Level 4: Rigorous
This intentionally adventuresome small group tour features rustic accommodations, often without reliably constant electricity, with challenging overland travel including rough off-road conditions, long days walking and standing while touring, unpaved sidewalks and streets, uneven surfaces and steps, absent handrails, significant stair-climbing, and absence of elevators. Only those very fit to travel and who are willing to accept local standards of amenities and services, and the physical challenges of the program, should consider joining.
Eight nights are spent in ger camps – all gers are heated only by wood stoves. Five nights will be spent in gers with shared shower/WC facilities in a separate building; and three nights will be spent at the Three Camel Lodge Ger Camp in the Gobi, where all gers offer en-suite toilet, sink, and shower. If you rely on electricity for CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) or for any other reason, you must have your own battery or other back-up since electricity is not a reliable constant throughout the itinerary – or please reconsider participation.
Travelers must be able to walk two to three miles a day, with some hiking, while keeping up with fellow travelers on a variety of terrain including through grass and dirt (possibly soggy ground), on dirt paths, across gravel and stony scrub, shallow streams, smooth stones, and the like. Overland transport in Mongolia will involve very rough and bumpy drives over dusty and unpaved tracks in basic vans, Russian jeeps, or other vehicles. During city touring you’re likely to encounter uneven surfaces and attractions accessible only via steep staircases. Museums generally do not have elevators.
Air-conditioning is a luxury and not available in facilities outside the capital or in vehicles. Seating at the Naadam stadium in Ulaanbaatar is on hard unbacked benches, and a significant amount of time (three or more hours) will be spent there. The sun can be intense in the stadium as well. Naadam time also brings out large crowds and pickpockets, so it is important to be extra vigilant of your personal items.
In Mongolia, the airline infrastructure is not as developed as it is in the west. Flight schedules change constantly, and there is a strong likelihood that the program will have moderate to significant routing and timing changes based on changing flight schedules.
Other challenges include overall shortcomings in the tourism infrastructure in remote Mongolia. Past travelers have also encountered challenges with plumbing, bureaucratic service, variety of locally available foods, and availability and quality of public restrooms.
1/10 Reindeer herders near Hovsgol Lake. Peter Guttman
