Welcome to Mongolia

The name "Mongolia" stirs up visions of the untamed and exotic - the warlord Chinggis Khan, camels wandering in the Gobi Desert and wild horses galloping across the steppe. Today, Mongolia still seems like the end of the earth - outside the capital city you feel as if you have stepped into another century. Mongolia is free, independent, democratic and quickly rediscovering its varied past. Mongolia, the "Land of the Blue Sky," is a wide vast country of mountains, beautiful lakes, huge Gobi deserts, rolling grasslands, and unique wildlife.

Mongolia is a large and sparsely populated country landlocked between China and Russia. It has an area of just over 600,000 square miles - about the size of Alaska. Mongolia is the 6th largest country in Asia and 18th largest in the world. The capital, Ulaanbaatar, is over 4,000 feet above sea level. Because of the elevation and distance from any ocean or sea, Mongolia has a harsh continental climate. Marked seasonal, even daily, changes in temperatures, numerous high-pressure systems, and severe cold occur in winter. A remarkably sunny country, Mongolia enjoys 250 sunny days a year, often with clear cloudless skies, making even the coldest temperatures more tolerable.

The country is divided into three basic zones: the Gobi, vast, dry grassland in the east and south; the low Hangai mountains in the north and northwest; and the high Altai Mountains of the west and northwest. Mongolia's most scenic lake is Lake Hevsgel located in the Altai, where elevations range up to 15,000 feet. There are three major river systems: the Tuul, which runs through Ulaanbaatar; the Orkhon, which combines with the Tuul and flows into Lake Baikal in Russia; and the Selenge in the northwest.