Insurance with evacuation cover
A policy covering emergency medical treatment, air evacuation and repatriation is a condition of travel. We ask for the policy number and the insurer’s emergency line before departure.
Safety and support
Remote is not the same as unsupported.
Mongolia’s emptiness is the reason to come. It is also the reason a journey here needs planning that a journey elsewhere does not.
On many of our routes the nearest hospital is a day’s drive and the nearest airstrip is further. That does not make travel here dangerous. It makes preparation the whole of the job — and it means being honest with you, before you book, about what can and cannot be arranged once you are out there.
Before you travel.
Four things we settle with every traveller during planning, not at the airport.
Medical disclosure
Existing conditions, medication, allergies and recent surgery, shared in confidence. This changes what we carry and sometimes where we go.
Travel health consultation
Speak to a travel medicine practitioner about routine vaccinations and anything specific to rural travel. Bring a full course of any prescription medication in original packaging, plus a spare.
A realistic view of fitness
Grade your own capability generously and tell us the truth about it. Every journey can be adjusted at the design stage. Almost none can be adjusted on day six.
How we grade a journey.
Every published journey carries an activity grade. This is what those words mean in practice.
Gentle
Vehicle-based travel with short walks. Ger camps and hotels. Suitable for most travellers in reasonable health, including families with young children.
Moderate
Longer driving days on unsurfaced roads, walking on uneven ground, optional riding. Some nights in simple accommodation. Requires ordinary mobility and stamina.
Active
Sustained riding or walking days, remote camping, limited facilities and long distances between settlements. Requires genuine fitness and comfort with basic conditions.
Demanding
Extended time in remote terrain, severe cold or altitude, early starts and long days. Requires good fitness, prior expedition experience and full disclosure of any medical condition.
Grades describe the demands of the route as written. A private journey can usually be moved a grade in either direction by changing pace, distance and the balance of driving to riding. Tailor-made planning →
In the field.
What travels with you on every expedition, regardless of route.
Trained guides and drivers
Guides hold current remote first aid training. Drivers are chosen for terrain experience and vehicle mechanics as much as for driving, because on a Gobi track those are the same skill.
Satellite, not signal
Independent satellite communication on every journey, with scheduled check-ins to our operations team. Coverage from mobile networks is treated as a convenience, never as a safety plan.
Prepared, not merely available
Vehicles are selected for the route, checked before departure and carry spares, recovery equipment, fuel reserve and water. On remote routes we run a support vehicle rather than a single one.
Water, food and waste
Drinking water is treated or supplied. Cooks travel with camping itineraries. Waste leaves with us, including in places where local practice differs.
If something goes wrong.
The sequence is decided before departure so that nobody is inventing it in the field.
Step1
Assess and stabilise
Guides are trained in remote first aid and carry a field medical kit appropriate to the route. The first action is always to stabilise and to establish exactly where you are.
Step2
Contact base
Every expedition carries satellite communication independent of mobile coverage. Our operations team in Ulaanbaatar is reachable at any hour of the day or night.
Step3
Decide the route out
Depending on location and severity, evacuation may be by vehicle to the nearest provincial hospital, by scheduled or chartered flight to Ulaanbaatar, or by air ambulance. Weather and daylight govern what is possible.
Step4
Coordinate with your insurer
We work directly with your insurance provider and, where you wish, with your family and embassy. This is the point at which having the right policy matters most.
Step5
Continue or conclude
If the journey can safely continue for the rest of the party, it does. If it cannot, we say so early rather than late.
Questions we are asked.
Directly answered, including where the answer is inconvenient.
Is travel insurance genuinely mandatory?
Yes. We do not accept a booking without confirmation of a policy that includes emergency medical treatment, helicopter or air evacuation and repatriation. Mongolia’s distances make this a practical requirement rather than a formality.
What medical facilities exist outside Ulaanbaatar?
Provincial centres have hospitals of varying capability. Rural areas have small clinics with limited supplies. Serious treatment means returning to Ulaanbaatar, which is why route planning always accounts for the distance to the nearest airstrip.
Will I have mobile signal?
Coverage follows population, not roads. Expect signal in and near settlements and long stretches without any. We plan on the assumption that you will be out of contact for periods, and we carry satellite communication so that we never are.
What about altitude?
Most of Mongolia sits between 1,000 and 2,000 metres. Some Altai routes go higher. Serious altitude illness is uncommon on our journeys, but we build acclimatisation into any itinerary that climbs.
I have a medical condition. Should I mention it?
Yes, in full, at the planning stage. It is treated as confidential. It very rarely rules a journey out; it frequently changes how we prepare for one, from carrying spare medication to choosing routes with shorter evacuation times.
What if the weather changes the plan?
It will. Guides have the authority to change a route in the field without waiting for approval from anyone. That authority is the point: a guide who cannot alter the plan is a guide who will follow a bad one.
Ask us the difficult questions.
Bring us your medical concerns, your fitness doubts and your worst-case scenarios before you book. That conversation is part of the planning.
Plan a trip