What‘s Included

Meeting and Pickup

What To Expect

Reviews

• Experience the vast open scenery of Mongolia

  Peter P,

  Jul 10, 2024

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  The ‘semi Gobi’ was beautiful and a photographer’s dream. It was very peaceful and I enjoyed spending a bit of quiet time there. The camel ride was a lot of fun. It’s a very long drive to get there. I enjoyed taking in the vast scenery and seeing the farmland. Also saw a lot of wildlife. Our driver was very accommodating to stop if we wanted photos. We visited ger as well. The family was lovely. It really felt like the complete Mongolian experience.

• I do not recommend this company

  Chandra W,

  Jun 9, 2024

  - Review from Viator

  1.00

  I do NOT recommend this company. Poor communication. He didn’t contact me or confirm the trip at all until I sent a whatsapp the evening before the trip, which at that time he said the trip was cancelled as he was only running a 3-day trip. He rescheduled my trip from Thu to Sat. On Sat, there were only 2 guests including me and the driver, who said that the guide was sick. Driver barely spoke English and couldn’t explain anything in English about the history or what we were doing. This incidence really soured my perception of this tour company. It also has crazy pricing that imposes ridiculous surcharge for solo travelers.

• Have fun with the amazing tour guide, Naraa!

  jesslhl,

  Feb 15, 2020

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  The tour guide Naraa is super nice, like a reliable sister who takes care of everyone. and took really nice picture of us. Naraa arranged everything perfectly and can communicate in English very well. We learn so much about the relationship between the Mongolians and the camels. The tour is very flexible that you can stop by any spots you want and meet the fabulous local. I definitely will come back to her!

  

  

  

• Was great

  Franzibbbb123,

  Oct 28, 2019

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Great tour. The guide was super nice and accommodating. Have spent a great day with a Normad family including camel riding. Great people and nice experience. The car route was unfortunately a bit long, but the view of the countryside made it up to me:)

• Excellent!

  davidsantoro,

  Sep 25, 2019

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  A great tour. Best way to see a little bit of the desert in a day from UB. You get to visit and talk with a nomadic family and ride a camel or a horse in amazing landscapes. Highly recommended!

• Avoid!!! Not safe.

  S4834MEmelanieh,

  Sep 16, 2019

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  1.00

  I booked the 1 day Semi-Gobi tour and immediately contacted Travel Mongolia with a few questions (how many other people in the group? what time would I return etc). I was told that I would be going to the Hustai National Park to see the Taki horses as well as the Semi-Gobi desert. I was surprised but very happy as I wanted to visit both but didn’t think it was possible. I was told there would be 3 of us on the tour, and that the other 2 people would be continuing the tour to other destinations (a three day tour in total) but they would take me back to Ulaanbaatar by 8pm / 8:30pm. The day before the tour I was told I was no longer going to Hustai National Park. I was very disappointed. Travel Mongolia eventually said they could organise me a driver back but it might be later than 8pm / 8:30pm, I said ok. On the day of the tour itself it still wasn’t clear what the itinerary was. So I checked with the tour guide as I got in the van. He said that we would first go to Hustai National Park, we would leave there around 12pm, stop for lunch on the way to Semi-Gobi, arrive at Semi-Gobi around 3pm / 3:30pm, and a different driver would arrive around 5pm to take me back to Ulaanbaatar around 9pm. I said that sounded fine. The other two tourists weren’t too happy when they got in the van and found out they were not spending the full day at the Hustai National Park as it was written on their itinerary. They also weren’t happy that their seats had no seatbelts (mine did) and that the windows had a very dark film on them so they could not see out (I was in the front so I was fine). We drove to the Hustai National Park, saw some Taki horses in the distance, fine. We stopped for lunch at a roadside cafe, the food was ok. We drove to the Semi-Gobi, no issues. What became apparent though was that our guide was a driver, not a guide. Despite being very fun (he had us all singing along to his favourite playlist) and making us laugh, he offered no information about Mongolia, Mongolian culture or the land. He was unable to answer very basic questions on the areas he was guiding us around (e.g. how many Taki horses are there in the Hustai National Park, or, why is there sand in the Semi-Gobi desert). On arrival in the Semi-Gobi desert I was told to get on a camel (I’ve since realised there was no horse riding option as per the description, only camel riding). I enjoyed the camel ride. Then things started to go VERY downhill. We walked around on the sand dunes. I asked the guide when my driver was coming as it was already 5pm. He said, “soon, 20-30 minutes”. I waited 20 minutes, he said again “soon, 20-30 minutes”. He then disappeared with the vehicle, just left us on the sand dunes, without having said that he was leaving or saying where he was going or saying what time he would be back. About 30 minutes later he came back. He said he’d just been finding a driver and that one was coming to collect me at 7pm. I was obviously very unhappy and contacted the owner of Travel Mongolia directly. I was told very matter of factly that a driver was coming at 8pm and that I would be back in Ulaanbaatar around 1am / 2am. When I said that was unacceptable no alternative was offered. I was pretty stressed out as no one seemed sure of what time the driver was coming (7pm, or 8pm), I had little reason to trust the guide as he had already lied a number of times about what time the driver was coming or who the driver would be, the owner of Travel Mongolia did not seem to care about the issue, the sun was setting, and I was not kitted out for a night in the desert nor prepared to miss my train to Beijing which was leaving from Ulaanbaatar at 7:30am the next morning. Eventually, around 7:30pm, the guide drove me to the side of the main road where he said I would be picked up by my driver. My driver turned out to be two men in the front with two young children in the back and their luggage for a stay in Ulaanbaatar in the boot. I am almost certain that the guide had only met these men for the first time a couple of hours earlier that day. None of them spoke one word of English. The situation was extremely unsafe. As a young, solo, female traveller I should never have been asked to get into a car by the side of the road with two non-English speaking male drivers that were total strangers to me and almost definitely total strangers to my guide. I should never have been cornered into a situation where that was my only option to return to Ulaanbaatar, or otherwise stay a night in the desert totally unprepared (not enough warm clothes, no overnight bag, no food/water). I should never have been made to do that 300km journey entirely in the dark, on a road littered with bumps and potholes that made night driving (especially with the high frequency of overtaking) very dangerous. Driving through the absolute wilderness in the pitch black night time with nothing around but that one main road, with 2 strange men, for 4 hours, with a number of close-calls on the overtaking, was overall a horrible experience. Based on this experience, I would strongly advise other travellers not to travel with Travel Mongolia.

• Great day out

  holidayqueen10,

  Jul 7, 2019

  - Review from Viator

  5.00

  Really enjoyed this trip. A great way to explore outside of the city if you do not have time to spend a few nights in the Gobi desert. Amazing scenery, and lots of photo stops.

• Small fine group, great guide, pure nature, nice welcome in the yurt!

  borst55,

  Apr 26, 2019

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Baat speaks English very well and explains exactly as much as you want to know. In our group of 8, that was A LOT, and he knows a lot. A great couple welcomed us for lunch. Thanks for this trip. Highly recommended!

• Don't Miss This!

  travellover077,

  Oct 16, 2018

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  I did this trip with a friend and 2 others. Unfortunately the start wasn't that good, the company endeavoured to squash us into a small mini bus with a lot of travellers going further west, they intended to drop us at the Little Gobi on our own! After some complaining and telling them this is not what I paid for, our wonderful guide Mr Bat negotiated with the company owner to take a 4WD and we left UB on our own, little did I realise we were picking up two other, this meant it was squashed in the rear of the vehicle - this was possibly my only complaint. We drove west for about 5 hours into the Little Gobi making it a long day. We left at 8am and returned at 10pm. However that meant we were able to see some Mongolian life. As we drove out we passed a local Nadaam festival being held, we stopped and enjoyed the special activity. We stayed about 2 hours and watched the locals coming from their horse racing and wrestling. Many of the local people were on horseback and many wore National Dress. We had lunch outside a ger that was selling freshly cooked dumplings, not sure I can recommend the food but it was well worth experiencing. I felt this was a highlight of the day and something not a lot of travellers would have the opportunity to experience. When we finally arrived at the Little Gobi we had a good ride on the Bactrian camels available, I had only been on Dromedaries before; plus we visited a local family living in a complex of Gers, who were most welcoming. Don't miss out on something like this, and try and find Mr Bat to be your guide, his knowledge who superb.

• Amazing day trip to the Semi-Gobi

  thetravellingfugu,

  Oct 8, 2018

  - Review from Tripadvisor

  5.00

  Visited in Sept 2018. Had an amazing day trip out with 3 other travellers. Drove roughly 300km west of Ulaanbaatar and saw magnificent rock formations and stunning landscape. The camel ride is a must-try and we visited a local herder family and had lunch (Mongolian noodles with beef with airag and salted milk tea) there. The family is very accommodating and hospitable and a joy to be around with. Our driver Baat is an amazing guide and photographer. He will share all sorts of stories especially on Mongolian culture and history and help you take photos. When I mentioned that I missed out on breakfast due to the early pick-up, he stopped at a supermarket before we left UB so that we could buy snacks and drinks. Overall I had a fantastic time, and I would gladly sign up for another one of these trips again.

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