Mindful Travel in the Land of the Deep Blue Sky

Mongolia, the Land of the Blue Sky, where you can experience the mindful travel of a wilderness horse riding adventure and the deep quiet of the Gobi desert.

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA, June 9, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Mongolia is back! After two years of lockdowns and travel restrictions, Mongolia is fully open to all international visitors. The U.S. State Department lists the country as normal for travel, meaning it’s a safe place to visit. And why wouldn’t it be, the small population of this central asian nation is 70% vaccinated from COVID-19, making it one of the highest rates of vaccination compliance in the world.

Known for its horse culture, vast open steppes and Gobi desert, visitors have a wide choice of activities and places to visit. One operation that has been taking guests on multi-day horse riding expeditions across the cultural and wilderness landscapes of this mysterious land, and winning awards for their excursions, is Stone Horse Expeditions. Living and working in the country for the past 22 years, Keith Swenson, the managing director of Stone Horse, says. “with the country now fully open and visitors able to travel anywhere, we are seeing bookings for our trips picking up. After two years in the wilderness, so to speak, it’s great to be welcoming guests back to visit the places we love and enjoy showing our guests, and of course riding our well trained horses”.

These aren’t just any horse riding trips either. Stone Horse Expeditions travels with their experienced Mongolian horsemen and their tough, yet easy to handle horses, into some of the most beautiful wild areas in the country, where they camp in comfort, partake in nutritious, expertly prepared cuisine and enjoy the quiet, mindfulness of wilderness travel. As Keith is noted as saying, “a moment of solitude in the wilderness is medicine for the soul”. Suffering from the pandemic blues these last years, getting away to join a small group in a safe wilderness excursion certainly seems like a medicine we all could use to re-balance what is important in our lives. These Mongolian horse riding tours will do just that.

Safety is important as well. The company owns all their horses and knows the characteristics of each individual, and their riding assessment, sent out to all prospective inquiries, ensures that each rider is matched with a horse of their experience and skill level. This ensures that their guests, from novice to expert, has a horse they can enjoy for the duration of their trip.

It’s not all horse riding. Stone Horse offers a variety of Gobi Desert and other tours that go all year round, one of which is designed to couple nicely with a horse riding expedition. Hey, if you’re traveling all the way to Mongolia, a once in a lifetime holiday for most people, you might as well fit in as much as possible while you’re there. While the northern forested mountains where Stone Horse riding trips take place are a wildflower filled biodiversity hotspot, the Gobi desert in the south of the country is a famous and unique region. The vast desert offers visitors a chance to see wildlife, like ibex and argali sheep, the biggest big horn sheep in the world, and perhaps even an elusive snow leopard, not to mention camels, lots of camels, the two humped kind. The people in the gobi are warm and hospitable, like desert dwellers in many places and innovative in surviving a harsh environment. Camping under the stars is another experience where the desert can be absolutely quiet, not a sound to be heard, and the stars, from horizon to horizon seem almost close enough to reach up and touch.

Getting to Mongolia is actually pretty straight forward, traveling through Seoul, S. Korea, or through Istanbul or Berlin, if coming from Europe. Your travel agent will know. It’s a country that is safe to travel through, open to visitors and has its modern conveniences and nightlife in its capital, Ulaanbaatar. A great cultural and nature based experience for the family or individual traveler you won’t want to miss.

Keith Swenson
Stone Horse Expeditions
+976 9592 1167
[email protected]
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Other

Mongolia, your favorite country of travel