Lots of people are riding camels in winter and snowing

TEN THOUSAND CAMEL
FESTIVAL TOUR

5 Nights in gers

Tour grade: Easy & moderate

7 Nights / 8 Days

No camping

2 nights at 3* hotels

TOUR & EVENT OVERVIEW

Travel to the south Gobi Desert to attend the renowned "Ten thousand Camel Festival," organized by a local non-governmental organization working to protect and preserve the Bactrian camel population, which has steadily declined over the past years.

This great festival allows travelers a rare opportunity to interact with and learn first-hand about these fantastic animals and the camel herders' nomadic lifestyle.

Highlights of the festival include:

Camel races.
Performances by traditional Mongolian musicians and dancers.
Visits to important paleontological, cultural, and beautiful sites of the Gobi.

Attend the camel races at the Thousand Camel Festival, a unique opportunity to witness Bactrian camels' speed and agility. Enjoy every moment with us!

Tour Highlights & Destinations

Experience nomadic lifestyle
Attend Camel festival
Mongolian traditional BBQ
Yol Valley & Mukhar Shivert Valley
Khongor Sand dunes
Bayan-Zag Flaming Cliffs
City tour
Mongolian national history museum
Gandan Tegchilen Monastery
Chinggis Khan's equestrian statue comple
Terelj National Park
Aryabal Monastery
Horse and camel riding
Plenty of chances to take pictures

Gandan Tegchilen khiid city tour Ulaanbaatar

Day 1. (05 March) Arrival day / City Tour (B)

This morning, we will pick you up from the Airport and transfer you to a hotel***. If you want, you will be able to have some rest for a while. Then, we will start our city tour with the Mongolian National History Museum, Chinggis Square, and Gandan-Tegchilen Monastery, one of Mongolia’s most famous Buddhist temples.

Nowadays, many hundreds of monks live there. It houses a 26,5-metre (87 feet) high statue of Megjid-Janraiseg. Megjid-Janraiseg is a bodhisattva, a sage who leads the men to Truth. Overnight at the hotel***.

Day 2.(06 March) Fly to Southgobi province to attend to Camel Festival (B/L/D)

This event is organized by "Tumen Temee" ("Ten Thousand Camels") - an association to protect two-humped Bactrian camels and reproduce camel herders, increase their productivity, and increase herder's income through tourism. You will enjoy an authentic festival program, camel racing, a children's concert, a camel wool product exhibition, a camel polo, a parade on camels, and an excellent couple competition. In those days, we will "breathe" by camels.
Also, you will enjoy a relay competition with a camel. It is an entertaining battle that shows the camel training methods and customs of the "Heroes of Great Gobi." People overcome Gobi's severe climate and harsh conditions through effort and endurance. Teams, each having five members, participate in it and show many methods and techniques of catching a camel with a lasso, tying and bringing it down, putting a wooden peg into the camel's nose, and loading the camel - a short excursion to the famous sites of the Gobi.

Day 3. (07 March) Camel Festival second day (B/L/D)

This morning, after having breakfast, we will visit the Camel Festival. Today's schedule is

09.00 - Camel race.
10.30 - Camel race.
12.00 - Torom (2 years old camel) racing
13.00 - Break for lunch
15.00 - “Camel express” competition for herders
17.00 - Rewarding and closing ceremony

Yol valley in Umnugobi province Mongolia

Day 4. Drive to Yol Valley, Mukhar Shivert Valley (B/L/D)

This morning, we will drive to Yol Valley (Vulture Canyon). It is a beautiful, deep canyon with many rocky cliffs created by years of water erosion.

After arrival at the canyon, we will take a 2-hour hike through the canyon and most likely see parts of a glacier left over from the winter months.
On our way in or out of the park, we will visit the local Natural History Museum, where dinosaur eggs and bones, petrified trees, and a snow leopard display. Have lunch. After that, we will briefly drive to Mukhar Shivert Valley to hike. Overnight at a nomadic family.

Khongor Sand Dunes winter time tour in Mongolia

Day 5. Drive to Khongor Sand Dunes (B/L/D)

This morning, we will drive to Khongor sand dune, one of Mongolia's largest and most spectacular dunes, standing as high as 200 meters above the ground, 7-8 km wide, and 180 km long. Climbing the dunes is breathtaking, not just for the top view. It surprises climbers that the dunes make a singing sound while you climb; that is why they are nicknamed the singing dunes.
The sand dunes make you feel extraordinary comfort and infinite peace. Once we get there, we will ride a camel along the Khongor sand dunes. The two-humped Bactrian camels are very comfortable to ride as they walk slowly and gently. You will be well supported by the humps, sitting comfortably between them. Overnight at a nomadic family spare ger.

Bayan-Zag Flaming Cliff winter tour in Mongolia

Day 6. Drive to BayanZag Flaming Cliffs (B/L/D)

Today, we are going to drive to visit the Bayanzag area. Known as a Flaming Cliffs "Cradle of Dinosaurs," this is where the first nest of dinosaur eggs ever discovered was found in 1922.

The site was famous for the remains of dinosaurs that lived here 60 million years ago. We will walk around where dinosaurs once roamed and see saxaul trees and other classic desert vegetation. Then we will drive to Dalanzadgad. Have dinner.

Overnight at a Dalanzadgad hotel.

Terelj National Park in winter tour in Mongolia

Day 7. Fly back to Ulaanbaatar city, Terelj National Park (B/L/D)

After breakfast, we will drive to the domestic airport to fly to Ulaanbaatar city, and our driver and tour guide will pick you up from the airport. After that, we will drive to The Chinggis Khan Equestrian Statue complex, built in 2008, on the eight-hundredth anniversary of the Mongolian Empire's foundation in honor of its founder, Chinggis Khan. This giant stainless steel statue weighs 250 tons and is 40 meters (131 feet) high; it's the tallest statue representing a man on horseback in the world.

Our next stop will be Terelj National Park, considered one of the most beautiful places worth visiting because it combines sharp mountains with granite cliffs, forests, and rivers. Once we get there, we will see the Aryabal Buddhist meditation temple. The park looks so beautiful and peaceful from the top of the temple. Over there, we will ride a horse through a stunning valley. After that, drive back to Ulaanbaatar city. Farewell dinner. Overnight at a hotel.