Sundowners
Both of the tours featured on this page are only available through Sundowners Tours. For prices and bookings please contact Sundowners and mention Tour code MPUU, for New Perspectives, or GNUU for the Gobi Nomads tour.
www.sundownerstravel.com
Tour code - MNUU
Departure - 26Jun Return – 09Jul
Departure – 31Jul Return – 13Aug
Itinerary
Ulaanbaatar is a city of surprises, combining modern attitudes with ancient
customs in an intriguing fusion of traditional culture and newly embraced
technology. Start the tour with a introductory dinner. Meet the local tour
guide and each other before you embark on the tour.
Day 2. Ulaanbaatar Introduction
We are introduced to the contrasts of Ulaanbaatar. This city sights tour
takes you to the perimeter of the city. You will get a visual picture of
urban migration, the city and Ger districts, infrastructure and difficulties
such as accessibility to heat and water.
You catch a local bus out to Yaarmag, one of the poorer Ger Districts
of Ulaanbaatar. The day is a designed to be an educational and motivational
look at poverty. We do this by visiting inspirational projects such as the
“Lotus Centre”, and the local "Red Cross" office. The
Lotus Centre is an orphanage, kindergarten, soup kitchen and bakery. Proceeds
from the tour go directly to assist with its survival.
Today is a relaxed easy day. You are in Mongolia over the middle of their
school holidays, so we’ve hooked up some activities with the children
from School 63, a local special school. Maybe go for a swim, or a game of
basketball. The afternoon will be free to go to perhaps visit a museum;
we recommend the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, or the Zanabazaar Art gallery.
In the evening there may be an opportunity to attend a cultural evening
involving music or dance in the city.
Get your walking shoes on. We catch a local bus to the city Cemetery. From
here you will follow the walk of the Timber Trail, where many unemployed
Mongolians trek throughout the year to chop wood for additional income.
We will discuss the environmental issue vs poverty.
About 3 hours away is the conservation project of the Takhi horse, also
known as Przewalski's wild horses, they were near extinction in Mongolia
by the 1960’s, but have since been successfully reintroduced. Be guided
by a local guide, and see the benefits of eco-tourism as a means to support
conservation. Hustai is a National park is a steppe environment; get the
opportunity to sight some of the protected wildlife into the evening.
Today we visit the buffer zone of the Hustai National Park and conservation
project. We visit a local family and discuss the issues with sustainable
conservation vs. people. We are acquainted with the customs and traditions
associated with the traditional dwelling of the nomads.
H
Staying on the steppe, we are introduced to rural issues such overgrazing.
We meet with local nomads to discover more about the challenges of maintaining
a nomadic lifestyle in modern times.
We'll drive a short way, and stop for a day of relaxation. Well set up the
tents and relax by the river.
Our first stop for the day is the Turkic stones and the old capital “Karakorum".
The scene is set to introduce the first city development in Mongolia, brought
to the country through the reigning Turks, who were later to be taken by
the Mongolian “Braiden Hairs”. The “Khaans” legacy is
introduced as Chingis decided to use Kharakhorin as the site for his first
city. We follow the "Khaans" through the ups and downs to their
demise when the Chinese “Qing” Dynasty overtook.
From the newer named “Kharkhorin” we’ll discuss the revolution.
How communism entered the country and some personal perspectives of the
period, both the good and the bad. You’ll visit Erdene Zuu Khiid the
first Buddhist monastery where over 100 temples were destroyed under the
Communist regime. We then depart for Khongol Uuls, take a walk and visit
the ruins of the now flourishing “Uvgun Khiid” monastery where
thousands of monks were massacred under the communist regime.
Welcome back to Ulaanbaatar. You’ll enter the city with a new gained
perspective of the city after investigating its environment and history.
In Ulaanbaatar you'll be guided through the Political persecution museum
and venture up to the Zaisan Memorial, this memorial contrasts the museum
with a salute the unknown heroes and soldiers of previous wars.
On our second to last day we will visit a prospering Garden project at Bayankhushuu,
a Ger district of Ulaanbaatar. Here you will meet volunteers at the project
who will discuss how the project works and the way it benefits the community.
You can help out by collecting water and watering the garden, and share
in enjoying some of the fresh vegetables in your dinner as you watch the
sun set over the Bogd Khan Mountains.
Our itinerary concludes today and we leave with a greater understanding
of this incredible country, its history and its people.
"15 DAY GOBI & NOMADS - CHALLENGING"
Tour code - GNUU
Dates of Departure
Departure - 05Jun Return – 19Jul
Departure - 26Jun Return – 10Jul
Departure - 24Jul Return - 07Aug
Departure - 14Aug Return - 28Aug
ITINERARY
Ulaanbaatar is a city of surprises, combining modern attitudes with ancient
customs in an intriguing fusion of traditional culture and newly-embraced
technology.
Into the mountains and sand dunes of the South Gobi, home to wild camels,
gazelles and eagles. We travel on rugged tracks to visit Bayanzag Els, where
dinosaur bones and eggs still lie waiting to be discovered. We climb aboard
our 'ships of the desert' for a camel trek to the sand dunes of Moltsog
Els, and spend a night camping under the stars in Gurvansaikhan, a two million
hectare National Park.
We travel along desert tracks to visit the Khongorin Els, some of the largest
and most spectacular sand dunes in Mongolia. Also known as the 'singing
dunes', the Khongorin Els are up to 800 metres high, 20 kilometres wide
and 100 kilometres long. We climb some of the dunes for spectacular views
of the surrounding desert.
To Saikhan Ovoo, enroute visiting Ongyn Khiid a complex of ruined monasteries
on the Ongiin River. Skirting the Khangai Nuur Mountains we journey across
the steppe to Kharkhorin, site of Genghis Khan's capital in the 13th century.
Time to explore Kharkhorin and Erdene Zuu Hiid (monastery), built in 1586
it is the largest monastery and first Buddhist centre in Mongolia. Although
many of its 100 temples were destroyed during the Soviet era, Erdene Zuu
Hiid retains much of its former glory and atmosphere.
Out across the endless steppe we join our host families deep in the countryside
where they have established their summer camp. On arrival we are greeted
with traditional ceremony before being taught to assemble a ger - these
simple yet effective structures will be our home during our stay at the
summer camp, and we must build our own!
We awake to morning on the Mongolian Steppe where the lives of the people
have changed little over the centuries. Rising with the sun, we join in
the daily "chores"; perhaps milk a mare, and learn how to make
the traditional Mongolian drink 'airag' and other dairy products, tour the
camp on horseback, or assist with the skilful herding of stock by these
talented wranglers. There is no particular structure to our day, and we
are free to move around the camp, learning its traditions and sharing in
the daily routine of its residents.
Leaving the summer camp we travel to Khogno Khan Mountain and the ruins
of the Uvgun Hiid, the 17th century monastery at its base. Then to Terkhiin
Tsagaan Nuur, an idyllic lake renowned for its beauty and surrounded by
extinct volcanoes.
We bid farewell to our hosts and return to Ulaanbaatar. Our adventure is
over, but our understanding and appreciation of the Mongolians and their
lifestyle will remain with us long after we have left the steppe.
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