Eight Lakes Ride
Description
We aim to give you more than a superficial taste of some of the very best that Mongolia has to offer, in an economical timeframe; it's most iconic views and experiences, and the unique feeling that travel in this magical place allows you. Space, natural beauty, a re-definition of luxury and hospitality. This trip can run within two weekends throughout June to late September, for a minimum of five guests. It dovetails brilliantly with other adventures, and we showcase some possible 'bolt-ons' here. It's also a wonderful standalone trip, and in six days in the wilds, you truly experience the "full factory reset" that characterises one of our adventures in Mongolia.
Why ride in Eight Lakes National Park?
1. Beauty: This is a ride in the phenomenal Orkhon River Valley in Ovorkhangai province. Ovorkhangai is a hidden gem in Mongolia, a microcosm showcasing all of the country's diverse terrain in a relatively accessible format.
2. Accessibility: after an initial full day's drive out to the Orkhon Waterfall where you'll meet the horses, the daily distances are benign and the pace slows to a genuinely leisurely and restorative one. In four days you will get a true taste of the Mongolian horse and the amazing dexterity and skill of the Mongolian herders and crew taking care of the yaks and horses we are relying so completely upon.
3. Quality of the ride: the riding is varied, adventurious and remote, but not challenging even for relatively novice riders. If you trust the horses they will take care of you.
4. Remoteness: there is no cell reception! It's a true decompression. No vehicles can get to three of our four camps and so we travel with yaks to support us. It's a unique, unforgettable and joyful experience getting back to basics and seeing what luxuries are contained in those panniers!
5. Our team: we have an amazing team in place for this ride. A brilliant cook, highly experienced and charming herders and wranglers. You get to experience a logistical miracle by Morindoo!
The ride in brief
The volcanic lakes are named Shireet, Khaliut, Bugat, Khaya, Khuis, Onon, Doroo and Bayan-Uul. Naiman Nuur (Eight Lakes) has been a protected area since 1992 in recognition of its outstanding beauty and diversity of rare animals and birds.
The pace will vary hugely on this ride, but the difficulty of the terrain makes even the walking sections quite challenging with steep rocky staircases and twisting trails through dense undergrowth (which usually yields exquisite wild strawberries, you will be in no nurry). The terrain is inaccessible to vehicles, meaning our trek is supported by yaks once we are deep into the park.
In open country you are free to enjoy endless canters with the wind in your hair. We aim to ride for around 6 hours each day, with a hot breakfast and dinner cooked in open at camp, and packed lunch out on the trail. In the evenings we can ride to one of the lakes for swim. You will camp in robust little dome tents and comfy inflatable mattresses, and eat and sleep with the horses and yaks grazing contentedly around the camp. The food is rustic, delicious and plentiful, and we will happily cater for vegetarionans and other restricted diets with sufficient notice.
This ride hits the true sweet spot of leisure and adventure, of the wild and the forgiving.
WHILST YOU'RE HERE.... BOLT ONS 2021
July - The Yak Festival
Our July departure will end with a trip to the second ever Yak Festival, in Bat-Olzii soum, conveniently close to where we end our ride. We will hope to exchange horses for yaks as we are invited to join in these uniquely Mongolian festivities; prepare to watch yaks race, be lassoed at speed, milked competitively(!), and decorated like show ponies in the wonderful Best Dressed contest. These magical beats are the backbone of our trip and you will already have a fond admiration for their strength and good temperament after four days in their care and company. A fitting celebration.
August - Gobi Highlights tour (see Special Interest Tours for more details)
Our August departure includes an option to add on a Gobi Highlights tour (this incurs extra cost of $1450, a total cost of $4900 per person - return to UB 14th August). In five days we'll show you four of the most jaw-dropping and significant sites in the Gobi, and in the yawning spaces between them you will get a sense of the scale and majesty of this martian, but always living, expanse. Think it's all dunes and camels? Prepare to have your expectations confounded. Think the Grand Canyon is as impressive as geology gets? Ditto!
Run the Eight Lakes!
New from 2023, we also cater to trail runners! The daily riding distances and terrain lend themselves quite brilliantly to the adventure runner, and having your camp move to meet you each day keeps you travelling light, well fed and refreshed. Plus you can rinse off in those glorious lakes. We can have mixed parties, if you have a running, but non-riding partner, for example. Cost per person for running, same dates, is $2450.
Fly into Ulaanbaatar. We'll deliver you to the dependable luxury of the Holiday Inn, give you a few hours off to rest and unpack and join you late afternoon. We'll offer a city tour and then an early evening concert before a group dinner at our favorite local restaurant.
Day 2 - July 18th - Camels and temples:
Long driving day to Kharkhorin - this is your longest single day in the cars, some 350kms. We'll break up the journey with a stop at the beautiful golden dunes of Elsen Tasarkhai (spoiler - you can probably ride a camel here!) for lunch. In Kharkhorin we will enjoy a tour of Erdene Zuu, the huge Buddhist temple complex built over the site of the original Mongolian capital, proclaimed by Ogedei Khan in 1220. This site attracted and retained the finest scholars, academics, engineers, mathematicians, military strategists and healers during the most dynamic period of the Mongol empire.
Day 3,4,5,6 - July 19-22rd - The ride:You'll ride the beautiful Eight Lakes. Meeting the herders at the waterfall, we'll match you up with horses and equipment. Then set off after a princely brunch and a dip in the stunning Orkhon falls if you're hardy that way. From here we have a first night with vehicle support, camping in a secluded forest location before the real fun starts! On the second morning, we pack all of our essentials onto the six yaks and send them off into the forest ahead of us. Miraculously, by the time you make camp each evening, they are there waiting, unloaded, fire smoking and coffee ready.
Each night we camp in secluded, silent luxury, the horses and yaks grazing nearby, the mist rising off the lakes. Savour the meals prepared by our sensational cook Abe, play a few rounds of poker with Chimedee our brilliant manager. Hike a little, swim a little, read a little... These are halycon days. On the evening of the 8th you'll say farewell to herders and the wonderful horses and make camp once more.
Day 7 - July 23rd - The Yak Festival:It's a slow and rural drive back out of the park, but the timing for Mongolian festivals tend to be forgiving and we will arrive with time to immerse ourselves fully in this most Mongolian of celebrations. What the Eagle Festivals are to the Altai Mountains, the Yak Festival shall become to the Orkhon Valley: a showcase of the most iconic and precious resource of the region. The yak is used for meat, milk, wool, tools, riding, packing, ploughing and towing and no local herding family would be complete without them. To see them feted, braided, and paraded (and raced and rodeo'd for the adranakine junkies!) will be a joyful affair, and you will be one of a tiny handful of tourists making the pilgrimage. We'll add our camp, food and fire to the celebrations and enjoy one last out under our canopy stars.
Back to the buzz of Ulaanbaatar! It's a bumpy couple of hours back to the tarmac, but a benigh run in from there, and we'll back in the city by the tea time. Once back in UB, we'll deliver you back to the Holiday Inn for a well earned bath, and chill in the spa. We'll meet for a final celebratory dinner as a group and can enjoy all the novelties of the big city anew after six days in the wild.
We'll get you back to the airport for your flight home.
