Winter tour, it is a totally different story whereas your other travels and experiences. You may think winter in Mongolia would be unbearably cold, well actually not ☺. This time of the year is a special time for Mongolians to celebrate the lunar New Year which is called Tsagaan Sar (White Moon). The festival is very special to all Mongolians and celebrated throughout the whole country for three days. The Tsagaan Sar eve is also an important day to be sure everything is ready for the New year day, as it is a new beginning of the year that should be symbolized all to be clean and neat, and everyone to be cherished. Traditionally it is a celebration that passes over the harsh winter successfully and enters the warmth season, a new beginning of all life and new year. Same for any other festival the food is the main part of this celebration and special food called “buuz” the dumplings with meat. The other special thing about this festival is the outfit, everyone is wearing the traditional costume “Deel”. It is fascinating to see everyone with all different kinds/colors of designed traditional costume. It is a celebration that honors the elderlies and the very first person you greet on this first day of Tsagaan Sar is the eldest in your family. **It is a special greeting, not normal days holding hands greeting. Two arms stretched out and with elderlies, you put your arm under their arm. For younger people, make sure your arm should be on top of their arms ☺ . Greetings continually go by age with one another. One thing, you will notice husband and wife don’t greet each other and for pregnant women either you are older than her, you respect her and make sure your arm under her arms. 

Through this trip, we will spend this special occasion with Mongolian families and at the same time will feel the freshness of winter through some special tour. One of our destiny is to see the wild horses (the Mongolian name is Takhi) known as a Prezhevalsky’s horse.  Wild horses are not only creatures in Hustai National Park. There is a herd of deer and gazelles. 

Semi-Gobi, Elsen Tasarkhai: Place is the northern edge of the Gobi and not far from the main highway road to western. This place is a region of sand dunes sometimes referred to as ‘The Little Gobi, which looks like a steppe divided by sand dunes’ where you can choose to ride camels and feel the gobi desert. You will meet your Mongolian family here and celebrate the Tsagaan sar festival. Landscapes are interesting to explore around, feeling gobi at the same time mountain and steppes surrounding you. 

Prezhevalsky’s horse, The Khustai National park: Special thing about this park is to see the last survival of the earth’s wild horses which are free as wild. Since 1992, a joint Mongolian-Dutch “Takhi” project has been implemented to reintroduce Takhi the wild horses to this region of the Hustai Mountains. Under this project, 900 square kilometers have been taken into state protection since 1993. Originally, 15 takhi were imported through Russia in 1992, and every three years since then, 18-20 horses have been added, bringing the total to 84 Takhi, which have now multiplied to more than 250. Przewalski’s horse is considered to be the ancestor of Mongolian horses. Discovered by Russian scientist NM Prezhevalsky in the early 19th century, it was registered as Prezhevalsky’s horse. By 1945, there were 31, but by 1960, they were extinct.