Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
rivers remain frozen until May; travel can be hazardous at this time, as trucks and jeeps
can fall through the thin ice. Travelling in winter means faster drive times, as vehicles
won't get bogged in the mud.
NATONAL PARKS OF SELENGE
Gorkhi-Terelj National Park
Just over an hour's drive from Ulaanbaatar, this popu-
lar national park comprises alpine scenery and strange rock formations and is
home to numerous bird species. Part of the park is in Töv (
Click here
)
.
SELENGE
POP 201,400 (INCL DARKHAN-UUL) / AREA 44,480 SQ KM
Mongolia's breadbasket, Selenge is a fertile landscape of rolling wheat fields, apple orch-
ards and meandering rivers. Wide-scale agriculture has settled many nomads and
nowadays wood cabins and trucks far outnumber gers (traditional yurts) and camel cara-
vans. For travellers, the main reason to visit is the majestic, remote monastery, Amarbay-
asgalant Khiid.
This region is quite heavily populated and industrialised (for Mongolia), with
Darkhan, Sükhbaatar, and Erdenet the main population centres. In the southeast, the
open-pit coal mine at Sharyngol produces approximately two million tonnes of coal each
year to provide electricity for the Erdenet mine in Bulgan aimag, and the mine itself is an
offbeat attraction for visitors who've never seen one.
The mighty Selenge Gol starts in the mountains of western Mongolia and flows into
Lake Baikal in Siberia, meeting the other great river, the Orkhon Gol, near Sükhbaatar.
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Sükhbaatar
7036, 01362 / POP 19,700 / ELEV 626M
With its unfinished, rubble-strewn look typical of urban Mongolia, Sükhbaatar neverthe-
less features an attractive leafy park by the main square with its namesake general as its
centrepiece. The town makes for an uneventful stopover for travellers heading into or out
of Russia the slow way, but is not worth a detour.
