Unbridled Adventure Awaits You in Mongolia

What images does Mongolia conjure up in your mind? Nomadic herders migrating from summer to winter grazing grounds? Vast herds of semi-wild horses running freely across the rolling, treeless hills? Endless, clear vistas of steppe, jagged mountains in the distance, inviting you to simply point your front wheel in any direction and twist the throttle? Of a kind, proud people who will welcome you into their lavishly decorated ger tents without hesitation to offer you salted milk tea, fermented mares’ milk, dried milk curds or vodka?

If these are the images that flash through your mind, you are on the right track. Nothing can prepare you for the vastness of this place. Two and a half times the size of Texas with a tenth the population. Or six times the size of the UK but with a twentieth the number of residents. It’s only when you roll out of the capital, Ulaanbaatar, that the scale of the landscape permeates your mind.  From that point on, on your motorcycle, you will experience all the best that this magnificent land of Chinggis Khaan has to offer. You will experience wide open runs through endless grassy plains and sandy tracks that will challenge your nerves, muddy bogs that will test your physical stamina and river after river waiting to be forded.

Mongolia’s wild side is definitely not a Sunday cruise to the pub. But every you grit your teeth, put your head down and forge ahead, you will be rewarded ten-fold by what is quite simply the best motorcycling expedition on Earth.

The whole experience kicks off with your arrival at Chinggis Khaan International Airport. Here you will be met by one of our drivers offering your official welcome to Mongolia. A 60 to 90 minute drive will see you arriving at our hotel near the city’s main square, Sukh Baatar. Later that evening, we will meet as a group for the first time for an orientation and welcome dinner.

After breakfast, we will offer you a cultural tour of ‘UB’ including the Sukh Baatar, the National Museum and the local markets. After lunch, you will be acquainted with the machine that will take you across this strikingly beautiful country. But first, we will use the afternoon for an orientation on the bikes with a ride out to the Chinggis Khaan Statue Complex.

Now the rubber is truly hitting the road. An hour of so through the grit of the western suburbs leads to the grand opening of the landscape. Gradually, civilization subsides and the wide-open spaces of the country envelopes you. After about 190km of highway riding, we leave the tarmac for the first time and make our way to our camp for the night on border of Hustai National Park. A brief excursion into the 500 sqm park will (hopefully) allow an encounter with the rare and endangered Przewalski's horses, the only species of wild horses in the world.

After 180k of easy two-lane motorway riding surrounded by beautiful vistas, you’ll enjoy 26 km of dirt road was perfection. No sand, no mud, no rocks. Just wild horses, goats and eagles flying in fighter escort formation. Ögii Lake is a freshwater lake in Ögii nuur, Arkhangai Province. The lake, designated as a Ramsar Site of International Importance, is known for its fish and for birdlife.

Today we put our offroad tyres to the test. As we head southwest over the most beautiful wide open surroundings. Herds of horses run with us, huge flocks of sheep block our path, the sky is massive and blue and filled with light clouds.  The hills are soft, pale green and treeless, the dirt roads often split off in directions leading to another infinity. Freedom! Along the way, we will be welcomed into the ger home of a nomadic shepherd family for a snack of fermented mares’ milk and mares’ cream with scones.

That night in the small city of Tsertserleg, we will rest in a modest business hotel and take advantage of a hot shower and a warm, comfortable bed.

After a superb Mongolian breakfast of beef bone broth soup, beef tripe, beef liver and sweet curd with currants, we hit the road for Terkhiin Tsagaan, or the White Lake. The first 9km is hard pack dirt taking us over the hills. Following that, 100 km of winding highway meanders through rolling hills and clear skies. A lunch at Taikhar Chuluu (Taikhar Rock), a 20 metre high granite block set in the middle of a huge expanse of flatland and rolling hills, allows for some local cultural connection.

The Maikhan Tolgoi Ger camp on Terkhiin Lake is our first two-night stop on the adventure. This is our opportunity to get off the bikes and go horseback riding, hiking, swimming or fishing.  The setting is magnificent and capped by a quick hike the caldera of Mongolia’s biggest volcano, the 1,200 metre wide Khorgo Mountain.

We shake off our last remnants of sleep with 20 km of gravel road, backtracking past the volcano we hiked yesterday. From there, we rejoin the long 2 lane highway through rolling auburn hills with tracks diverging left and right leading off to the horizon. Along the way, we’ll jump off the bikes to absorb the beauty of Chuluut River Gorge and maybe a herd of majestic yaks.

The final 30 kms of the day is a beautiful and relatively easy off-road stretch. Here you will encounter your first river crossing but not to worry, we are there to help. And with 23 more to go, you will be an expert by the time we get back to UB!

By day 9, we are up top level 10. Our ride stretched 114 kilometres and your tyres won’t touch a metre of tarmac. And if you are ready for some cultural connection, now is your chance. Our lunch stop is at a nomadic settlement with a family owns 800 horses and we will dine in their ger on a meal of noodles and meat washed down with fermented mares milk. Closing the menu, a distilled mares’ milk made into a kind of schnapps will be served. This ride is a highlight. Absolutely untouched valleys, forested hillsides, herds of horses running freely and a single dirt track to lead the way.

Today you will be spoiled for choice. The World Heritage Site Orkhon Waterfall is only 500 meters away so today might be the day to stretch the legs and do some walking, or perhaps jump on a horse and let someone else do the walking. Or, if you are feeling like you’re ready for the rougher stuff, we will do a 20 km ride into the backcountry through unspoiled valleys filed with horses and yaks. (less experienced riders can opt for the Landcruiser). Lunch will be a relaxing picnic along the lake.

You can never get enough of stunning valleys and beautiful rivers and today does not disappoint. Today we have a number of steep hills to crest, gravel, sand, streams, off camber trails and long stretches of hard pack dirt. The vast emptiness is left immediately as we crest a hill and the old capital city of Kharkhorin is laid out before us.  A night at a glamorous hotel eases us back to civilisation.  

After attacking the sumptuous breakfast buffet, we ride early a few kilometres to the Erdene Zuu Monastery. The monastery is considered by many to be the most important in the country, though no doubt it’s a shadow of what it once was. At its peak, it had between 60 and 100 temples, around 300 gers inside the walls, and up to 1000 monks in residence. Now culturized, we head back to the hotel to don our gear and set off for the dunes of Mini Gobi. We spend the night at a ger camp off the dunes for a final night on the road.

This morning is a lovely ride due east. The narrow strip of highway rolls over endless hills and undulating landscapes as we tick of the clicks back to UB. This is a perfect time to breathe in and reflect on the experience as you gaze over the last views of the sublime Mongolian landscape. Horses run unbridled. Hawks soar over our shoulders.

A final night at our Soviet era landmark off Sukh Baatar will be our base for a farewell dinner and a drink or two to celebrate one of the most magnificent motorcycle rides our planet has to offer.

After a sturdy breakfast, your team and your new best friends stand ready to see you off to the airport for the long journey home. With bugs in your teeth and mud on your boots, the hours on the plane will give you ample time to sort through the magnificent country you have just explored, the hard way.