



Verified The best trip ever
I am reposting my review from 27 Aug. 2012 that I posted on a Mongolia forum....For anyone looking into tours in Mongolia, I suggest ETERNAL LANDSCPAESWhen I decided to go to Mongolia, I noticed there were a lot of different companies offering tours… it is hard to choose and you need to pick up one and bet on it…. I was lucky I did an excellent choice and that s why I would like to share my experience.I took part in a private tour organised by Eternal Landscapes (‘EL’) from 19 June 2012 to 7 July 2012. The tour was designed from the Untamed Mongolia trip offered on EL’s website plus some adds on to fit my requests. We covered the following: Gobi area with Tsagaan Suvraga, Yolym Am, Bayanzag and Khongorym Els, Central Mongolia with Arvaikheer, Karkhorin, Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur and Northen Mongolia with Murun, Khovsgol, Selenge, Bulgan, Amarbayasgaland, Khustain.I have been extremely pleased by the services offered by Eternal Landscapes…. Here is why….:- Proactivity and professionalism in organizing the trip: I had multiple contacts with Jessica, owner of Eternal Landscapes. There is no doubt about how prompt all her answers were. As well; she gave a lot of information to ensure my expectations were set up adequately. She gave a lot of advice on building the actual trip. I must say she was very patient with all the changes I kept requesting.- We were welcomed at the airport and looked after from that point. At the end we were dropped off at the airport. All the logistics was taken care of by EL which gave me a true peace of mind- EL provided us with a booklet with a lot of information on our arrival. This included details information on UB and Mongolia, covering Buddhism, ger, detail of the program, traditions….. this was full of useful information. As well; we were given a map of Mongolia where our trip has been marked with overnight stop, which was very useful for us in order to give us an idea of where we are given the country is very large.- We had Jessica as a guide for roughly the first half and Selenge for the second half. I would recommend EL for the quality of the guides. They truly know Mongolia, they can tell you about traditions; cultures, history, flora, fauna…. This was great. Jessica is English so obviously there is no communication issue for us. The second guide was Mongolian and her English was truly excellent. I have met other guides during the trip and their English was not as good.- We had one driver for the first half and another one for the second half. Again, they were amazing drivers. The road, well the tracks, there is not many roads (in Australia we talk about dirty roads but for Mongolia I would rather say dirty tracks), were very bumpy and I could see they were highly experienced in their driving skills. Moreover you often read in guide book or forum issues around drivers drinking too much at night, which caused some worries for me given the distance travelled. No issue was noted at all with EL. Our two drivers led by example during the whole trip, which was really reassuring in terms of road safety.- Open mindedness of the guides: they made us feel very comfortable at each moment to express our wish. I wanted to run at Great White Lake. Jessica organized this for me. Should you wish to spend time on your own exploring a monastery, you can. Should you want the guide to come with you in the walk, this will happen. Jess and Selenge continuously made sure we were pleased with the program and the activity.- The guides were doing as much as they can to make us truly experience Mongolia. This is probably one of the best parts. I went to Mongolia to “look around” and discover the landscapes but as well people and food. Here are some examples of the experiences:o A sunset horse ride at Kohvgol with the Mongolian kid of the Family followed by yak milkingo Playing the bones; typical Mongolian games with a few version, really enjoyable moment to play games when you cannot communicate and have no idea of the ruleso A sunrise camel ride at Khongorym Elso Sipping vodka during a hail storm at Khongorym Els (at roughly 11am)o Climbing the dunes of Khongorym Els with the two kids of the family we were staying ato Preparing Mongolian tea and buuz (steamed dumplings)o Trying out a lot of unpasteurized dairy products without getting sick once: yak milk; yak cheese, yak cream; yak yoghurt, camel yoghurt, camel milk, dried curdo Going for a 12km run around White Lake….the actual distance remains a mystery but according to the whole team it should be somewhere between 9km and 12kmo Counting on one hand the number of proper showers…. A pure celebration of baby wipes showers…. But what a wonderful moment to discover the public hot showers, as good as at homeo The Mongolian Hospitality… to feel always welcome in their gers at anytime o The wonderful landscapes, from desert to grasslands, lakes, monasteries….- About the food….. the guides made sure we tried Mongolian typical food. When not eating purely Mongolian, the food was totally appropriate/ lunch was tuna or salami or eggs plus salads (carrot, cucumber, corn, mushroom, tomatoes), generally cold lunch. Bread is available. Dinner is always a warm dish, some meat with potato or pasta. We had a lot of apples and some bananas. For whoever decided to go travelling in Mongolia they need to remember Mongolia does not produce fruits (just watermelon) so all fruits are imported so travelers should set up their expectations based on that. Same with veggies. We had biscuits. The guides always made sure we had plenty to eat and were very open if we wanted to snack or not anything that was available. I was pleased on the food part of the trip.This trip was absolutely fantastic.