Mongolia Reviews

Review 1

What was the most memorable part of your tour?

The horse racing

Do you feel your holiday benefited local people?

yes, we were taken to the festival and given a time to return to the transportation. This gave us the opportunity to go to stalls we wanted to independently, and not hrded as a group to a particular stall

Do you feel that you got under the skin of a country?

yes, the festival gave a great opportunity to speak with locals and to the police!

What advice would you give to other travellers?

If you only have a short time in Mongolia go on this tour. It combines camping giving a brief glimpse of the wonderful landcape, and an opportunity to mix with locals at the festival

Reviewed by Davina Malcolm who travelled in July 2007 on the Naadam Festival trip

Review 2

What was the most memorable part of your tour?

The open spaces and camping

Do you feel your holiday benefited local people?

yes, i felt that as we were camping we were not being taken to the same tour restaurants only benefitting the one business.

Do you feel that you got under the skin of a country?

Yes in a geographical sense, on a human sense not so much, but that was no reflection on Imtrav

What advice would you give to other travellers?

Go on this tour it is worth every penny

Reviewed by Davina Malcolm who travelled in June 2007 on the Mongolian Vistas trip

Review 3

What was the most memorable part of your tour?

Meeting a camel the first night out. The guys from the tour wrestling with the local wrestling champion up at lake Hofskal. The interesting meals....always amazed they tasted so good. Pool tables in the middle of the market place. The songs around the camp fire. The Mongolian people. Our Mongolia drivers and translator - simply brilliant. Scenary that you'd need to be a poet to describe. Freezing nights in the tent, but you knew they were worth suffering for. The whole thing - it was just amazing. The space and the peace and the calm.

How would you rate the tour leaders?

Excellent - especially since it was her first tour in Mongolia she coped amazingly well. It's not like she'd any real backup with the places were went.

Do you feel your holiday benefited local people?

Yes - definitely brought needed income to the drivers families, plus the money that was spent at the Aimags and the sheep or goat that was bought along the way. All helps and probably reached people that normal tourist wouldn't get to.

Do you feel that you got under the skin of a country?

Definitely - I'd love to go back to see more.

What advice would you give to other travellers?

1. it's a meat eating country - do not go expecting ANY vegetarian food. You may then be pleasantly surprised every now and again when you do get it. 2. Be thankful for what food you get, it's limited and remember you're probably buying it directly from the person that rared it. You're there for a very short period of time so you will survive. 3. there are no comforts, so do not go expecting hot water, soft beds, air conditioning, heaters. You are going to Mongolia - not on a spa weekend!!! 4. Expect absoutely amazing scenary - it's there. Just remember to keep looking at it and any other discomfort will fade in comparison. 5. If you walk around in short skirts or bikini's the men will stare....they are men!!! If them staring makes you uncomfortable be more respectful and cover up. You're in there country remember. Your rules don't apply, theirs do. 6. Forget your watch and a calendar. Put it away. You don't need it, what's the point, you're not in a rush anywhere are you?! 7. Smile - Mongolians love to smile, it breaks the ice. 8. share something - Mongolian customs dictates you always offer something, usual food or drink. If you don't have this there probably is something you can part with. Any small gift will be received with the utmost curtosy and respect. Remember that works both ways!!! 9. Enjoy the quietness. 10. take lots of batteries for your camera.

Reviewed by Emer Levins who travelled in May 2006 on the Mongolian Wilderness Adventure trip

Review 4

Do you feel your holiday benefited local people?

Probably not a lot: we were very self sufficient

Do you feel that you got under the skin of a country?

Mongolia A country four times the size of Britain, and a population less than one tenth, and over half of those live in the capital, Ulan Bataar. It's a thriving, bustling capital with some interesting sights, but probably not the reason you visit the country. Historically, the country was Buddhist, and now freed from Soviet secularism there is a growth of the faith again. On the edge of the town an open-air museum of old temples with stupas and Buddha-images is well worth a visit. Leaving the capital we headed south, slowly the landscape becomes drier and less green, until the only thing you can see is bare rock and sand: this is the start of the Gobi desert. Where it is sandy, the wind blows the sand into beautiful rounded dunes: the dune sand is loose, difficult to walk up as each step pushes a cascade of sand back down the dune, leaving oversize footprints. When the wind blows the sand fills them up again in minutes, and all trace of your passage is gone. Here we met a group of nomads with their camels, goats and chicken. A goat is killed for us and we have a meal from it. Let’s be honest: the animal is not bred for its meat, and you cannot hang meat to tenderise it in these temperatures, so it’s bit tough and chewy. Most of the time we are travelling we are vegetarian, as vegetables keep better in the journeys between shops. This is not a trip for gastronomic delights. After a bit more exploration and a camel ride we head north again. We need to ford a wide river, and whilst two or our vans get across the third gets stuck in the middle, and the more the driver revs the engine all he does is dig the wheels into the loose sandy bottom. Eventually we get a local man with a tractor to come and pull it out. He is wearing a tatty singlet and shorts, showing a well-tanned and muscular body, so for the next few days the girls in the trip ask if there are any more tractor-men to be found! Our camp that day is at the foot of a line of low hills, with a small neglected monastery nearby. Following the line that a river has cut through the hills, we traverse a narrow gorge that at one point in only 6 inches wider then the van, so needs careful driving. You start to see the odd bush, and then crossing a low hill looking at the plain in front there is a green haze on the ground from low grassy plants. We reach Karakorum, the old capital of the Mongols, of which not a brick remains, but at least we get a non-veg. meal! From here north again, the countryside getting lusher and greener with every mile. Camels and goats give way to a little cattle and lots of horses: the horse was the beast of the Mongols, the animal that took them to the gates of Moscow and Vienna. Then to Lake Khovsgol, where we camp for two nights. The lake is surrounded by green wooded hills, looking very alpine after the desert – is this the same country? The surroundings tempt me in to the water for a swim: big mistake … the lake is fed from the melt waters of the surrounding hills, and has not had time to warm up in the sun, so after only five minutes I emerge, with teeth chattering, for a good vigorous rub down to dry off. The next day a fast drive back to UB for a last-night dinner.

Reviewed by Peter Jackson who travelled in June 2006 on the Mongolian Wilderness Adventure trip