Mongolia Tour with Golden Eagle Festival

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6
• Day 7
• Day 8
• Day 9
• Days 10 & 11
• Day 12
• Days 13 & 14
• Day 15
• Day 16
• Day 17

• Arrive Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia / Hui Doloon Hudag

  Arrive this evening in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, then transfer to the town of Hui Doloon Hudag. Upon arrival at the resort, settle into your private luxury Ger, the traditional Mongolian nomadic dwelling. This evening, gather with fellow travelers and Apex Expeditions leaders for a welcome briefing and dinner. Overnight at HS Khaan Resort.

• Hustai National Park

  Enjoy breakfast overlooking the vast plains before driving to Hustai National Park, established to protect Mongolia’s wild horse, Przewalski’s Horse, or Takhi in Mongolian. Continue into Hustai, looking for Maral, or Asiatic Red Deer, and the wild horses. Visit the remarkable neolithic gravesite of Öngöt before heading for the southwestern portion of the park for a magnificent valley hike. En route, look for Maral, Steppe Gazelle, Wild Boar and Corsac Fox. Dinner and overnight at HS Khaan Resort.

• Hui Doloon Hudag / Hovd

  Rise early for a return to the airport for your flight to Hovd (or Ölgii, depending on flight schedules), in the Bayan-Ölgii province, forming Mongolia’s far western border with China and Russia. Upon arrival, explore the town, which has been a bustling center of trade since the Manchus built a military garrison here. For this reason, Hovd has some of the greatest ethnic diversity in Mongolia, with a Halkh majority and a dozen other Kazakh and Mongol ethnic groups represented. Dinner and overnight at Steppe Hotel.

• Hovd / Jargalant

  Today, depart for Khar Us Nuur National Park, a vast two-million-acre wilderness in the Great Lakes Basin, dominated by snow-capped Jargalant Khairkhan, or Mountain of Sacred Happiness. This isolated extension of the Mongol Altai mountain range offers a rich diversity of habitats ranging from high-mountain tundra and alpine meadows to high-mountain and arid steppe. A variety of rare species are supported here, including Siberian Ibex, Saiga Antelope, Black-tailed Gazelle, and a healthy population of the endangered Snow Leopard. Dinner and overnight for the next five nights at your private ger camp.

• Jargalant

  Today, explore Jargalant Khairkhan Mountain, hiking into Rashaant Valley with its ancient poplar trees, waterfalls and sacred spring. Along the way, watch for Siberian Ibex and Argali Sheep, the primary prey species of the Snow Leopard, one of the most elusive animals on Earth. Known as the “spirit of the mountain” to locals, Snow Leopards are challenging to see in the wild because of how well their spotted white fur blends in with their surroundings. Of the 4,000 to 6,500 Snow Leopards the World Wildlife Fund believes remain in the wild, roughly 1,200 are in Mongolia. Recent collaring and the installation of camera traps at Jargalant have increased the chances of finding their dens. With luck, catch a rare glimpse of this legendary, almost mythical creature. Dinner and overnight at your private ger camp.

• Jargalant – Dörgön Lake & Mongol Sands

  After breakfast, continue your exploration of Khar Us Nuur National Park. This park harbors more extensive sand dunes than the Gobi Desert, and they border directly on salt and freshwater lakes teeming with birds and fish. Today, head to the easternmost part, Mongol Sands. Hike around the Dörgön plains and look for critically endangered Saiga Antelopes, with their bizarre, characteristic bulbous noses. Saiga once roamed Pleistocene prairies with mammoths, but now hang precariously on the edge of extinction but for a few herds in Russia, Kazakhstan and Khar Us Nuur. At Dörgön Lake, see the spectacular Janjin Ovoo, a ritual stone shrine venerated by the locals. Domestic Bactrian Camels dot the landscape, as do large numbers of birds, many of which are endemic. Look for Asian Dowitcher, White Spoonbill, Ruddy Shelduck and Lesser Kestrel, and keep watch for the exceedingly rare Relict Gull. Large congregations of Pallas’s Sandgrouse sometimes descend to the lakes to drink. Meet with local members of the Halkh Mongol ethnic group before return to your private ger camp for dinner and overnight.

• Jargalant – Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake

  Today, explore one of the country’s most beautiful lakes, Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur, also known as White Lake due to the thick layer of snow topping its frozen surface for the better part of the year. This mile-high freshwater lake, created when the Khorgo volcano erupted thousands of years ago, is surrounded by extinct volcanoes, forming a stunning landscape. On the northeast shore, you can see a dramatic and jagged silhouette of ovoos, or heaps of stones—hundreds of ovoos have been ritualistically created using the black lava rocks scattered across the terrain. According to tradition, when approaching an ovoo, one should circle it three times clockwise and add a few rocks to the ever-growing stack. The area offers excellent wildlife-viewing and you may spot Argali Sheep, Wild Boar, Pallas’s Fish Eagle, Hooded Crane and Great Cormorant. Return to your private ger camp for dinner and overnight.

• Jargalant

  Drive back through Khar Us Nuur National Park where you’ll have another opportunity to track the elusive Snow Leopards. Unlike other big cats, Snow Leopards are unable to roar. They expertly navigate rocky outcrops and ravines that provide the camouflage they need to silently ambush their favorite prey, Siberian Ibex and Argali Sheep. Also look for Black-tailed Gazelle, Grey Wolf and the area’s birds including the Chukar Partridge, Altai Snowcock and Wallcreeper. Dinner and overnight at your private ger camp.

• Jargalant / Ölgii

  This morning, enjoy a dramatically scenic drive to Ölgii, the capital of Bayan-Ölgii province. Enjoy lunch in this windswept, frontier-feeling town of 30,000. A walk through its streets will give you the sense that it has more in common with Muslim–influenced Central Asia than Buddhist Mongolia: there are signs in Arabic and Kazakh Cyrillic, it has multiple mosques, and its local market is called a ‘bazaar’ rather than the Mongolian zakh. Dinner and overnight at Eagle Dreams Hotel.

• Golden Eagle Festival, Ölgii

  This weekend, find yourself front and center at Ölgii’s Golden Eagle Festival, the largest gathering of eagle hunters in Mongolia, held every year to kick off the winter hunting season. Here, more than 100 skilled hunters, dressed in full traditional regalia and mounted on decorated horses, will compete in tournaments that test not only the bird’s mettle or the hunter’s acuity, but the bond between hunter and bird. You can also enjoy horse and camel racing, archery, traditional Kazakh music, and special equestrian events like Tenge Ilu, wherein the rider has to snatch a single coin from the ground in full gallop, and Kiz Kuar, or “girl chase,” where a man and woman race on horseback while the woman whips the man. Dinners and overnights at Eagle Dreams Hotel.

• Ölgii / Delüün

  Today, travel overland in a convoy of four-wheel drive vehicles to Delüün, a traditional Kazakh village perched on the western edge of Khökh Serkhiin Nuruu (“Blue Goat”) Strictly Protected Area in the rugged and perpetually snow-capped Altai Mountains. This afternoon, enjoy a briefing from the director of the reserve about its recent conservation efforts. Dinner and overnight for the next three nights at your private ger camp.

• Altai Range

  Take two full days to explore the area and search for wildlife in Khökh Serkhiin Nuruu, Ikh and Baga Yamaat Valleys and the newly-established Chigertei National Park on the Chinese border. The remoteness of the Altai mountains makes this one of the last strongholds for many species of rare and endangered ungulates and carnivores, including Siberian Ibex, Argali Sheep—the biggest wild sheep on Earth, Altai Deer, and Manuls. A mixture of game drives and moderate (though often steep) hikes will give you the best chance to find wildlife. Many activities will take place between 7,000 and 8,000 feet. You will also visit Kazakh nomads and learn of their longstanding tradition of hunting with Golden Eagles. Dinners and overnights at your private ger camp.

• Delüün / Ulaanbaatar

  Bid farewell to the Wild West and transfer to the airport for a flight back to Ulaanbaatar. You have the afternoon at leisure to explore the city and shop for local crafts. Dinner and overnight at Shangri-La Hotel.

• Ulaanbaatar

  Today, enjoy a guided tour of the city. Head to Gandan Khiid, one of Mongolia’s most important monasteries, which nearly didn’t survive the religious purges of 1937. Next, visit the Central Dinosaur Museum, housed in the former Lenin Museum, which contains an impressive collection of fossils found in the Gobi Desert. Explore the centrally located Sukhbaatar Square with lunch in a local restaurant, followed by a visit to the National Museum of Mongolia, which offers a sweeping overview of Mongolian culture, from stone-age petroglyphs to a wide array of traditional ceremonial costumes. This evening, enjoy a farewell dinner and overnight at Shangri-La Hotel.

• Depart Ulaanbaatar

  Transfer to the airport early this morning for your international flights home.