ERDENE ZUU (Arkhangai Province)
The symbolic ruins of Karakorum, monumental walls (400m/121ft) with 108 stupas, surround the first Buddhist monastery in Mongolia Erdene Zuu (Hundred Treasures) Monastery. In 1792, it housed 62 temples and 10,000 lamas; since 1990, it has become an active monastery again. Today it retains much of its former glory.

Enclosed in an immense walled compound, the 3 temples within are dedicated to the 3 stages of a Buddha's life: as a child, adolescent and adult. The main, central temple is called the Zuu of Buddha and has statues of Buddha as a child. Outside the monastery walls are 2 "turtle rocks". Four of these once marked the boundaries of ancient Karakorum.

Nearby, Turkish monuments and rock inscriptions erected in 8-9th centuries in memory of outstanding fighters for independence. 

GOBI DESERT (Southern Gobi Province)
The Gobi Desert is a vast zone of desert and desert steppe covering almost 30% of the Mongolian territory and north eastern China. The desert stretches about 3,000 mi/4,830 km along both sides of the Chinese border.

Desert is often imagined as a lifeless desert, similar to African deserts. In reality, most part of the Gobi Desert is a land of steppes and many camel breeders inhabit this zone as rich in wildlife and vegetation. It has herds of Bactrian camels (with two humps), wild horses and donkeys, as well as leopards, mountain sheep and ibexes.

There is a lot of variety within the Gobi Desert, from wildlife parks and mountains to canyons with dramatic rockfaces. Once the site of an ancient inland sea, the area has dried up and then eroded over the eons, providing paleontologists with magnificent specimens of dinosaur fossils. The Mongolian say that there are 33 different Gobi from which sandy desert occupies 30% of the total area. Climate is extreme with +40° in summer and -40° in winter and very few precipitation.

The Mongolian Government established the Great Gobi desert Strictly Protected Area in 1975 and the United Nations designated, in 1991 the Gobi desert as fourth largest Biosphere reserve in the world.

KARAKORUM (Arkhangai Province)
Mongolia's ancient capital, Karakorum, Genghis Khan's fabled city, was founded in 1220 in the Orkhon Valley, at the crossroads of the Silk Road. It was from there that the Mongol Empire was governed, until Kublai Khan moved it to Beijing. It served as the capital for 40 years. Following the move, and the subsequent collapse of the Mongolian empire, Karakorum was abandoned. Whatever was left was used to help build the glorious Erdene Zuu monastery in the 16th century.

Nearby, Turkish monuments and rock inscriptions erected in 8-9th centuries in memory of outstanding fighters for independence. 

LAKE HUVSGUL (Huvsgul Province)
Known as the "Dark blue pearl", Lake Huvsgul, located in the northernmost province, is Mongolia's largest and deepest lake and is the largest tributary stream of the Lake Baikal. This is the deepest lake in Central Asia, and the world's 14th largest source of fresh water. The lake is 1,645 m/5,400ft above the sea level and is frozen from January until April or May. The lake is surrounded by mountains, meadows and forest, a complete contrast to the rest of Mongolia. An amazing 90 rivers flow into the lake, but only a single river flows out - the Egiin Gol, which ultimately reaches Lake Baikal in Siberia. A ferryboat operates between the two towns. 

Different ethnic groups live within the Lake Huvsgul National Park: Mongols or Khalkha, Buryat, Darkhat. 30 families of Tsaatan (reindeer breeders) live in the taiga and forest steppe of the north and west retaining their ancestral culture based on shamanistic rituals and nomadic reindeer herding.

It is full of fish and the area is home to sheep, ibex, bear and moose, as well as over 200 species of birds.

SHAMANISM (Huvsgul Province)
Mongolian Shamanism derives from worshipping nature. The Mongolians considered the earth "Mother Earth" and the sky "the Father". The shaman acts as intermediary between the man and the spirits. Shamanism determined the behavior of nomads towards nature. Nowadays, shamanism is still practiced especially in the northern region (Lake Huvsgul).

This respect for nature is still alive in the ritual of the "ovoo". Before going up a mountain, Mongolian people throw a handful of stones to a cairn-like pile (called "ovoo") and walk three times around this pile of stones. To honor the spirits Bottles of vodka and pieces of blue silk are also added to the stones. Ovoos are abundant in the countryside on mountains peaks or passes.