News, Views and Reviews from Mongolia with Jess and Eternal Landscapes

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Welcome to The EL March Newsletter

Our News, Views and Reviews from Mongolia 

By Jess!

 
  
 

March Events In Mongolia

Turuu with his beloved Furgon on the ice at Khovsgol Nuur National Park

Khovsgol Ice Festival 

The Ice Festival is held over 2 days at Lake Khovsgol National Park in northern Mongolia. In winter the lake freezes over and forms the venue outside the small community of Khatgal. The event, held to promote tourism outside of the main tourist season, events include ice sculpting, ice sumo, ice ankle bone shooting and horse sled races.

Two guests joined EL on our February 23rd Khovsgol On Ice small group trip. We're planning a visit for 2017. Interested? Find out more on my 2017 tours here.

 
  

Behind The Scenes

Look online for countries recommended to visit in May and no-where will you see Mongolia mentioned. But, if you search through the web you will notice that more and more tour companies (local and international) have started to offer trips in May in Mongolia.

Why? Why would you even consider Mongolia in May? 

Having looked through the trips on offer, I would make a guess that it all comes down to profit for a majority of my competitors.  Most of the available trips look like they have used generic templates. And a lot of copy and paste. However, I have always done things differently. 

For all my small group tours, I have started to list the  the individual elements that form each trip and the reason behind why I include them. I'll start with our May 14th Spring Journey. 
 
 

Ulaanbaatar

We start with  a free (informal and relaxed) walking tour of Mongolia's capital city. Why? Ulaanbaatar is home to 45% of Mongolia's population and you have to experience it to get a full overview to the reality of life in modern Mongolia. 

Come for the day and learn not only about the challenges but experience every day life and meet local Mongolians who are making a positive impact in their local ger communities.

  
 

Gorkhi Terelj National Park

At Gorkhi-Terelj you will stay with Naraa and his family. They are herders but the supplementary income they gain from hosting visitors  helps to pay for their children’s education and also allows them to remain as herders. 

Staying with Naraa and Bujee not only means you help to support their way of life. It also means you get to explore the more hidden side to Gorkhi-Terelj - away from the main sites and tourism development.
 
 

Gobi Oasis Tree Planting Project

Gobi Oasis Gobi Oasis is a small, family run, non-profit conservation project. Their main conservation work is the planting of seedlings and nurturing them into trees to help combat desertification in the semi-desert steppe.

Mongolia only experiences, on average, 90-120 frost free days a year. By May,  land and greenhouses are being prepared by those that plant crops. The same applies to Gobi Oasis where they will be preparing the land for the planting of the seedlings. You can be part of this preparation.

  
 

Tsagaan Suvraga

The Gobi is a harsh environment and herders here live a more unsettled way of life. During your time at Tsagaan Suvraga, you will stay at ger accommodation offered by Zorigoo and Deegii - camel herders who have lived in the region all their life.  

Domestic bactrian camels are well adapted to  life in the harsh Gobi Desert and are a valuable, desert livestock species. In May, Deegii will be shearing the camel wool - although ideally all the females should have given birth  so that calving does not coincide with shearing time. 
 
 

Saikhan Yak Festival

The  Saikhan Yak Festival  is a yearly event organised by the Governing Administration of Omnogobi Aimag and held in the magnificent mountain landscapes of Yolyn Am - Vulture’s Gorge or Mouth. It is  held to promote the breeding of yaks and the traditional Gobi way of life.  It's a celebration of the way of life in the southern Gobi and a chance for the local herders to come together as a community at what can be quite an isolating time of year (late winter / early spring). 

  
 

Orkhon River Valley

The Orkhon River Valley is one of Mongolia's UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
As part of your Orkhon River Valley experience, you spend time with Tumee and Jargaa - herders that make their home in the river valley.  Experiencing their way of life  is a great way to take in the historical, cultural and natural perspective of this beautiful area.

 
 
 

Interested? The dates are May 14th - 29th. It is a guaranteed departure with only four places remaining. There is also a 15% discount which brings the price down to £1237 pp.

Yes! It's last minute. But, there are plenty of flights available through Air China, Korean Air, Aeroflot, MIAT and Turkish Airlines.

 Please do get in touch for further details!

 
  
 

Adventure Ahead In 2016

Some travellers to Mongolia come, visit, and move on to the next destination and experience.  For others, it is so much more than that. It is the start of a much longer commitment.  Where the immense, raw silent landscapes and the way the locals make their life in this harsh terrain keeps calling you back.

But first you must come to Mongolia. If you're looking for a holiday with a difference in 2016, then you may want to consider what Mongolia has to offer.

We offer a range of small group experiences through Mongolia. These are personal adventures researched and put together by myself and Turuu - the founders of EL. Our small group trips are designed for you to explore and discover the true heart of wild Mongolia. Flexible and fluid, they provide you with a refreshing authentic journey that will introduce you to the real Mongolia and give you something just that little bit different. All can be adapted into a tailor-made trip.

All trips are guaranteed to depart with a minimum of two. The maximum group size is six. We only put 3 EL guests per vehicle (unless otherwise stated) meaning there is plenty of room to stretch out and enjoy the journey.

All of our small group trips currently have a 10% discount. A few have 15% off. Use the second button for details on the 15% discounts!

 
  
 

What's New?

We can't hope to compete with the advertising budget and global reach of our larger competitors but we can compete by making sure we keep what we offer fresh and up to date with what's happening in Mongolia. Here's what we are currently doing. 

  

One Day Experiences

One day? What can you hope to experience in one day? Ditch the guidebook and the recommended highlights and come along and see. All our one-day experiences are private, flexible and fluid and designed to get you just that little bit closer to daily life and give you a more local aspect.

These are in addition to the free city walking tour we offer with each trip.

Solo Traveller To Mongolia?

A lot of our bookings come from solo travellers.   I have never understood why solo travellers get penalised.

There are NO single supplements when travelling with EL. Everyone pays the same price. If you’re on a trip that includes camping, we will offer you your own tent at no extra cost.

All of my small group trips depart with a minimum of two.

 

Thinking About 2017 ?

2017. For some of you, making commitments far in advance won’t be feasible. Your work, family and other commitments are too fluid to allow for that degree of forward planning.

For those able to think ahead this page is for you.

You will also benefit from my early booking incentive (15% off our 2016 prices) - for private trips as well as group trips.
 
 

Events In April

Eternal Landscapes Trip Assistant Training 

Having worked in adventure tourism for most of my professional life, I run a training and development programme for my small Mongolian team based on my own personal experiences and feedback from our guests - past and present. 

My series of training events for the EL trip assistants ('my girls') will continue through April including with the Buddhist NGO Asral and the conservation NGO Association Goviin Khulan. Two of the Ulaanbaatar based NGO's that I work with directly.

If anyone is in Ulaanbaatar in April and looking for a different one-day experience, I open these training events up for people to come along to for free. Please get in touch for details.

Below are the girls together with  Tungalagtuya Kh of Nomadic Nature Conservation -   a zoologist, and specialist of the grey wolf (Canis lupus) in Mongolia. 
 

 
  
 

Coming Up In The Next Newsletter

Information on our newly planned adventure focused research trip at the end of July to the Tsaatan - Mongolian reindeer herders. All to be arranged through the Tsaatan Community Volunteer Centre.

 

That's it for this month. I'll leave you with an image of  Gorkhi-Terelj National Park where the main focus of your experience is staying with Naraa and Bujee - a modern herding family that move twice a year. This great image was taken by our guest Yi-Hsin this March.

  
 
 

That's it for this edition.  As always, thanks for reading and do get in touch with your thoughts! 

You can always keep in touch with what we're up to through my EL Blog, or our previous newsletters. You can also learn more about my motivation for EL on my personal Facebook page.

Wherever the road continues to take you - Sain Yavaarai - Journey Well, Jess

  

Eternal Landscapes 2016
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