Altai mountain

Which mountain range would you find in Mongolia?

The Altai Mountains can be found in the west of Mongolia and include the five peaks of Tavan Bogd (Five Saints). The highest of these, and the highest peak in Mongolia, is Huiten Uul (Mt Cold) which is 4374m. The Sayan Mountains lie north of Mongolia in Russia, the Khinggan Mountains can be found in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia while Tian Shan stretches across Kyrgyzstan and the Chinese province of Xinjiang Uygur.

Geography of Mongolia

Mongolia is a landlocked country in Central Asia and East Asia, located between China and Russia. The terrain is one of mountains and rolling plateaus, with a high degree of relief. The total land area of Mongolia is 1,564,116 square kilometers. Overall, the land slopes from the high Altai Mountains of the west and the north to plains and depressions in the east and the south. The Khuiten Peak in extreme western Mongolia on the Chinese border is the highest point (4,374 meters). The lowest is 518 meters, an otherwise undistinguished spot in the eastern Mongolian plain. The country has an average elevation of 1,580 meters. The landscape includes one of Asia’s largest, (second in the world) freshwater lakes (Lake Khuvsgul), many salt lakes, marshes, sand dunes, rolling grasslands, alpine forests, and permanent mountain glaciers. Northern and western Mongolia are seismically active zones, with frequent earthquakes and many hot springs and extinct volcanoes.

Bayanzag Flaming Cliff

Bayanzag or the Flaming Cliffs are probably one of the most historic and famous sight in the Gobi desert. In 1923 when archaeologist Roy Chapman Andrews discovered dinosaur eggs this destination became an important paleontological sight for tourists and scientists alike.

Orkhon Waterfall

It rises in the Khangai Mountains in the  Tsenkher sum of Arkhangai province at the foot of the Suvraga Khairkhan mountain. From there, it crosses the border into Uvurkhangai province. and follows the upper Orkhon valley in eastern direction until it reaches Kharkhorin. On this stretch, very close to the Orkhon the Ulaan Tsutgalan river features a waterfall, ten meters wide and twenty meters high. The waterfall is a popular destination for tourists.

Tuvkhen Monastery

Tuvkhen Monastery  is one of Mongolia’s oldest Buddhist monasteries and located on the border of  Uvurkhangai province and Arkhangai province in central Mongolia. Tuvkhen Monastery was first established in 1648 by the 14-year-old Zanabazar, the first  Jebtsundamba Khutagtu, the spiritual head of  Tibetan Buddhism for the Khalkha in Outer Mongolia, when he determined that the location on the Shireet Ulaan Uul mountain overlooking a hill at 2,600 meters above sea-level was an auspicious location. The first physical structures were built upon his return from studying in Tibet in 1651. Zanabazar, who was a gifted sculptor, painter, and musician, used the monastery, originally called Bayasgalant Aglag Oron (Happy Secluded Place), as his personal retreat over the course of 30 years anrd while there created many of his most famous works. It was also where he developed the soyombo script. The monastery was destroyed in 1688 by Oirad Mongols during one of their many military campaigns against Eastern Mongols. Restored in 1773, the monastery suffered severe damage during the Stalin’s purges of the late 1930s as Mongolia’s communist regime sought to destroy the Buddhist Church in the country. Restoration of the monastery was completed in 1997. Ceremonies were staged to re-consecrate the monastery and a new statue of Gombo Makhagal (Mahakala). Several monks now reside and practice at the monastery full-time.

Khongor Sand Dunes

Khongoryn Els also called Duut Mankhan ( singing dunes )  is popularly known as the “Singing Sands”. It lies within the Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park  in Mongolia. The sand dunes extend to over 965 square kilometres (373 sq mi) area. The dunes extending up to the foot of the high Altai Mountain range, lie about 180 kilometres (110 mi) from Dalanzadgad. It is at a distance of 130 kilometres (81 mi) along the desert tracks to Bogd  Uvurkhangai in the north, and 215 kilometres (134 mi)

Ger (Yurt)

A traditional yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger (Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered with skins or felt and used as a dwelling by nomads in the steppes of Central Asia. The structure comprises an angled assembly or latticework of pieces of wood or bamboo for walls, a door frame, ribs (poles, rafters), and a wheel (crown, compression ring) possibly steam-bent. The roof structure is often self-supporting, but large yurts may have interior posts supporting the crown. The top of the wall of self-supporting yurts is prevented from spreading by means of a tension band which opposes the force of the roof ribs. Modern yurts may be permanently built on a wooden platform; they may use modern materials such as steam-bent wooden framing or metal framing, canvas or tarpaulin, Plexiglas dome, wire rope, or radiant insulation

 

Mongolian two humped Bactrian Camel

Mongolian camels are two humped Bactrian camels. These camels are native to the steppes of Central Asia. Camels are one of the main five livestock for Mongolian nomads. Since early days, camels have played an important part in everyday lives of their owners. They were the means of transportation before vehicles introduction, especially they were useful when nomads moved from one place to another. Moreover they provide people with milk, wool and sometimes meat.