The Northern Mongolia is the taiga region that is the southern end of the Siberian Great Taiga Wilderness.
Home of snow capped mountains, rich wildlife, many fresh water lakes, that includes beautiful Khuvsgul Lake National Park and many big rivers and lakes - true heaven for fishing anglers, the Reindeer herder-Darkhad Ethnic Tribe, many historical sites and burial monuments, breathtaking scenery of wild nature, it's too good reason to pack up and get on board.

North Mongolia

North Mongolia has attracted the hearts and minds of many tourists throughout the year, northern Mongolia is home to the tall mountains of Khangai and Sayan, Khuvsgul lake that shimmers like a border-less blue pearl, the Darkad tsenkher depression (a huge valley of rivers flowing from high mountains), and deer stones.

The Blue Pearl Of Mongolia - Lake Khuvsgul

Lake Khuvsgul is located in the northwest of Mongolia near the Russian border, at the foot of the eastern Sayan Mountains. It is 1,645 metres (5,397 feet) above sea level, 136 kilometres (85 miles) long and 262 metres (860 feet) deep. It is the second-most voluminous freshwater lake in Asia, and holds almost 70% of Mongolia's fresh water and 0.4% of all the fresh water in the world. The town of Hatgal lies at the southern end of the lake.

Lake Khuvsgul's watershed is relatively small, and it has only small tributaries. It is drained at the southern end by the Egiin Gol, which connects to the Selenge and ultimately flows into Lake Baikal. Between the two lakes, its waters travel more than 1,000 km (621 mi), and fall 1,169 metres (3,835 feet), although the line-of-sight distance is only about 200 km (124 mi). Its location in northern Mongolia forms one part of the southern border of the great Siberian taiga forest, where the dominant tree is the Siberian larch (Larix sibirica),

The lake is surrounded by several mountain ranges. The highest mountain is the Bürenkhaan / Mönkh Saridag (3,492 metres (11,457 feet)), whose peak, north of the lake, lies exactly on the Russian-Mongolian border. The lake freezes over completely in winter, and the ice cover is strong enough to carry heavy trucks; transport routes on its surface offer shortcuts to the normal roads. However, this practice is now forbidden, to prevent pollution of the lake from both oil leaks and trucks breaking through the ice. An estimated 30-40 vehicles have broken through the ice into the lake over the years.

There is a roughly elliptical island in the middle of the lake, named Wooden Boy Island, measuring 3 km east-west and 2 km north-south. It is located about 11 km from the lake's eastern shore, and 50 km north of the town of Hatgal.

Khuvsgul is one of seventeen ancient lakes in the world, being more than 2 million years old, and the most pristine (apart from Lake Vostok), as well as being the most significant drinking water reserve of Mongolia. Its water is potable without any treatment.

The Lake area is a National Park bigger than Yellowstone and strictly protected as a transition zone between Central Asian Steppe and the Siberian Taiga. Despite Hovsgol's protected status, illegal fishing is common and prohibitions against commercial fishing with gillnets are seldom enforced. The lake is traditionally considered sacred in a land suffering from arid conditions where most lakes are salty.

Majestic Beauty - Khoridol Saridag

The Khoridol Saridag mountains are a 150 km-long mountain range in Khovsgol aimag, Mongolia, between Khovsgol nuur and the Darkhad valley. The range covers parts of the Renchinlkhumbe, Ulaan-Uul and Alag-Erdene sums. The highest peak is Delgerkhaan Uul, two other notable peaks are Ikh Uul and Uran Dosh Uul on the shores of Khovsgol nuur.

The mountains along the lake are rich in phosphorite, and in the 1980s extensive exploration work was done for open-pit mining. Roads built during that time and other remains, are still visible all over the area. However, due to the political and economic changes of the early 1990s in Mongolia and Russia, those projects were cancelled. In 1997, a protected area covering 1886 km² was founded.

• starts in the Renchinlkhumbe sum in the south - western range of the Khoridol Saridag mountains about 40 km north - west of Khatgal. It ends by entering the Delgermoron
• north of Lake Khovsgol are formed by the alpine Khoridol Saridag Ulaan Taiga, and Monkh Saridag mountains The center and east are less mountainous, but
• northwestern Khovsgol aimag, Mongolia and then westward through the Ulaan Taiga Mountain range to Russia. There it is joined by the Busein River and Bilin Rivers
• northwestern Khovsgol aimag, Mongolia and then westward through the Ulaan Taiga Mountain range to Russia. There it is joined by the Busein River and Bilin Rivers

Taiga Nomads – Reindeer Herders

Originally from the Russian region of Tuva, the Tsaatan people live on the border of Mongolia and Russia in an area called the taiga. The taiga, in lamens terms, is a snow forest (in winter) or swamp forest (in summer) that forms a border between the arctic tundra and the grasslands.

While the taiga may seem like a cold and unforgiving environment to you, it’s the perfect place for the reindeer that the Tsaatan have grown to love and care for like family.

The Tsaatan and their reindeer have an incredible symbiotic relationship, each dependent on the other for survival. Without the reindeer, the Tsaatan could never survive in the taiga, and without the Tsaatan, the reindeer would die off at the paws of wolves.

The Tsaatan use their reindeer for milk and transportation while the reindeer use the Tsaatan for safety and protection from predators. This symbiotic relationship necessitates that the Tsaatan live as nomads, moving with their reindeer as they graze on a very specific kind of arctic moss.

The taiga extends from Mongolia into Russia, and, in the past, the Tsaatan used to migrate freely between the two countries. While the Tsaatan have lived exclusively in Mongolia for almost 70 years now, they still speak their native language of Tuva, making communication difficult for most everyone who comes to visit.  They live far away from civilization and the progress of the modern world, herding their reindeer in deep forests, where it’s 27 degrees Celsius in summer and -55 to -60 degrees Celsius in winter. Reindeer herders move 50 to 70 km between their spring and autumn camps.

One of the authentic heritages of their culture is the urts, their traditional dwelling. There are some set rules and traditions of how and where to build them. They are mostly made of larch wood, covered by reindeer skin and bark.

Abundance Of Rare Treasures A Deer Stones

In a large valley between the mountains there are deer stones. It’s rare to see so many of them in one place. These deer stones are made of granite and range between 2.3 and 4.8 meters in height, up to 1 meter wide, and 50 cm thick. The deer’s head usually faces the sky as ancient nomads thought of deer as heavenly animals. The front of the stone is decorated with images of the sun and moon followed by the image of the deer, and a wide belt-like decoration. Deer stones also include images of ancient belongings, such as bows and arrows, mirrors, Dentaiedron shields, tools, knives with round mirror-like ornamentation, and unknown long weapons. Some rare stones have images of two deer opposite each other, facing tie foundation.