Horse trekking in the Altai Mountains for 2 weeks in Mongolia
In early July 2024, I headed back to Mongolia for the second time (after 12 years!). I had signed myself up for a horse trekking trip in the Altai with Zavkhan Trekking. It turned out to be one epic, dreamy, fantastic travel experience. Not without it's various hardships though, as travel often brings, but definitely one of the best travel experiences I've ever had.
Before diving into the details, I just want to say that I highly highly recommend Zavkhan Trekking. I did the 17 day Altai trip. It's a company that's been around for 20+ years and ran by a small international team along with numerous local staff in all of its locations (Mongolia and Kazakhstan). Zavkhan specializes in horse trekking and more adventure travel type of trips. They run ~10 trips each summer, usually in the horse trekking domain in the various places they operate. They prepare travelers really well ahead of time and then once on the ground, the local staff lead the way and ensure smooth and safe travels. It was one of those trips where you really feel like you are doing an exchange with the local families and they are the #1 guides and experts, showing us a part of their world. It's one of the best planned tours I've ever been on and am so grateful to have experienced!
This piece will be a bit more general about the entire tour and experience, and later I'll probably follow up with more specific details about different aspects of the trip (e.g. horse riding, my horse, camping, what we ate, photo dump).
The logistics of the trip
The gist of this horse trekking trip was to essentially explore the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park...by horse. Each day was a scenic ride where we would have a route we rode, have lunch, then continue riding on to the next camp site. Many of our days were filled with riding up to specific passes where we had lunch with an epic view, then we would head downhill to our destination. Full riding days ranged from 6-8 hours, including snack and lunch breaks.
Since the point of the trip was to sightsee on horse, we didn't cover a very big amount of the national park, but the tour did make sure that each camp site we arrived at was unique and different, in terms of terrain and surroundings, from the other camp sites. One night we would be by a river in the valley, and the next by a lake, and the next on a big piece of flat land. Each day as we set off on our horses, the local staff (camp crew + cooks) would get into the vans and drive back to the nearby town to get more supplies then onto the next campsite to set up. We would meet them at the campsite on our horses by the end of the day. The staff would set up the big tent (our dining tent, and the general hang out area) as well as the long drop (the loo ~) and have snacks ready and dinner in the process of cooking by the time we arrived. I was so impressed with how smoothly everything ran and how amazing the whole trip was planned along with all the food and snacks they provided!
Beside the 2 nights we were in Ulaanbaatar, most other nights were camping in the wild. At the beginning of the trip, they provided us each with a tent, sleeping mat, and insulation mat. As well as riding saddles and chaps that were considered ours for the entirety of the trip. By the end of the 2 weeks, I was an expert at putting up and taking down my tent, a skill I didn't have before the trip. When we got on the horses, we only brought our saddle bags which usually included our water, sunscreen, hat, and rain gear. Everything else went with the staff into the van to travel to the next location.
During the 2 weeks we were in the remote Altai, we had no access to signal/internet, electricity, and toilets and showers. We had to prepare ahead of time with sufficient portable batteries if we wanted to keep our phones and cameras alive. And yep, we ended up not showering for 2 weeks. Most days though, we would be camping by a river or stream which is when we'd occasionally have the chance to freshen up (had to be careful of the leeches though).
Where We Went
The tour started in Ulaanbaatar. We stayed at the Bayangol Hotel for one night then flew out to Ölgii, which is a city on the western side of the country. It was an early morning. We had to wake up by 4am and get to the airport by 6am. We were in Ölgii before noon. The day's schedule included flying to the other side of the country, then hopping into a van for a 4.5 hour drive, mostly off road, to our first camp site.
The city we landed in as well as the national park, are both part of Bayan-Ölgii province in Mongolia. It's a predominantly ethnically Kazakh, meaning most people are ethnically Kazakh and speak Kazakh. Most also speak Mongolian, especially if they have been through the public education system, since Mongolian is still the national language. This part of the country is mostly Muslim, and though culturally, there are a lot of similarities to the rest of Mongolia (and I imagine, other parts of Central Asia), there are also a lot of cultural differences to other parts of Mongolia to be mindful of, given that religion and language are different.
Horse trekking day to day
We chose our horses the day we got to the first camp site. The organization already had an idea of all of our riding levels, heights/size, so they were able to pair us up with appropriate horses. Taller people got bigger/taller horses. Experienced riders got horses better suited and vice versa. Mongolian horses are semi-wild though, meaning, for most of the year, they are free grazing and not being ridden on. These horses are ridden on every summer, but since each herder's family could have a lot of horses, the chances of a horse being ridden on consistently is low. The horses we had this trek just had riders for 2 weeks before us, and we were the second group that summer. The first group of the summer were the ones who had to "break in" the horses to get them used to being ridden on, though, realistically, they can still be unpredictable and not follow human instruction easily, especially from strangers.
Since I did not grow up riding or was familiar with riding techniques from other countries/regions, I can't really compare. But from what my co-riders were saying, their experience riding on this trip was the most "chaotic" riding they've ever done. My co-riders grew up riding in the Netherlands and the U.S primarily. For example on what "chaotic" riding entails, on the first day, when the horses were still not used to us, the new riders (and they just had a 1-ish week break), the horses would run up to the horses from their herd and stick to each other. This meant even with humans on the horses, the horses would not necessarily heed our directions and just trot up to be close to their friends, which meant our legs would bump into other horses or the other riders legs, which can hurt or be dangerous at times. It took a couple days for us humans to get the horses to obey us a bit more. But that certainly depended on the horse and the rider's skill level.
As part of the ten riders/travelers, we had four horse wranglers. Two older more experienced, and two younger newer wranglers. There were twenty horses with us, five of each came from the family of each horse wrangler. Two would lead in the front, and two would keep track in the back, and that was how we did our trek and were able to keep safety top of mind. In addition to the wranglers, we had 1 consistent Mongolian guide who was with us from beginning to end. He rode with us everyday and helped translate between the riders and the wranglers. One of the wranglers couldn't understand Mongolian, only Kazakh, so that meant multiple layers of translation was happening amongst the Mongolians too. Most of the time, staff were speaking Kazakh, which is a language our Mongolian guide was not 100% fluent in.
Our days would start around 9am, we would ride 1-1.5 hours then stop for a snack break. Snacks usually included dried fruit, crackers, and chocolate. Then we would ride for another 1-1.5 hours, typically up hill to a scenic spot and have our lunch laid out on a picnic blanket. Then after a lunch and a rest, sometimes a nap, we'd make our way downhill and ride towards the next camp site.
The views were stunning. Picturesque. Breathtaking. I was in awe by every landscape we trotted through. I can't say the trek itself was all that relaxing given how horses can be unpredictable and there is a lot to keep in mind since we were traveling through all sorts of terrain and climate. From wading in rocky rivers, to climbing uphill in heavy rain, to walking downhill by feet in slippery mud. By the end of each day's ride, we would all be ready for some relaxation at the camp site. Once we arrived, we'd set up our tents, have some down time before dinner. After dinner, we would gather to play games, like card games or Werewolf.
By the time games were over and we walked out the communal tent to get ready for bed, it would already be dark and the stars would be starting to fill the night sky. We'd all typically be in our tents ready to sleep by 10 or 11pm and have the best sleep of our lives. No distractions, no lights, no mobile devices, no electricity. Just the sound of the rushing river near by and sometimes, the sounds of horses walking by. If we ever found ourselves needing to use the bathroom between 1-2am, that was when the milky way filled the night sky majestically.
The trip was both an adventure, and had a predictable routine. Our schedules everyday were the same and after a couple of days, we quickly got into the daily rhythm. It was just us out there in the wild; the staff and the group of riders. It really felt like we were in our own world, our own bubble, for those 2 weeks. An incredibly peaceful time. The tour was planned in such a way that we did not encounter any other tourists or groups of people, besides the nomadic families we visited, who were often family or extended family of the staff who worked with us. It was wondrous to be so up close to nature everyday, and fill our days with being present with the landscape and people around us. I'll cherish the memories of this trip for many years to come. And of course, would love to be back one day.
More to come about this trip:
- My experience with horse-riding, specifically with my horse who I named Snickers
- Activities we did besides horse-riding
- The (dis)comforts of camping
- Sociopolitical things I thought about on this trip...
- Unexpected things for me about Mongolia in 2024
- More photos. A photo dump?
- Tourism dynamics: the tourist vis a vis the local
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