The Traverse
What you'll be looking at
Grand Traverse · Route 05 · 23 days
The one trip for people with the time to do it properly. Three weeks from the western mountains, through the great salt and freshwater lakes, across the Gobi, and home through the old imperial heartland.
The route
The Grand Traverse is the trip my father has wanted to run for years. We start in the far west around Khovd and the Altai, cross the great lakes of Uvs and Khyargas, drop south through the Gobi, and come home across the Orkhon heartland. Twenty-three days of driving, with the rest days the distance demands built in.
This is the deep version — more families, more landscapes, and the slow accumulation that only time on the road gives you. We can start it from Khovd if you fly into the west, or from Ulaanbaatar if you'd rather drive out.
Day by day
Start around Khovd and our family ger camp on the Buyant River, in the shadow of the western Altai. Settle in, meet Nima and the truck, and plan the weeks ahead.
North and east across the basin of the great lakes — the vast salt of Uvs and the blue of Khyargas — with herding camps and long empty driving between them.
Cut south-east through the forested Khangai mountains, the watershed of the country, toward the edge of the desert.
Down into the desert for the headline Gobi — the Khongor singing dunes and the flaming cliffs of Bayanzag — at the pace the distance allows.
North again into the Orkhon Valley and Karakorum, the old capital, with the Khorgo volcano country within reach for a final mountain day.
The last run into the capital after three weeks on the road. We drop you at your hotel or the airport.
The Traverse
What's included
Not included (you pay on-site): flights, food and meals, accommodation — Anji arranges ger-hotels along the way — and entrance fees for parks and museums.
Pack for the Traverse
Pricing
Price on request
Tell us your group size, dates and preferred starting point. Anji will send a complete quote with every inclusion and local cost explained before you commit.
No deposit to book.
Pay in cash — 50% when we meet, 50% on the last day back in Ulaanbaatar.
June–September departures
Share your flight window and preferred month. We agree exact dates around your group, road conditions and the route you choose.