Fly into Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia (called ‘UB’ by locals and visitors alike). After passing through immigration and customs, you’ll be collected and whisked to the dependable luxury of the Holiday Inn hotel. Referred to as the ‘city of contrasts’, UB is a city where modern skyscrapers stand beside traditional dwellings and ancient monasteries. You’ll be very conveniently located in downtown UB, within walking distance of Sukhbaatar Square, museums, theatres, and shops.

If you arrive in the morning, you’ll have time for lunch and a nap before being gathered up for a city tour with your hosts. If you arrive later in the day, you’ll be given space to rest up at the hotel before heading out in the evening. You’ll visit a local theatre to see a local arts troupe perform a concert of traditional music, song and performing arts, including the famous contortionists. Afterwards, you’ll enjoy a welcome dinner as a group and discuss the adventure to come.

Mount up, globetrotters! It’s time to head west towards Eight Lakes National Park in Ovorkhangai province – you have some 160 kilometres to cover by horse, starting at the beautiful rock formations around Erdenesant soum. It’s about a four hour drive to reach the start point and there will be stops for snacks and coffees on the way. In the afternoon, you’ll meet the fabulous crew and horses and do a two to three-hour looped ride to get the hang of these superb adventure partners, test out all the gears, and adjust your own gear, too. Get comfy, riders, it’s a long journey ahead.

Enjoy your first night at camp in these stunning rock formations and see the stars come out while the horses graze round the camp. Priceless.

Over the next four days, you will ride approximately 160 kilometres (~40km per day) towards the Eight Lakes National Park, though with the sturdy fourgons (Russian vans) supporting the group, there is always an ‘off-ramp’ should you need it. The ride takes you through the magnificent golden dunes of Elsen Tasarkhai, the ‘mini Gobi’, through the geographical centre of the country, around Burd, and towards the lush river valleys of Ovorkhangai province, which supports the largest livestock population of all of Mongolia with its verdant pastures and fast clear waters.

You’ll settle into a seductive daily rhythm, including (but not limited to!) morning coffees, pre-ride yoga sessions, increasingly dexterous and efficient de-camping, magnificent cooked breakfasts by your incredible crew, and invigorating riding, interspersed with the odd block of chocolate, some home-made trail mix, eagle-spotting, group singing, the odd carefree canter, and life-enhancing chats as you hack along with your fellow globetrotters.

You’ll enjoy a table lunch every day, and even have the chance to drop in with a local herder family for some salty milk tea and curds (high summer is when the dairy products are at their sweetest and most abundant). Each evening you’ll ride into camp, pitch sturdy little dome tents, and enjoy lively evenings in the dining tent.

On day 6, at the end of the day’s riding, you’ll be the special guests at a very special herder games showcasing local herders’ skills in catching and handling their horses. In every household, there is at least one soul who can pick up a lasso pole from the ground at the gallop, or throw a rope into a shoal of crafty horses and fish out his favourite riding horse. The acrobatics and athleticism are worthy of Cirque du Soleil, and they underpin the freedom of the horses of Mongolia – to ride them, first you have to catch them! This is horse-catching taken to the Olympic standard.

In the evening, you’ll make camp, bed down one final time on the open steppe and say farewell to your faithful steeds and wranglers for this opening section. Come morning, they’ll start their journey home to their family, and a well-earned rest.

Today you will pack up into the fourgons and drive an hour to the regional capital of Arvaikheer, where you can purchase any essentials you may need. Then you’ll drive south for around three hours to get to the entrance of Eight Lakes National Park, aiming to arrive by 2pm for a late lunch and an introduction to your wonderful herder and yak-wrangler, Ulaana. Mounting your new horses, you’ll ride to Ulaana’s own gers at the foot of a magnificent pass, the true entry point to the Park. It will be about a three-hour ride, some 15 kilometres, and you’ll take your time to get acquainted with your steed, with no yaks to think about for this section. The vehicles will follow you to Ulaana’s gers and offload all of your essentials for the next three nights of yak-supported travel. And, finally – you’ll meet the YAKS!! These huge, docile creatures will knock your socks off with their ability and temperament. No doubt you’ll be itching for a ride on one at the first opportunity.

The next three days are a blissful and welcome contrast to the faster pace and long saddle hours of the first leg of this ride. The daily distances are benign, and the pace is leisurely and restorative as you ride north through the undulations, dense forests and rocky outcrops of the National Park.

Each morning, the wranglers will pack all of your essentials onto the trusty yaks and send them off into the forest ahead of the group, riding independently from the horses. Miraculously, by the time you make camp each evening, they’ll be there waiting, unloaded, fire smoking and coffee (or gin and tonic) ready.

Each night, you will camp in secluded, silent luxury, horses and yaks grazing nearby, mist rising off the lakes. You’ll savour the meals prepared by your sensational cook, play a few rounds of poker with your brilliant logistics lead, hike a little, swim a little, read a little… pet some yaks. These are halycon days.

On the evening of day 10, you’ll find yourself in the roaring mists of Orkhon Waterfall, where you’ll be reunited with the wonderful team of drivers (and the rest of your kit!). You will make a final camp in this stunning patch of paradise.

Today you’ll finally pop up into civilisation and phone reception again. Boo. Fair warning: it’s a very bumpy half day’s drive to the city of Kharkhorin, crossing the mighty Orkhon river, passing the pretty soum of Bat Olzii, and stopping for lunch a a beautiful gorge along the banks of the river. At around 2pm, you’ll reach Kharkhorin, the 13th century capital of Mongolia and, by extension, arguably, the world. The remarkable Erdene Zuu monastery is built over a site in use at the time of Ogedei Khan, and many a mounted messenger would have galloped into this cosmopolitan city from all corners of the fast-developing empire. You’ll spend a good few hours on foot seeing the sights and understanding some of this rich seam of history, and picking up souvenirs if you fancy them.

Tonight you will stay in a local ger camp for the iconic experience of sleeping in a traditional Mongolian ger (3 or 4 people per ger). You’ll be almost sorry to lie in a bed, having enjoyed the “full factory reset” of an adventure in remote Mongolia, but no doubt you’ll enjoy the hot running water! Smell the hardwood poles and lattices, the rawhide ropes, the felt cladding, and the grassy dung-smoke of the stove, and admire this timeless and sustainable structure.

This morning you will pack your bags and head for the bright lights of the city once more (about a 7-hour drive). If time permits, the team will make the most of the road trip, stopping in the sand dunes for a surf, a paddle in the river, or even a sit on a camel if you are feeling adventurous. You should be back in UB before the rush hour traffic, and with time to check in and relax at the hotel.

Your hosts will make a dinner reservation for the group in the evening, and you can enjoy the singular pleasures of washing the dirt off, and painting the town red!

Today you’ll bid your fond farewells and take a transfer to the airport for your onward travels.

Complimentary airport transfers are included upon arrival and departure in Ulaanbaatar. Please ensure you inform Globetrotting of your flight itinerary prior to departure so that these can be arranged.

You can arrive into Ulaanbaatar anytime on day 1, and depart anytime on the final day.