This trip necessitates hiring local Russian vans and crew suitable to this territory. drive is rugged, through the high desert and destination is the tavan bogd national park - a vast mountainous landscape that provides a breath -taking natural border between Mongolia and neighboring China and Russia. The park is home to the five saintly peaks, its namesake, including the snow - capped heights of khuiten Uul, the highest mountain in Mongolia at 4,374m.

We will visit nomadic Tuva families who are the indigenous people of Central Asia and explore their way of life. Here we will also meet our guides and hire pack animals/camels & horses/ for our trek, set up camp and prepare our luggage for the next 3 days. 

DRIVE: 220km / 7-8 hours on dirt road , bumpy conditions ending up at 2715 m above sea level.

Overnight: Family extra gers. If we are a large group, the ger space wiil not be sufficient and we will build our own campsite. we will use our own sleeping bags.

After breakfast we start the trekking for 10km / 6-7 hours/ with short breaks to catch our breath and with a lunch break.

 Overnight : Our own campsite. The Tuva staff will bring on horses or camels our tents and kitchen.

After breakfast our camels or horse will be loaded with our equipment and we begin the trek of what is known for climbers as the base camp of the snow-capped Tavan bogd massif ( 3095m). The base camp is situated next to the 20km long Potanin glacier, the most imposing glacier of the twenty Mongolian Altai glaciers.

The hike rises steadily, taking us over lush alpine tundra and crossing glacial run off that can sometimes be very muddy. There are views directly across the glacier with  the snow-capped peaks in the distance.

HIKE: 8 km / 6-7 hours/

Overnight : our own camp. The Tuva team will carry our belongings and food.

In the morning we will trek and ride down from the base camp to the head of Tsagaan gol Valley.

Drive : 2 hours bumpy , 25km.

Hike/Walk: 2km .

Culture: while back at the Tuva families, we can try handling animals, baking bread, making milk products... etc.

Overnight : family ger

Drive to Sagsai to visit an Eagle hunter's family to learn about their daily lifestyle, eagle hunting culture.

On the way we will  visit The Petroglyphic Complexes of the mountain Altai, Upper Tsagaan Gol (Shiveet Khairkhan). 

This property component includes large concentrations of petroglyphs and funerary and ritual monuments reflecting the development of human culture over a period of 12,000 years. The persistent relationships between rock art, surface monuments and the larger physical context of rivers, ridges, and cardinal directions create a vivid sense of the integration of human communities with the land they inhabited.

Drive: 170km on dirt road, 6-7 hours

Hike: 5km /1-2 hours/

Overnight : family ger if available, if not, we build our own campsite.

Our ger hosts from yesterday are the eagle handlers & hunters.

Today we will devote the morning to visit the eagle handlers and hunters. We will drive to the mountain by car our family ger. Real eagle hunting happens in winter. However, during the pleasant weather season that coincides with the tourist season - June to September- they perform for the tourists. They will demonstrate the handling of the eagles, letting them  fly, hunt if the eagles are willing, and we will have the possibility (and honor!) to expierence the eagle handling ourselves.

 in case we camp in tents, the afternoon will be devoted to pack the camp for the return to Ulgii.

Drive back to Ulgii takes 1-2 hours.

Overnight : hotel

~Drive to Ulgii airport from our hotel / half hour/

~ fly to Ulaanbaatar / 2 hours and half hour/

~ drive to hotel from the airport in Ulaanbaatar 1 hour and half hour considering traffic

~ free afternoon