This journey into the heart of Mongolia and its nomadic traditions combines rare luxury with an overland adventure from Karakorum, the ancient center of the Mongol Empire, to the Gobi Desert. After arrival in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbataar, we will travel across majestic steppes to the legendary Orkhon Valley where we will be hosted at the exclusive Vogue-acclaimed Genghis Khan Polo and Riding Club. Our journey will continue with visits to stunning monasteries and through towering and dunes plied by Bactrian camels and conclude at the award-winning Three Camel Lodge in the Gobi Desert. The fossil beds o the nearby Red Flaming cliffs yielded the world’s first discovery of dinosaur eggs and continue to be a treasure trove of discoveries today. We then fly back to Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar for final explorations of a civilization that once spread across Asia and into Europe, the largest contiguous land empire in recorded history.

Trip will be led by Ian Baker and Cristy Elmendorp.

Ian Baker

Ian Baker designed and led study tours in Asia for the National Geographic Society, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution’s Academic Travels Abroad, as well as other educationally oriented travel companies. He served as Academic Director for the School for International Training in India and Nepal and has led numerous research expeditions into the Himalayas. He is a fellow of the Explorers Club and the Royal Geographical Society as well as the Royal Society for Asian Affairs.

Ian studied fine arts, literature, comparative religion, and anthropology at Middlebury College, Oxford University, Columbia University, and University College London and is the author of seven books about Himalayan culture, medicine, and Buddhist tradition, including the forthcoming Tibetan Yoga: Secrets from the Source. He collaborated with the Dalai Lama on a book illustrating Buddhist meditation practices and with Robert Thurman and Deepak Chopra on books on the Tibetan healing arts.

Ian’s most recent book, The Heart of the World: A Journey to Tibet’s Lost Paradise (Penguin Press 2004) has been translated into multiple languages and chronicles his National Geographic sponsored expedition into the world’s deepest gorge and his team’s documentation of a waterfall that had been the source of myth and speculation among geographers for more than a century. Profiled by National Geographic as one of seven “explorers for the millennium”, Ian has contributed articles to National Geographic Magazine, National Geographic Adventure, and Explorers Journal and lectures widely in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Cristy Elmendorp

Cristy Elmendorp, a former script writer and television host born in Java, was educated in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom and has traveled  extensively throughout Europe, the United States, and Asia. Cristy worked for humanitarian aid organizations in southern Thailand for several years and later co-founded Visual Works, producing multi-media presentations for the Thai travel industry. She also runs an independent marketing and consulting agency.

As director of Rare Journeys Films, Cristy produces educational documentaries that explore far corners of the planet and the interfacing worlds of spirit, nature, and human experience.

The trip price of $ 5,750 includes accommodations in double occupancy, flights within Mongolia, all meals, all sightseeing and entrance fees, service of English speaking guide, all transportation, all transfers, lectures and talks by Ian Baker and Cristy Elmendorp.

The trip does not include international airfare in and out of Ulaanbaatar.

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Detailed Itinerary Download