Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Many peaks here are more than 4000m high and permanently covered with glaciers
and snow, while the valleys have a few green pastures that support about two million
head of livestock, as well as bears, foxes and wolves.
Ethnic groups who call Bayan-Ölgii home include the Kazakh, Khalkh, Dörvöd, Uri-
ankhai, Tuva and Khoshuud. Unlike the rest of Mongolia, which is dominated by the
Khalkh Mongols, about 90% of Bayan-Ölgii's population are Kazakh.
NATIONAL PARKS OF BAYAN-ÖLGII
Most parks in Bayan-Ölgii come under the jurisdiction of the Mongol Altai Nuruu
Protected Areas Administration office (
Click here
)
.
Altai Tavan Bogd National Park
(636,161 hectares;
Click here
)
Fauna includes ar-
gali sheep, ibexes, maral(Asiatic red deer), stone martens, deer, elk, Altai snow-
cocks and eagles.
Develiin Aral Nature Reserve
(10,300 hectares) A remarkable habitat around
Develiin Island in the Usan Khooloi and Khovd Rivers. It is home to pheasants,
boars and beavers.
Khökh Serkh Strictly Protected Area
(65,920 hectares) A mountainous area on
the border with Khovd, which protects argali sheep and ibexes.
Siilkhem Nuruu National Par
k (140,080 hectares) This park has two sections,
one around Ikh Türgen Uul, the other further west.
Tsambagarav Uul National Park
(110,960 hectares;
Click here
)
Protects glaciers
and the snow-leopard habitat; borders on Khovd.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Ölgii
01422, 7042 / POP 28,500 / ELEV 1710M
Ölgii city is a windblown frontier town that will appeal to anyone who dreams of the
Wild West. It's a squat, concrete affair, straddling the banks of the Khovd Gol and sur-
rounded by ger (traditional circular felt yurt) districts and rocky escarpments. Thunder-
clouds brew in the mountains above town, making for some dramatic climatic changes
throughout the day and brilliant light shows in the late afternoon.
The town is predominantly Kazakh, and you'll soon start feeling it has more in com-
mon with Muslim-influenced Central Asia than Buddhist Mongolia: there are signs in
