Touring the Gobi Desert

As travelers look to head even further into the unknown, craving immersive experiences in some of the world’s last remote landscapes, tour companies seek to fill this need. One such tour company is Wild Women Expeditions, which just recently came out with its new Gobi Desert experience. For 12 days in 2020, women have the chance to head into southern Mongolia, May 13–24 and May 27–June 7.

The tour departs from and ends in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital. From there, travelers head into the vast landscape once home to notable historic figures such as Genghis Khan, but now more familiar thanks to its nomadic residents and amazing animal species, such as the endangered snow leopard.

Since Wild Women Expeditions does place a heavy emphasis on supporting females in the travel industry, these itineraries include working with female travel providers in as many ways as possible. For example, travelers will be able to see how nomadic women fight climate issues and how they’re still living in the shadow of the Soviet Union, which dissolved fewer than two decades ago. Travelers will converse with Gobi women helping their communities and societies move into a modern era, even while retaining their focus on traditional values such as agriculture and land management.

Some of the highlights of the tour include a stay with a family that herds cattle and an educational opportunity lead by a group of women who successfully moved from domestic fiber use to commercial applications to create a better economic reality for their families. Sights along the entire route include amazing geological formations, otherworldly desert plant life and destroyed monasteries. The route is traversed via Bactrian camels, 4×4 vehicles or foot.

The rate for this Gobi Desert tour starts at $3,695 per person and includes accommodations, travel costs while on the tour, meals and entry fees to museums or other protecte