DESTINATIONS

Shamanists of Khuvsgul

You will meet an interesting ethnic group, the Darkhad. The Darkhad are famous for their good shamans and hard works. The other parts of Mongolia do not understand Darkhad dialect. the Darkhad are very friendly and you will enjoy their warm hospitality in their small wooden houses.

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Tsaatan Tribe /Reindeer Herders/

The Tsaatan is a small ethnic group of Mongolia. They are Shamanists and live in the high mountain taigas in Khuvsgul Province. They worship the Eternal Sky as shamanists. They have a completely different lifestyle of breeding reindeers and living only from reindeer profit and very famous for their mysterious shamanist deeds and traditions. You will ride horses to go through the dense forests of the taige. During the trip you will have chance take photos and shoot a video.

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Eagle Hunting

Among many Kazakh traditions is the ancient art of hunting with trained birds of prey. The tradition is believed to originate in Central Asia some 6000 years ago and later on be adopted in Europe and other countries. This centuries old tradition is still practiced among Kazakhs of Bayan Ulgii province. 13th century historical chronicles relay records of Kubilai Khan’s lavish hunting trips in autumn and winter involving thousands of people and horses. Falconers alone numbered more than 5,000.

For hunting purpose Kazakhs catch and train Golden Eagles, mighty birds of prey common throughout the Central Asia. These huge birds weight up to 6.5 kilograms with wingspan of seven or eight feet. The talons or claws on an eagle’s toes are curved and razor-sharp for catching and holding their prey. This gave eagles the name raptor which comes from a Latin word “rapere” meaning to grip or grasp.

Eagles are “birds of prey,” which means they hunt for their food. Unlike other birds, which eat seeds or insects flying short distance, eagles fly great distances in order to find game. Therefore eagles mastered the skill of soaring.

The eagle’s eyesight is especially remarkable. With vision about eight times sharper than human, they can spot a fox or rabbit up to a mile away.

Usually Kazakh hunters go for female birds as they one third heavier than males and much more aggressive. Eagles can live up to 50 years but most hunters keep the birds for about 10 years and then release them back into the wild.

⎈Tours related:

Eagle Training

“Eagle chicks are more tame as they used to humans and do not attack children or sheep. Early winter or the end of fall is considered to be the best season for hunting as foxes and other game acquire winter furs. Usually, after the first snow falls, the hunter rides a horse, holding hunting eagles on his left arm, and wanders among the rugged, snow topped covered mountains. As soon as the hunter spots an escaping fox or marmot, he will send the hunting eagle into the air towards the quarry. The bird first goes up to size up the target and then goes down in one long but swift strike falling right on the spine of the escaping animal. She catches the prey with her iron paws and until the hunter approaches.

Though the gain from eagle hunting is rather shy, it is an amusing sport and entertainment and thus is very popular among the Kazakhs who use the fox furs to make distinctive national winter fur hats. Hunters take great pride in having a clever, quick and valiant hunting eagle.

For last few years Bayan Ulgii Kazakhs held in early October /or some time of a year/ the Eagle Hunting Festival, a colorful and picturesque event attracting the best hunters and birds, and an important celebration for the local community.

The festival begins with each hunter displaying the hunting outfits and elaborate, beautifully adorned accessories. Later, the hunting eagles are evaluated for their skills. The eagles are released from a rock cliff, while their owners stand below and signal for them to land upon their arms, as they do during hunting.

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Each year Kazakh hunters from near and far attend in the festival with their Golden Eagles, known as berkut, to enter them into competitions testing speed, agility, and accuracy. Ceremonies, dance performances, a parade in the provincial capital’s city square, and a Kazakh play in honor of the hunters and their eagles are all a part of this unique experience.

This annual festival, which celebrates the Golden Eagle as well as the hunters’ traditional culture, is arranged by the local Kazakh community and our team.

This expedition into the rugged Altai Mountains also includes opportunities to ride on horseback alongside the hunters, as well as visits to a local mosque, town market, provincial museum, and archaeological site.

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Mongolian Naadam Festival Tour

Naadam Festival

The Nadaam festival, or eriyn gurvan nadaam, is the biggest festival of the year for Mongolians. Usually occuring in July, it runs for three days in all parts of the country and highlights the greatest athletes in horse racing, archery, and wrestling: Mongolia’s most popular sports. Women participate in all but the wrestling category. The word Nadaam means game or competition in Mongolian. Competitions take place days on the first two and merry-making is reserved for the third. This festival has been held for centuries as a form of memorial celebration, as an annual sacrificial ritual honoring various mountain gods or to celebrate a community endeavor.

The festivities kick off with a colorful parade of athletes, monks, soldiers marching in perfect uniformity, musicians performing powerful military tunes, and Mongolians dressed in Chinggis-style warrior uniforms.

HORSE RACES

Mongolians have a high regard for horses since, for centuries, they have relied on them for transport, sustenance, and companionship. During the races, up to 1,000 horses can be chosen to compete. The horse races are broken down into six categories based on the age of the horses. For example, two-year-old horses race for 10 miles (16 kilometers) and seven-year-olds for 17 miles (30 kilometrs). The race is conducted on the open grasslands with no set track or course. Children from the ages of 5 to 13 are chosen as jockeys since this guarantees that the race tests the horses skill and not the riders.

The small size of the jockeys also increases the horses’ endurance. Even still, jockeys train for months before Nadaam and the horses are given a special diet. The winning jockey is praised with the title tumny ekh or “leader of ten thousand” and the five winning horses are talked about and revered in poetry and music. The losing two-year-old horse is also alloted special attention by being serenaded with a song. Music is very important before the race too, as the audience sings traditional songs and the the jockeys sing a pre-race song called a gingo.

Eating and drinking is the other “sport” during the Nadaam festival. The horse races are held in the steppes behind these people who stop to drink tea and arak, fermented mares’ milk. Cold meat pancakes, called khuurshuur , ice cream, bread, and fruits are other popular festival foods.

ARCHERY

The sport of archery originated around the 11th century, during the time of Khanate warfare. Contestants dress in traditional costumes and use a bent bow constructed of horn, bark, and wood. The arrows, made from willow branches and vulture feathers are shot at round, leather targets with grey, yellow or red rings. Men must stand 75 meters and women 60 meters from the target. Judges, standing near the targets, assess each shot with a cry, called a uukhai, and a raised hand. The winning archer, or mergen, is the one who hits the targets the most times.

WRESTLING

The wrestling competitions begin around noon on the first day of the festival and end on the second day. They are quit unlike American wrestling matches in form an have other two important differences. First, there are no weight divisions. A small wrestler can be pitted against someone two times his weight. This can lead to some very interesting matches. Second, there are no time limits.

The loser of a match is the wrestler who falls first. A fall is when any part of a wrestlers body, except his hands or feet, touches the ground.

Titles are given to winners of a number of rounds: Falcon to those winning five rounds, Elephant for seven rounds, and Lion to the one winning the whole tournament.

One elite wrestler was once given the title “Eye-Pleasing Nationally Famous Mighty and Invincible Giant.” Wrestlers honor the judges and their attendants with a dance called devekh, or eagle dance. The winner also performs the eagle dance after the loser of the bout takes off his jacket and walks under the winner’s arm. Wrestlers wear small, over the shouler vests called zodog, and snug shorts called shuudag. The heavy, traditional Mongolian boots are called gutuls.

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Buddhist Culture*

Winter Palace Museum of the Bogd Khan

The Winter Palace of Bogd Khan – one of the first museums in Mongolia – was built in 1924. It used to be a winter residence of the last Bogd Khan of Mongolia, Javzandamba. The palace compound was built between 1893 and 1903, and is well known for it’s Gate of Peace, Temple and personal library of Bogd Khan. Built between 1893 and 1903, the Winter Palace of Bogd Khan is where Mongolia’s eighth Living Buddha, and last king, Jebtzun Damba Hutagt VIII, lived for 20 years. For reasons that are unclear, the palace was spared destruction by the Russians and turned into a museum. The summer palace, on the banks of the Tuul Gol, was completely destroyed. There are six temples in the grounds. The white building to the right as you enter is the Winter Palace itself. It contains a collection of gifts received from foreign dignitaries, such as a pair of golden boots from a Russian tsar, a robe made from 80 unfortunate foxes and a ger lined with the skins of 150 snow leopards (ask the curator to open the “Ger” for you).

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Ulaanbaatar Tour

Best of Mountain Mongolia Tour

Gandan Monastery

The first temple of Gandantegchinleng Monastery was established in 1835 by the Fifth Jebtsundamba, the highest reincarnated lama of Mongolia. In the following years temples for daily service, veneration of Avalokiteshvara and colleges of Buddhist philosophy, medicine, astrology and tantric ritual were established. In the beginning of the 20th century Gandantegchinleng Monastery was the centre of Buddhist learning in Mongolia.

There is the main temple “Migjid Janraisig” housing the majestic statue of Migjid Janraisig, decorated with jewels, gold, and copper. The huge statue is 26 meter high /20 tons/ and is a copy of previous statue destroyed during 1920s by communist regimes.

⎈Tours related: All Tours

Erdene Zuu Monastery

Erdene Zuu monastery located on the site of Khar Korin, Genghis Khan‘s capital city, the center of Mongol empire in 13^th-14^th century. The city was founded in 1220 by Chingiswas abandoned by Kublai Khan when he expanded Mongol Empire and moved the capital to present day Beijing. Nothing is left of the former capital except for the rocks and bricks that were used to build the Erdene Zuu Monastery, and three of the four stone tortoise statues that marked the borders of the city. The monastery was only one that was allowed to stay open during the communist era, just allowed to be a museum, and not an active place of worship. In its peak, it had over 1000 monks in residence, and 60 to 100 temples inside its walls. Physically, it is still quite impressive, with 108 stupas lining the massive white walls.

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Manzushir Monastery

Manzushir was established in 1733 and had 70 temples and had approximately 1000 monks when it was destroyed by the communists in 1932. Buddha images, carved on the granite rock at the monastery, is a unique historical and culture creation. Another piece of special interest is a huge bronze cauldron cast made in 1726, which can contain 1800 liters of liquid. It is reported that food for 1000 people was prepared in it. The only remaining temple was restored and they opened a museum there.

Manzushir Monastery is located in the southern entrance of Bogd Khan National Park.This 18th century monastic complex was left in ruins after the communist purges of the 1930s. A new temple has been built next to the ruins of the old temples and serves as a museum with pictures and artifacts from the original monastery. By the time there are also some gers, a restaurant and a natural museum. The surrounding area is perfect for walking in green woods, meadows and clear water mountain streams.

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Ongi Temple

Once a big temple, Ongi temple was destroyed by communists in 1937-1939. At the time of its operation, more than 1000 monks constantly attended in the congregation. The site is located at the two banks of Ongi River in the rocky mountain valley. Some stupas with Nepalese style architecture have survived.

It is a ruin of big monastery of BariYonzon Khamba on the bank of the Ongiin River. This monastery has 28 temples and other buildings on the south slope of the Rocky Mountain like Balsa country and stupas haven’t broken. This monastery had about 1000 lamas. Which itself was badly destroyed during the Stalinist purges in 1930s. All the temples were destroyed by Stalin’s thugs. Since 1994 people rebuilt one Temple. Now there are 10 lamas studying.

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Tuvkhun Monastery

The creation work temple established by Undur Gegeen Zanabazar in 1654 dedicated to religious study and art works became the foundation of today’s Tuvkhun Monastery. It is located on a rocky mountain hill surrounded by forests elevated in 2300 meters above sea level in the territory of Uvurkhangai province. In 1651, the first religious king Zanabazar built a small stony building and he created Soyombo letters in the building. The monastery is placed in a unique natural rocky landscape where there is a small cave named “Mother’s abdomen”. There are also many historical monuments related to the king such as finger and foot prints, branch for rest, horse tie etc. The Mongols still protect this unique landscape as naming it as a “Country of Makhagal”.

This creation of the temple has enjoyed state protection since 1998 and was registered by UNESCO in the world heritage by grading ‘The most wonderful valuable object’ in 1996.

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Amarbayasgalant Monastery

Amarbayasgalant, one of the most well known and largest monasteries of Mongolia, is located in the beautiful Iven Gol River valley on the foot of Burenkhan Mountain in Selenge province. Visitors especially enjoy the magnificent art and architectural construction. Since then the monastery of the Undur Geghen was a great source of Dharma teaching and accomplishment with over six thousand novices and ordained monks who followed the rules of Lord Buddha`s Vinaya, combining the Three Basket in full harmony with the Three Higher Trainings.

The beauty, decorations and construction of the monastery have made it one of the most magnificent architectural monuments not only in Mongolia, but in the whole Asia.

Source: http://amarbayasgalant.org/

Destinations*

Ulaanbaatar

Ulaanbaatar the capital city of Mongolia, is the political, economic and cultural centre of the country. The city was founded in 1639. The name of the city has changed for several times. it was initially named

- URGUU in 1639-1706,
- IKH KHUREE in 1706-1911,
- NIISLEL KHUREE between 1911-1923, and renamed as
- ULAANBAATAR /right after the proclamation of the Mongolian People’s republic in 1924/

Formation of the Mongolian Capital has a trace from XVII century. In the year Yellow Rabbit by lunar calendar, exorbitant and influential noblemen proclaimed Zanabazar, son of the Tusheet Khan Gombodorj who was one of the 4 lofty noblemen as the Mongolian Buddhism and built a special monastery complex for him. It was more palatial-like than monastery. Later, Urgoo (means palace) had been developing as Zanabazar,s reputation and influence grew in the Mongolian social life.

Ulaanbaatar is situated in central east Mongolia. The city spreads from east to west along a large wide valley. The main road through this valley is Enkh Taivny Orgon Choloo or Peace Avenue. The centre of the city is Sukhbaatar Square, from where all other distances are measured. Bogd Khan, Bayanzurkh, Chingeltei and Songino Khairkhan mountains surround the city. The tuul river runs from east to west in the south of the city. The city is divided into six districts and many sub districts and microdistricts. The city is located at about 1350 meters (4430 ft) above sea level, slightly east of the center of Mongolia on the Tuul River, a subtributary of the Selenge, in a valley at the foot of the mountain Bogd Khan Uul.

Due to its high elevation, relatively high latitude, and location hundreds of kilometres from any coast, Ulan Bator is the coldest national capital in the world, with a monsoon-influenced subarctic climate (Koppen climate classification Dwc) with brief, warm summers and long, very cold and dry winters. It has an average annual temperature of -1.3 C (29.7 F). The city lies in the zone of sporadic permafrost, which means that building is difficult in sheltered aspects that preclude thawing in the summer, but easier on more exposed ones where soils fully thaw.

⎈Tours related: All Tours

Natural History Museum

When the first national museum was established in Mongolia in 1924, the base of natural historical museum was found by consisting the principal sections of the exhibitions with the choicest exhibitions of Mongolian Nature. Natural history involves historical process of 4.7 milliard years of that is very long term from the origin of the world until the origin of plant, animal and human. Thus our museum shows the briefness of these events by exhibitions and contributes knowledge to peoples mind.

The museum consists of:
- Mongolian geography, ancient volcanoes, stones from the volcanoes
- Earth origin, planet studying meteorites
- Geological history, useful resources, minerals
- Ancient and contemporary botany
- Land fauna /mammals, birds, fishes, insects, reptiles, amphibious/
- Very ancient plant and animals /paleontology/
- Human origin

Museum colleagues always enrich their treasures, exhibitions, renovate the exhibition halls and improve the museum settlement so that the museum became a big museum, which has the capable to attract foreign and domestic visitors.

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Zaisan Memorial

The Zaisan memorial stands on the top of a hill around three kilometers to the south of Ulaanbaatar at the foot of the Bogd Khan mountain range. It was built in the 1980s by the Communist government of the time to honor Mongolia’s military and revolutionary heroes.

It features a towering statue of a Mongolian soldier made from white stone that stretches over one-hundred feet into the air. At the base of that is a circular mural depicting key events in Mongolian history from independence in the 1920s right through to the 1980s when a Mongolian cosmonaut flew alongside his Soviet colleague.

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Sukhbaatar Square

Sukhbaatar Square is the focal point of the Mongolian. It is named after the revolutionary hero who helped the country grasped independence from Chinese and Russian rebels. Sukhbaatar was well deserving of all the honors heaped upon him; not just does he have the national square named after him, but his face adorns half the country’s bank notes – Chinggis Khan is unsurprisingly on the others. He also has a province and an area of the capital city named after him.

The Square is in itself quite spectacular. It is the size of two football fields and is far bigger than say Times Sqaure in New York or Trafalgar Square in London. At one end is the Mongolian Parliament, known as the Grand Khural and around the edges are some of the biggest and grandest buildings in all of Mongolia, such as the national theater and opera house. It is also possible to look out from the square towards the Bogd Khan mountain range, which rings the city and to admire the stunning snow capped mountains.

At the center is an emphatic statue of the hero atop a horse rearing back as though into battle. In short the square is quite impressive and a very pleasant place to stroll and take a pleasant view of Ulaanbaatar.

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Art Museum of Zanabazar

The Zanabazar Museum of Fine Arts features Mongolian art from prehistory through the early twentieth century. The present museum building, located in central Ulaanbaatar, was constructed in 1905 by a Russian merchant. At various times in its history, the building served as a Chinese bank, a Russian Red Army soldier’s office, and a department store. The building was inaugurated as the Museum of Fine Arts in 1966. Among the most significant holdings are sculptures, paintings, and related materials by Zanabazar (1635-1723), the First Bogd Gegen and Mongolia’s greatest artist, and members of his school. The museum has more than 10,000 objects in its permanent collection, of which approximately 500 are on display in its second-floor galleries. Organized thematically, the galleries are devoted to prehistoric art, work by Zanabazar, painted thangkas, silk appliques, the Buddhist tsam dance, nomadic traditions, and paintings by the early twentieth-century master B. Sharav. /Source: http://www.mongolia-web.com/

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Mongolian Naadam Festival Tour

Living as Nomads

Ox Cart Trekking

Wild Horses and Terelj National Park

Terelj National Park

Terelj National Park was established as a Strictly Protected Area in 1992 and is recognized as one of the beautiful sites for our travelers. The national park is approx. 50 km from Ulaanbaatar city and is covered by green meadows carpeted with Edelweiss. The area is home to variety of wild flowers attracting nature lovers and it offers fascinating rock formations against background of pine covered mountains. There are also many number of local nomads family which offers you horse riding, trekking adventures as well as different experience getting to know more about nomad culture. The site lets you absorbed in the silence of nature.

You explore the Turtle Rock, or called Melkhi Khad by the locals, which is an interesting rock formation. The Turtle rock is set in a valley and is around 20 meter high.

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Ox Cart Trekking

Gobi Desert Discovery

Yoliin Am /Vulture’s Gorge/

Yoliin Am is a narrow valley between high rock walls has breathtaking dramatic scenery, and no doubt is one of the beautiful places in the country. In rainy summers hundreds of small waterfalls appear in the rocky walls. It is located 45 km from Dalanzadgad, the center of South Gobi province /aimag/. It is a canyon, stuck in the middle of the Gobi Desert, with meters-thick ice almost all year around. In winter, the ice is up to 10 m/32 feet high, continuous down the gorge for another 10 km/16 miles. You are sure to marvel at the splendor of its sparkling streams that appear amid the huge cliffs.

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Gobi Desert Discovery

Hustai National Park

Hustai National Park located in the south of Khenti Mountain Range about 100km south west of Ulaanbaatar. The area of the national park was used as a hunting ground for Bogd Khan, the last ruling Khan of Mongolia, and by Mongolian political officials. The park has never been used for agriculture and settlement purpose while local nomads have also used the park as a pasture reserve for their stock. This limited use has easily created the preservation of one of the world’s most threatened ecosystems: steppe. Mongolians are tremendously proud of their natural heritage and proclaimed their first protected area more than 200 years ago. Despite the country’s difficult transition to a free market economy and successive changes of government, the Mongolian Parliament has strengthened environmental laws and announced plans to extend the protected area system from 14% to 30% of the country’s landmass. Hustai National Park has three main management aims. The first is the long term conservation of the ecosystem’s biodiversity. A sustainable ecosystem is being restored using modern genetic and geographic principles and nature management is being integrated with social-economic processes to allow local people to benefit from wildlife conservation. In line with this aim, many buffer zone programs have been initiated in the area surrounding the park. The second aim is the establishment of a viable, self-sustaining population of Takhi. The Takh is the world’s last truly wild horse. It is critically endangered and it is hoped that in the future, Hustai National Park may serve as a breeding centre for Takhi re-introduction programmes throughout Mongolia and the Central Asian Steppe.

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Horse Riding Journey

Wild Horses and Terelj National Park

Khongoriin Els /Singing Dunes/

We find a huge sand dune “Khongoriin els” called by local nomads in South Gobi desert area. The dune extends for over 185 kilometres and includes some other dunes reaching 20 meter in height. As the dune embraces special sounds by wind blowing, locals gave the name “singing dunes”. Here you will find yourself in far away silence in the middle of sand dunes featuring natural beauty of Gobi Desert.

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Gobi Desert Discovery

Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake

An immense mass of white-hot lava once blocked the bed of the River Terkh and it is water formed Lake Terkhiin Tsagaan, which is 16 kilometers in length, 20 meters in depth, and 61 square kilometers in this area. It is situated at an altitude of 2.060 meters. River Suman, cascading from the lake in stormy torrents, pierced through the rocks to form a canyon and several small lakes. The waters of the river are so turbulent that they do not freeze in the severest winter frosts. In the middle of the lake there is volcanic Island is covered with nests made of the fragrant grass Sam khan. Here all day long you hear the hum and cries of birds and the quacking of ruddy shell duck and many types of ducks sand geese &. Red deer , Siberian deer, wild bear, Great Cormorant is common in summer, nesting around the lake.

Source: http://www.mongolwiki.net/Khorgo_Terkhiin_Tsagaan_Nuur_National_Park

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Khorgo Volcano

Khorgo is located on the northern part of Khangai Mountain Range at an altitude of 2200 meters above sea level.

Khorgo is rich in beautiful scenery of mountains, cliffs, rapid streams, rivers, lakes, extinct volcanoes, green forests and pastures, where the long-haired yaks and horses pasture.

Natural zones around Khorgo: Taiga forest, Transition between Taiga forest and grassland, Mountain Forest Steppe. This attractive landscape has high biological diversity. 1600 species of plants 46 species of mammals, 227 species of birds, 2 species of reptiles, 12 species of fish
home to Roe Deer; Sibirean Deer; Wolf; Pallas Cat; Red Fox and Sibirean Marmot. Golden Eagle; Great Bustard; Saker Falcon; Black Stork; Baikal Teal and Ruddy Shelduch rule the skies.
Khorgo Mountain is an extinct volcano, which lies east of the Lake Tsagaan Nuur astonishingly beautiful lake with extremely pure fresh water. The Khorgo volcano is covered with basalt. It has been protected since 1965, fully in 1997, to safeguard spectacular mountain scenery and endangered fauna und flora.

The grasslands are rich in wild flowers notably Edelweiss /Leontopodium ochrolencum /.

Extinct volcanoes. Numerious extinct volcanoes are found in this area. Khorgo Uul is dead volcano, which lies east of Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake. The mountain is covered with basalt. The mountain enjoys State protection as a National Park of 28 square kilometers including Togoo Uul which reaches 2240 meters above sea level, and the Hill of the lake of the Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur. The volcano crater of the Togoo Uul is 200 meters wide and 100 meters deep. The northern slope is covered with Siberian Larch (Larix sibirica )

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Khuvsgul Province Info

Mongolia’s alpine region, with snow covered mountains and clear crystal lakes. There are no streams with no islands in them, so we see in the Khuvsgul Lake two perfect twin-islands as if specially designed by Nature herself as domains of birds. Here, the birds symphony never ends, keenly enjoyed by all the sentient beings who are lucky to inhabit these places.

In all four seasons Khuvsgul is the blessing of sight. It shimmers with all the rainbow colors against the blue of the sky in autumn when the local people – Darkhats, Khalkhas, Buryats and Uriankhais – mow hay till late in the evening to the sounds of their now merry and now sad songs.

In winter, all the mountains and the taiga and the lake pull over themselves a most fluffy and soft cover of believable white snow. Part of the Khuvsgul people move with their reindeer herds to their farmsteads high in the mountains, closer to the stars. And then only helicopters can reach them.

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Khuvsgul Lake

Mongolia’s alpine region, with snow covered mountains and clear crystal lakes. There are no streams with no islands in them, so we see in the Huvsgul Lake two perfect twin-islands as if specially designed by Nature herself as domains of birds. Here, the birds symphony never ends, keenly enjoyed by all the sentient beings who are lucky to inhabit these inspired places

In all four seasons Huvsgul is the blessing of sight. It shimmers with all the rainbow colours against the blue of the sky in autumn when the local people – Darkhats, Khalkhas, Buryats and Uriankhais – mow hay till late in the evening to the sounds of their now merry and now sad songs.
In winter, all the mountains and the taiga and the lake pull over themselves a most fluffy and soft cover of believable white snow. Part of the Huvsgul people move with their reindeer herds to their farmsteads high in the mountains, closer to the stars. And then only helicopters can reach them.

Tsatang – is nation ,who keeps reindeers, which inhabitates in the northern part of Mongolia . Usually they live in high mountains in taiga, which are very difficult to reach them. Population of Tsatang is the most minority in the world. During 70 years communist tyranny this nation could keep their own tradition, culture and identity. However, depending on their population minority it is running the danger of disappearance of the nation at present time. The main food of Tsatangs are reindeer milk product and meats of wild animals hunted by themselves.
The highest mountain peak in the locality Munkh Saridag, rises to 3491 metres above sea level, next to it is Uran Dyosh meaning Craftsman’s Anvil. Huvsgul’s maximum depth is 245.7 metres, and a layer of water this thick allows to see the Lake’s bad inlaid with colorful stones and the silvery sparkles of fish roaming the numerous hollows.

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