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 160kms to cover by horse, starting at the beautiful rock formations around Erdenesant soum. It’s around 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 Morindoo crew and horses, and do a looped ride to get the hang of these superb adventure partners, and test out all the gears, and adjust all 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 three days you will ride approximately 160kms 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 or 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, some eagle-spotting, some 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 and pitch sturdy little dome tents, and enjoy lively evenings in the dining tent.

On day 5 you’ll make a farewell camp around Yesonzuil, bed down one final time on the steppe and say farewell to your faithful steeds and wranglers for this opening section. Tomorrow morning they will start their journey home to their family, and a well-earned rest.

Changeover day and a rodeo! Today you will pack up into the fourgons and pick up the road close to regional capital Arvaikheer, and drive south for around 2 hours to get to the entrance to the park and your next adventure. Near Arvaikheer you’ll be the special guests of 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! Watch horse-catching taken to the Olympic standard this afternoon.

You will meet the Eight Lakes horses and crew that evening and make camp. Today is likely to be a non-riding day, or depending on timings, possibly an orientation ride with the new horses. Also – meet the YAKS!! These huge and docile creatures will knock your socks off with their ability and temperament, and we have no doubt you’ll be itching for a ride on one at the first opportunity.

The second four days’ riding is a blissful and welcome contrast to the faster pace and long saddle hours of the first four. The daily distances are benign, the pace slows to a genuinely leisurely and restorative one.

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 are there waiting, unloaded, fire smoking and coffee (or gin and tonic) ready.

Each night you will camp in secluded, silent luxury, the horses and yaks grazing nearby, the mist rising off the lakes.  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 the fourth day in the park, you’ll find yourself in the roaring mists of Orkhon Waterfall, the finish point for the ride. You’ll say farewell to Boldbaatar and his wonderful horses and make the short trip to a local ger camp, for the iconic experience of sleeping in a traditional Mongolian ger. You’ll be almost sorry to lie in a bed, having enjoyed the “full factory reset” that characterises an adventure in Mongolia. Smell the hard wood poles and lattices, and the rawhide ropes, and the felt cladding, and the grassy dung-smoke of the stove, and admire this timeless and sustainable structure. You’ll be in shared gers, probably 3 or 4 to a ger.

Today you will finally pop up into civilisation and phone reception again. Boo. You’ll return to your (wheeled) vehicles and make the short but very bumpy journey to 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. Nowadays there is a decent museum, a whole bunch of hawkers and artisans, and a few decent hotels too. 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 decent hotel in the city.

This morning you will pack up and head for the bright lights of the city once more (approx 6hrs overland). The team will make the most of the road trip, stopping in the sand dunes for a surf, and 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 a good time to check in and chill out at the Holiday Inn.

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 we’ll bid our fond farewells and take a transfer to the airport for 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.