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If you are having trouble
reading the newsletter try the online version
here
Zavkhan Trekking Newsletter,
November 2008
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Read our previous newsletter
here
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...a true adventure to
remoter parts of the country, giving us the privilege of experiencing
the real Mongolia, gaining an insight to its beautiful culture and
landscape along the way - and with some excellent riding too!!
Couldn’t ask for more…..Perfect!! Thanks guys!! (Neil 2008)
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Hi Everyone,
First of all a big thank you to all who made 2008
such a successful season. We met a fantastic bunch of people from
the UK, US, Germany, Ireland, NZ, Australia, Singapore and even
Croatia. We galloped across open steppe, picked our way through
forest and mountains, swam in desert lakes, crossed snowy passes and
drank tea with the local people. It was great to be back in Zavkhan,
but our exploratory trips to the Altai Mountains in the far west
have introduced us to another top riding area for 2009.
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2009 Trips Next season we will be running trips to both
Zavkhan and the Altai. We will be visiting some of our favourite
places, but also exploring new and exciting routes. See our
scheduled dates and destinations for 2009
here.
You now have the option of riding in Zavkhan and
the Altai. How do you choose? There will be
plenty of opportunity for fast riding in both areas, but the
riding tends to be more challenging in the Altai mountains,
particularly toward the end of the season when snow may be
encountered. The culture in the Altai is also different, being
predominantly Kazakh, whereas Zavkhan is purely Mongolian.
Zavkhan is more geographically diverse, with classic open
steppe, mountains, forest and desert where the Gobi sweeps up from the
south. Please ask if you would like to know more about how the trips
differ in each region.
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Our second trip to the Altai, and the last one for the season,
proved to be quite an adventure. Early snow meant that our
support vehicles had trouble negotiating the mountain tracks.
The horses of course had no problem, and in fact provided
'horse power' when the going got really tough. Our new ger
provided a wonderfully warm and cosy place to retreat to at
the end of a day's riding. It seemed hard to believe that
earlier in the season we had been throwing ourselves in the
nearest river to cool down! A particular highlight
was spotting a herd of over sixty Asiatic ibex in the Altai mountains,
near the border with China. In a country suffering terrible loss of
wildlife it is gratifying to see that some animals still cling on in more
remote areas.
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A snowy day in the mountains |
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We are offering our
usual discounts for group and early bookings. Get a group of
friends together and save up to 15% each. Please be aware that
all of our trips were fully booked in 2008, so get in early to
avoid disappointment. You will also receive a 5% discount if
booking before the end of February 2009
(details here).
At Zavkhan Trekking we like to think that we are
doing something good for Mongolia when we bring people to the
country. Over the past few seasons around 80% of the trip price
has been spent in Mongolia, especially in the regions where it
is really needed, Zavkhan and the Altai. In 2009, for our Altai
rides we will also be donating 5% of the price you pay for your
trip to a fund to help enable sustainable livelihoods in Altai
sum (village).
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We have decided it is necessary to raise our
prices next year, after keeping them constant over recent
seasons. We hope this and the world's current financial woes
wont put you off joining us in Mongolia in 2009.
In addition to our scheduled trips
to Zavkhan and the Altai, we can arrange your perfect tailored
trip. Perhaps you would prefer a longer trip, a shorter trip,
more riding or less. We are also considering offering specialist
trips where the focus is on wildflowers/bird watching and
photography. The flowers in Zavkhan are
incredible and you will be spoilt for choice for things to
capture on film. Please get in touch to discuss
what you might like to do. |
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John and Sue demonstrating
traditional 'woman chases man' race (photo courtesy of Kath Varcoe) |
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We enjoy telling you how wonderful our trips are. But what you
actually want is to hear directly from someone who has ridden
with us. We have many past riders who will be pleased to tell
you what it was really like. Just let us know your
riding experience and a few details such as age, and we will put
you in touch with a rider of a similar background.
If you would like to talk to us about our trips on the phone, please email
us and we will arrange a time for an informal chat. |
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| The newest addition to the Zavkhan Trekking team is
Jennifer who will be leading our Altai trips in 2009. She is
American, lives in Russia, and rides like a true Mongolian. In the
words of one of our riders "...Jen was brilliant - very calm,
very chilled, but practical, very easy to get on with, and really
good fun. I'm quite sure she'll do a great job next year!"
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As
usual, if you know of anyone who might want to receive our
newsletter, please forward it on, and get them to drop us a line at
info@zavkhan.co.uk so we can
add them to the mailing list. Alternatively, if you don’t want to
receive the newsletter anymore, just email us and we will remove you
from the list. |
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Bayartai, and hope to see you in
Mongolia
in 2009.
John,
Sam,
Jenya and Ogi
www.zavkhan.co.uk
info@zavkhan.co.uk
Small-group horse riding adventures in
Mongolia
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Local ruffians (photo courtesy of Val Paluck) |
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