Detour #136: Little Gobi, Mongolia
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Truly “off the beaten path” Mongolia is an adventure-seeker’s dream road trip, says Abbie Synan.
The landscapes are other worldly and with such a small population size combined with a little over 600,000 visitors annually, Mongolia might be the one place left where you feel truly on your own.
Many of the drives through Mongolia are off-road, so can prove difficult if you don’t have the experience and know how, but a great introduction to road tripping in the “land of the eternal blue sky” is traveling from the capital of Ulaanbaatar westward through the central provinces.
The paved road is a welcomed respite from the bumpy tracks you experience on an overlanding adventure. Compared to some off-road excursions, the drive along the AH3 may at first glance feel like a monotonous straight-thru route, but the landscapes of this country provide the excitement of the drive. The expansiveness of the land here continues on in what feels like perpetuity. Passing though field after field with massive herds of livestock, you soon see a visual representation of how there are 70 million sheep, goats, horses, camels and cattle compared to the three million people in the country. You may well end up being the only car on the road for hours, a blissful moment for solo drivers.
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While driving through the Tov province you have a chance to make a detour through the winding dirt roads of Khustain Nuruu National Park. Also known as Hustai, this land preserve is known for being home to the country’s last groups of wild horses. Przewalski's horses were once extinct, but a program began to reintroduce these majestic animals back into the hills of Hustai. This stocky breed sweeps through the park and observing the herds in their natural habitats embodies the spirit of freedom you feel in Mongolia.
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Continuing onto the southern portion of the Bulgan province, the vast green meadows thinly fade as you approach Elsen Tasarkhai. Lovingly known as the “little Gobi”, the dunes are 50 miles long, just south of the Khogno Khan National Park. The road separates the dunes between the two sections, splitting these massive sand mounds with the verdant steppe in the foreground and the mountain ranges in the distance, creating quite literally a sand fracture. The juxtaposition of desert and forest makes the Bayan Gobi all the more remarkable.
A Bactrian camel ride through here is a must-do experience. These dual humped domesticated animals are an integral part of the nomadic life that is still very much prevalent throughout Mongolia even today. Overnights in and around Khogno Khan National Park are a perfect way to ease into participating in nomadic living in Mongolia. There are tourist camps and homestays in the region so you can spend your nights in a ger, experiencing what life could be like as a nomadic family in Central Mongolia.
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While in the dunes, you can continue just west into Övörkhangai province and visit one of the oldest surviving Buddhist monasteries, Erdene Zuu. In the late 1930’s during communist rule hundreds of monasteries were destroyed, so this complex holds much significance both historically and religiously. Not only is this an active place of worship, but a museum and attraction open to travelers.
The drive is just shy of 250 miles and offers a diverse cross section of the topography the country is famous for; mountains, forests and desert. An amuse-bouche drive that just scratches the surface of the unforgettable and endless road trip possibilities Mongolia has to offer.
Words Abbie Synan Twitter | Instagram