Top 5 Reasons Why You Must Visit Altai Tavan Bogd National Park in Mongolia

Altai Tavan Bogd National Park is well located on the altitude of 4000m above the sea level, making it the westernmost and highest region of Mongolia. Along with natural wonders, the park is also famous for historical and cultural attractions, such as UNESCO World Heritage ancient rock carvings, burial mounds, mysterious stone men, and nomadic cultures of Tuva and Kazakh dynasties. Here are some of the main reasons to get here –

The Altai Mountains

The Altai Mountains are the largest in Mongolia which stretch from the Tavan Bogd mountain group till southeast with several ridges located closely to one another. On average, they are located above 3500m above sea level.

The highest peak is Mt. Khuiten, i.e. 4374m high, and the Chinese, Russian and Mongolian borders meet at Nairamdal, which means friendship. Other peaks here are Burged, Malchin, and Ulgii. Established in 1996, the Altai Tavan Bogd National Park is the remotest and highest park in Mongolia and stretches over 6,362 sq. km.

Spot the Endangered Fauna

The national park houses several large mammals, such as brown bears, red deer, marmots, foxes, and gray wolves. It also houses the endangered snow leopard, snow lynx, Argali wild sheep and several beautiful birds like Eurasian eagle owl, golden eagles, snowcock and various falcon species.

Thousands of migratory birds also fly through the mountains in fall and spring, such as relict, Eurasian spoonbill, gull, Black Kite hawk, and six species of crane. Mongolian Altai also attracts fishers to catch Mongolian Grayling, which is found in western Mongolia only, Potanian Osman, and various species like Lenok Trout, and Taimen in the lakes and rivers here.

Come closer to rich flora

The ecoregion of the Altai Mountain of Mongolia houses a lot of endangered and endemic species of plants like Juniperus, Rhodiola Rosea, and Altai onion. Some of them are used as food and medicine by the locals. You can find half of the flora from Siberia here.

Largest Lakes

There are several beautiful lakes in Altai Tavan Bogd National Park and the largest ones are Khurgan, Khoton, and Dayan. Khurgan and Khoton lakes are well covered by snow-capped mountains and stunning scenery and lakes connected with huge channel. The lake is also the source of Khovd River falling through the Altai Mountain and the island is covered by the jungle in the heart of Khoton Lake.

These lakes also have a lot of fish species and some of them are found just in the basin of western Mongolia. You can also visit several locals across the lakes and explore a different culture.

Visit the Glaciers

Altai Tavan Mountains have around 10 glaciers and three of them are spotted en-route to the park. Potanin is the 14km long glacier, which is largest in here. This glacier was first discovered by a Russian explorer, Grigory Potanin.  Hence, it is named as PotaninGlacier. But its size is eventually decreasing over the years like other glaciers across the world. You can have an expert guide to hike on the glacier and enjoy peaceful views.

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