6-Day Gobi Desert Tour with Camel Riding, Sand Dunes and Ger stay

There were some problems that overall, made my trip less than ideal and way overpriced. First of all, they forgot about me. Even though I had confirmed address and pickup time in advance both by Viator and WhatsApp more than once, no one came to get me at the pickup time. I began messaging the company through WhatsApp and 20 minutes later, received a message that they did not know my address. I sent it, again, and a few minutes later, Gaana arrived by foot. I asked her if they forgot about me and she said no, but that there had been a death in the family and the phone was in the countryside so she only knew about my messages when I had texted that morning. She said she was trying to get ahold of my driver. It's obvious they forgot about me. She asked me if I wanted an English speaking driver and I said yes, that's what I had signed up for and paid for. She suggested we walk to their office so she could finish coordinating things. We walked 1.5 km to the office where someone prepared me breakfast. I waited for a very long time. Finally someone named Bayasa arrived and was introduced as my guide/driver. I asked Gaana if he spoke English and she said a little bit; she said the English-speaking driver wasn't answering his phone. When I got in the car with Bayasa I asked him if he spoke English and he said no, which told me his comfort level with the language. I spent 6 days where I would have wanted to converse with my guide and learn all the history and life in Mongolia from a local, and instead, we were mostly in silence. We couldn't use the translator to type and talk while he was driving, and there were also multiple dead areas with no internet. As we left UB, two hours late, he typed an apology that his car wasn't clean because they had just called him that morning and asked him to take me. But they didn't forget about me. None of this is Bayasa's fault, he was a nice guy and he was helpful and supportive the entire time, but it's not what I paid for. He later typed to me that there was so much he wanted to tell me about Mongolia, but it was too much to type. Exactly why I wanted an English-speaking guide! The second big issue was the sand dunes of Khongor. The company's literature should include a warning of the physical requirements, so that I could make an *informed decision* about what I was signing up and paying for. When arriving at Khongor, the sand dunes look like a range of mountains made of sand. The car pulls right up to the base of the mountain range, and one must hike *300 meters* up the dune mountain in order to view the vast expanse of desert sand on the other side. There is no view of the sand desert, other than the mountain range, unless one has the physical stamina to hike, nearly vertical all the way, one step forward and two steps back on sand, up 300 m to the top of the dunes. *I should have been informed.* I was not. Therefore I spent a ton of money to see the sand of Gobi and was not able to do so. White Stupa is 60 m tall. The Flaming Cliffs are 50 m tall. Khongor is 5 to 6 times taller...I think that's a lot to ask of someone. Many people were doing it, many people can do it, but a warning should be given for those who have limitations, so we *understand what we are paying for.* The other problem was that the camel ride was not done on the sand at all. It is done on the steppe at the ger camp, 4 km away from the dunes. I don't know about the ad's description of some sort of journey around to an oasis with saxaul shrubs because I was walked for about 10 minutes straight out onto the steppe in a straight line, turned around, and walked directly back. *That's not what I paid for.* Everything I saw was amazing and beautiful and unforgettable yet due to many factors I still feel disappointed and that I was overcharged. FYI: it is possible to spend 5 nights in Gobi and not once have a clear view of the night sky. It rained every day I was there. This of course isn't the company's fault and not part of my review rating.

This overland trip across the Gobi desert is truly amazing. With only 6 days, the trip has shown us a glimpse of what Mongolia has to offer. With its unique landscape, rare wildlife, and warm people, Mongolia should easily be one of the world's top destination. The experience has been truly remarkable thanks to our guides Gilbaa and Batsukh, who has been very warm and accomadating, and making this trip feel like a family excursion.

Great tour guide and it was well arranged. We saw all the beautiful things. And he made great meals, even for vegetarians. The magic of the Gobi is really nice. I would recommend it! Also sleeping in the gers was nice.

We worked our way through the various tour operators on various platforms from Germany and finally decided on the 6-day Gobi tour. And, it was absolutely the right decision. We saw a lot of great landscapes and the incredible thing was, that since we traveled in April (low season), we had every sight practically to ourselves. The tour was very well planned by Mongolian Vision Tours, but our guide Gotov and our driver/mechanic made the tour something special. Our guide was able to tell us a lot about our tour stops and also about Mongolia and took the time to answer all our questions. Our driver/mechanic always maneuvered us safely through sometimes very rough terrain and even sandstorms. Both of us always made sure that we were comfortable. So when they realized that it was a bit too much meat for us, we always got some veggies :) We can 100% recommend a tour with these two. Once again, thank you very much for the great time and the wonderful experiences.