This is a ten-day adventure that starts in northern Mongolia, where the Ice Festival unfolds on Lake Hovsgol At 136 km long and 262 m deep, it is the country’s largest source of fresh water.
Nomads in fiery finery join in horse-led sleigh races and ice “ankle bone” shooting contests – a tradition dating back to the time of Chingis Khan.
Then head south to the Gobi Desert where the Thousand Camel Festival celebrates the Bactrian camel, an animal integral to Mongolia’s Nomadic herders. The camel’s numbers have declined over the last several years, all the more reason to celebrate the ones that are left.
You’ll get to ride them and also enjoy camel races, performances by traditional musicians and dancers, and visits to significant cultural and paleontological sites in the vast Gobi, including the fossil rich Flaming Cliffs.
This trip spends four nights in hotels and five nights in ger camps. Gers are Mongolian yurts, large communal tents. The trip is through Nomadic Expeditions, February 19-28, 2007.
