Even today Mongolia is a place surrounded by an aura of myth. In a world where even the most distant corners have been discovered and ransacked, Mongolia appears like a remote land, beyond time, full of shadows and mysteries.
This image of Mongolia is the result of geographical factors, such as the isolation imposed by nature, and also to less obvious factors such as the echoes of the past, the memory of the legendary deeds of Genghis Khan and the Golden Horde.

Nevertheless, such an image of Mongolia is not entirely unrealistic. Those who intend to travel through these territories will find themselves unexpectedly immersed in an extraordinary light, in a boundless space, below an extremely high and crystalline sky.

Here the fable, the legend and the evocation of the past find their most natural and suggestive scenario. The objective of the journey will be the real discovery of the mysterious world which surrounds the noblest of fibres, “cashmere”, and of the people who have always shared its secrets.

Khövsgöl - Aimag

Apart from Arkhangai, Khövsgöl, which is the northernmost aimag in Mongolia, is the province with the most beautiful landscape. This is a land of taiga, crystalline lakes, frozen rivers and luxuriant meadows.

During the summer it rains extensively, but this only enhances the beauty of the landscape, where rainbows appear above the meadows dotted with white ger and horses and grazing yaks. The aimag is dominated by the magnificent Khövsgöl Nuur, one of the most beautiful places in Mongolia. The lake is surrounded by a number of peaks that reach almost 3,000 metres. In this region, in the surroundings of Tsagaannuur, lives a rapidly disappearing people: the fascinating Tsaatan, whose lives gravitate around the domesticated reindeer.

Tsaatan in fact derives from the Mongol word tsaa, meaning reindeer.
The entire existence of the Tsaatan revolves around the reindeer, from which they derive milk, skin for making clothes, transport and occasionally meat. The Tsaatan are a typically nomadic people: in general they move their small camps, known as ail, every two or three weeks, going in search of special kinds of grass and moss that the reindeers are particularly partial to. The Tsaatan do not use ger, but tents made of reindeer skin, and they practice shamanism.

Bayan-Ölgii - Aimag

The Altai Nuruu is the ridge that crosses the province of Bayan-Ölgii, situated at the extreme north-west of Mongolia, adjacent to Kazakhstan.

The highest peaks, many of them over 4,000 metres are perennially snow-capped, while the valleys offer some green pastures which guarantee the survival of approximately 2 million heads of cattle.
These valleys are populated by communities of nomad families who enjoy a brief summer from mid June to the end of August. Approximately 90% of the population of Bayan-Ölgii is made up of Kazaki. The word “Kazako” apparently means “free warrior” or “wanderer of the steppes”.

The Kazaka culture is different from that of the Mongols, and even their saddles are of a different shape. The ger of the Kazaki are different too, being bigger, higher and more richly decorated than those of the Mongols.
Travelling in the region of Bayan-Ölgii, you are quite likely to come across hunters with Kazaki eagles. Hunting with eagles is a Kazaka tradition that is over 2000 years old. Female eagles are almost always used, since they weigh approximately a third more than the males and are much more aggressive.
The young birds are captured in the nearby valleys, then they are fattened, washed and “subdued” by being tied to a block of wood, so that when they try to fly away they fall. After a couple of days they are exhausted and are ready to be trained to hunt marmots, foxes and wolves. Most of the hunters train numerous birds during their lifetimes, releasing them after 10 years.

Uvs - Aimag

Uvs is dominated by the Ikh Nuuruudin Khotgor, the valley of the great lakes which extends for 39,000 square kilometres, from the enormous Uvs Nuur to the aimags of Khovd and Zavkhan. Uvs Nuur is a gigantic inland sea in the middle of the desert. It is the largest lake in Mongolia and is so vast that, standing on one shore, you cannot see the other side.

Except for the highest peaks of Mongolia, this is the coldest part of the country, with recorded winter temperatures as low as –57°C.

The valley of the great lakes is a marshy region which attracts migratory birds of global importance, and it has been declared a world biosphere reserve by Unesco. Cranes, spoonbills, and geese fly thousands of kilometres from the southern coast of China just to spend a brief summer in Mongolia.

The aimag of Uvs was originally called Dorvod, after the main ethnic group residing in the area. The Dorvod, who represent little less than half the population of Uvs, speak their own dialect. Uvs is a perfect place to start a visit to western Mongolia. It is a good idea to hire a jeep to explore the lakes, mountains, valleys and sand dunes. It’s not rare for visitors to come across groups of wild camels, and everywhere the landscape is dotted with ger and shepherds on horseback tending the herds of grazing sheep and goats

Bayankhongor - Aimag

The name Bayankhongor, which means “deep brown”, comes from the colour of the horses which are numerous in this province both in captivity and in the wild. This aimag is dominated to the north by the majestic chain of the Khangai Nuruu, while the southern part crosses the Gobi desert as far as the Chinese border. It is a desolate territory, where life is hard even for the rare wild animals such as the Argali sheep, the ibex and the very rare Gobi bear. Reaching these places, which are the best production areas for the Cashmere fibre, is as much an expedition as a nomadic journey, but the area offers the possibility of making magical excursions far from the beaten tracks, as long as you are in possession of the right equipment.

This is also the ideal province in terms of the probability of encountering the “five animals”. 

The five animals in question are horses, oxen (including the yak), sheep, goats and camels, which in some cases are joined by the reindeer. This is why the Mongols define themselves as the people of the five animals (tavun kosighu mal).  

Övörkhangai - Aimag

Övörkhangai boasts what is probably the most famous attraction of Mongolia: the magnificent monastery of Ertene Zuu Khiid, built over the ruins of the ancient Mongol capital Karakorum (now Karakhorin). Övörkhangai means “southern Khanghai”, with reference to its position in relation to the spectacular mountain chain of central Mongolia, known as Khangai Nuruu, which dominates the north-western part of the province of Övörkhangai.

Ertene Zuu, which means “a hundred treasures”, was the first Buddhist monastery to be built in Mongolia. Begun in 1586 by Abtai Khan, it was only completed 300 years later. It comprised between 60 and 100 temples, had 300 ger within the walls and in its period of greatest splendour housed over a thousand monks. Like the capital, Karakorum, the monastery was destroyed by the Manchu invaders. It was renovated in 1760 and in 1808, but then in the 1930s came the Stalinist purges. Of the temples that made up Ertene Zuu, only three were saved, which can still be visited today, while an incalculable number of monks were killed or deported to Siberia.

Today Ertene Zuu Khiid retains much of its former glory, but is nevertheless only a pale shadow of what it once was.

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