastery. To add to this the mountains and
forests that surround the museum are spectacular for hiking.
If you would like to visit Manzshirs we can arrange;
Horse riding in the surrounding mountains
A visit to a local herding family that produces Airag (fermented horses
milk)
Accommodation
Guides to help you talk to the locals
Transportation to from and around the area
And many other things
Includes the Arkhangai/Ovorkhangai Region; Kharakhorin, Hustai National
Park, Khogno Khan Uul, White lake, and Orkhon valley.
This is truly a great place to explore with so much variety in one area
, steppe to sand dunes, rivers and water falls, herders and a lot more.
On the way west from Ulaanbaatar you can visit Mongol Els or little
sands, an interesting collection of sand dunes, without a desert.
Close to Mongol Els is Hustai National Park, a park dedicated to
protecting the Takhi horses (wild Mongolian horse), visiting the national
park is a great way to support the environmental project.
Kharakhorin
This is where Genghis (or Chingis) Khan and his successors ruled the Mongolian
Euro-Asian empire. Although not much remains of what was once truly splendid,
you can see the evidence of where many of the bricks and mortar of the capital
ended up at the Edene Zuu monastery.
Edene Zuu Monastery is a must see in the area, it a working monastery
that houses some exquisite Buddhist artifacts and some of the materials
from the Khans ancient capital.
Near to Edene Zuu is the ruins of the Turkic empire and their unexplained
stones as well as Shankh monastery and the Orkhon water fall.
Further west past the most attractive regional center in Mongolia (Tsetserleg)
is the amazing White lake which was formed by an erupting Volcano which
is located just next to the lake.
The Arhangai area is truly a beautiful part of the Mongolian steppe,
with, herders, mountains and is likened to a wild version of Switzerland.
If the central west of Mongolia seems appealing to you then we can arrange
a variety of thing to help you to enjoy it. These include:
Transportation
Guides to help you understand what you are seeing and help you to talk to
the locals
Accommodation, from ger camps to staying with a herding family
Horse rides and horse riding trips
The local knowledge needed to navigate the sign postless roads
Lake Khuvsgul possesses 1 to 2% of the worlds fresh water, but it isn’t
this statistic that makes it well worth visiting. Lying on the Russian-Mongolian
boarder the lake is truly beautiful with crystal clear water, 2000-meter
mountains surrounding, thick pine forests and yaks grazing in open meadows
it really is one of the most beautiful places in Mongolia. One of the most
pleasing points to tourists is that nearly all of the lakes shore line is
uninhabited which means that the forest rolls down the mountains onto the
lakes shoreline. Although there is over a 1000 kilometers of poor roads
between Ulaanbaatar and the lake we can help you to get their in the most
interesting way as possible.
If you would like some more information on the lake visit
As we said before the roads between Ulaanbaatar are Khuvsgul are rather
rough however we can still make your journey work and enjoyable
We can cut about 99% of the road trip out by booking a domestic flight for
you to the lake and arranging a pick for you at the air strip.
We can develop an interesting rout through the Central West of Mongolia
and/or the Central North (Bulgan and Selenge provinces).
In 2003 we hope to be partners with the GEF/ World Bank Hovsgul Project,
helping their environmental project to fund itself through eco-tourism
We can arrange the transportation
Guides that breach the language gap and help you to understand the Mongolian
country side for example how many time to walk around an Ovoo and what is
an Ovoo
Accommodation whether it is tents, ger or hotels
On the southern boarder with China is the South Gobi region, which is known
for its beauty and wildlife.
The wildlife, the mountains, open plains and oasis provide plenty of opportunities
to an array of wild and domesticated animals. Probably the most famous animal
of the Gobi is the two humped Bacterium camels however you can expect to
see eagles, pidgins, lizards, gazelles, and possible mountain goats and
wild Ass.
While the Gobi desert has some amazing natural sites such as Bayanzag
or flaming cliffs, Khongoryn Els, over 100km long and upto 800 mteres
high sand dunes and Yolyn Am an amazing valley in a desert mountain
range that can hold a small glacier all year (an interesting sight in the
desert heat). Although the Gobi can be a dry and harsh place it is amazing
to see and meet the herders who make a lively hood for them selves and their
family from the desert.
The Roads to the Gobi are quite smooth although a little dull along the
way so we can offer you either:
A trip down to the Gobi stopping at limited interesting stopping sites along
the way
Or a domestic flight straight into the desert with pick up from the airport.
We can also offer the chance to meet the nomads
And a guide to help you chat with them
Interesting experiences like camel riding, or tasting alcoholic horse’s
milk.
Accommodation from local gers stays to ger camps
For more information on things like food and what to bring, see the page.
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