Places of Interest
The capital of Mongolia is Ulaanbaatar, a city with a long and rich history. Set in the rolling foothills of the Bogd Mountain range, on the banks of the majestic Tuul River, Ulaanbaatar is the gateway to Mongolia.
Gandan is the largest and most significant monastery in Mongolia and one of Ulaanbaatar's most interesting sights. Built in the mid 19th century, it is the only monastery where Buddhist services continued during the communist years.
Gandan Monastery
The 90,000 hectare Hustain Nuruu Natural Reserve, is 60 miles southwest of Ulaanbaatar. This is the home to herds of Takhi or Przjevalski horses, the world's only naturally surviving wild horses.
The Gobi Desert is a treasure chest of fossilized dinosaur bones and eggs. Roughly one-third the size of Alaska, this incredible land mass is home to Argali Sheep, Snow leopard, Hulan (wild ass), gazelle (antelope), Wild camel, Mazaalai (Gobi bear) and Desert Ibex. Surprisingly, it is also home to a vibrant nomadic population which has inhabited this awe-inspiring place for many centuries.
The Gobi Desert
Erdene-Zuu, once one of the largest monasteries in Mongolia and almost destroyed in the 1930s. The monastery grounds have several chapels with excellent examples of Buddhist iconography dating from the 16th century. It has massive square walls each 420m long with a total of 108 stupas and 17 temples. Established in 1586 Erdene-Zuu was the first Buddhist Monastery in the Mongol Empire which was built on the ruins of Karakorum, the 13th century capital of Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire.
Erdene-Zuu Monastery
Gurvan Saikhan is a National Park located 340km (211miles) south-west of Ulaanbaatar, near the town of Dalanzadagad right above the Chinese northern border. Unlike other National Parks in the Gobi Desert, the Gurvan Saikhan Park is home to a unique combination of mountains, extraordinary sand dunes, mysterious rock formations and a valley which has ice for most of the year (in the desert!). But what really makes this Park unique is the world famous sites of dinosaur fossils. The Park is home to over 200 species of birds, including the Mongolian Desert Finch, Cinerous Vulture, Desert Warbler and the Houbara Bustard. The sparse vegetation manages to support black-tailed gazelle, snow leopard, ibex, argali sheep and some endangered species of wild camel.
Gurvan Saikhan
