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It’s early morning and an orange glow has filled the sky as the sun slowly rises over a seemingly endless desert landscape.
Every few hours, shepherds appear, with hundreds of sheep and goats in tow, as they head to the nearby water hole.
The only sounds heard are the wind, the braying and barking of native animals, and the occasional noise of 4×4 vehicles bringing in new arrivals.
It’s all part of the secluded wilderness experience on offer at Three Camel Lodge, an eco-friendly resort in Khan Konghor in Mongolia’s Gobi (meaning desert), one of the most remote places on Earth.
Far from civilization, the lodge aims to offer visitors an up-close look at Mongolia’s traditional nomadic lifestyle – a community of people who survive on the Central Asian plateau by relying on domesticated livestock.
While there are not many nomadic cultures left in the world, they remain an integral part of Mongolian life. Today, nomads make up about a quarter of the country’s population of more than 3 million people.
The hostel has 24 gers. These round, tent-like dwellings are made of wood, felt, and rope—materials flexible enough to carry, easy to assemble, and strong enough to withstand strong desert winds.
Inside, the decoration is simple: there are wooden furniture and other decorative elements. But each comes with luxuries not typically found in a nomad’s home, such as a private bathroom with running water and solar-powered electricity.
The Three Camel Lodge also has a restaurant, a bar (with a wide selection of whiskey) and even a spa – surprisingly extravagant, especially in this part of the world.
How Three Camel Lodge was born
The Three Camel Lodge was the brainchild of 68-year-old Mongolian-American businessman Jalsa Urubshurow.
As a child growing up in the United States in the 1960s, I could only dream of the spectacular landscapes of Mongolia. But the country’s culture was always in his heart, thanks to his father’s colorful stories.
“The Mongols have a fairly precise genetic tracing system… you can determine quite precisely what geographic region within several 100-mile radii your tribe, your ancestors, originated in,” says Jalsa, whose father was born in Kalmykia, now a southern region of Russia.
“(My father) reminded me of this in the middle of New Jersey when I was a kid.”
In the early 1990s, when Mongolia opened its borders to international tourists, Jalsa was able to visit for the first time.
“I’ve been to a lot of Mongolian weddings in New Jersey, you know, but that was it. (The visit) invoked many different images,” she says.
“I was able to go out into the countryside, meet a pastor and stay in some ger camps… it was an amazing experience.”
Soon after, Jalsa was tasked by Mongolia’s prime minister to bring more travelers from the West. In 1992 he founded a travel services company, Nomadic Expeditions, which offered trips to Mongolia and other countries.
“It took me two years to get someone to come,” he recalls.
In 2002, Jalsa decided to build something more permanent in the Gobi and Three Camel Lodge was born.
A land of dinosaurs and burning cliffs
The Gobi is known as the land of the dinosaurs and is an intrinsic part of Mongolian culture.
Just half an hour’s drive from Three Camel Lodge is one of the most important dinosaur fossil sites in the world.
In Bayanzag, a century ago, explorers made the first scientifically recognized discovery of dinosaur eggs. While searching for the nests with his team at the American Museum of Natural History in the 1920s, paleontologist Roy Andrews aptly named the site “The Flaming Cliffs,” after the red sandstones that seem to come to life at dusk, turning the entire area in a fire. Red color.
Dinosaur fossils are still found here.
“This place is really mysterious… it’s kind of secretive and secluded. It’s really a special place for me,” Buyandelger Ganbaatar, country director and lead tour guide for Nomadic Expeditions, tells CNN Travel.
“About 70 million years ago, they were sand dunes. The Flaming Cliffs were known as an ancient settlement. “One of the reasons for the Andrews expedition was to prove that humanity originated in Central Asia and was looking for evidence.”
Speaking of dunes, another popular area attraction within reach of the hostel is Moltsog Els, just a 15-minute drive away. Despite being in the desert, it is one of the few regions of the Mongolian Gobi that is covered with sand mounds.
Here, guests can explore the dunes on foot or rent a camel from one of the local shepherd families in the area.
Beyond the dunes and red stone cliffs, the Gobi is also famous for its vegetation. An hour’s drive from the lodge, Yol Valley was originally established to conserve birds, including the Yol or Bearded Vulture.
Guests can also travel to the protected Gobi Gurvan Sakihan National Park, which is rich in biodiversity, from white gazelles to leopards and golden eagles. The valley can be explored on foot or on horseback; In summer, a stream runs through the deep, narrow gorge.
Other experiences on offer at the lodge include nomadic archery sessions, stargazing, cycling and cooking classes.
Sustainability pioneer
With such pristine nature everywhere, preservation has been essential from the beginning. Being in such a remote area, it was important for Jalsa and his team to put the right infrastructure in place.
Considered a pioneer in sustainable tourism, Three Camel Lodge today follows three main pillars: sustainable management, preservation and community empowerment.
The hostel began by eliminating individual plastic bottles and instead providing reusable metal cups to its guests. They also built a waste management system from scratch, diverting trash from landfills by creating a greenhouse for composting. Solar panels power almost all of the hostel’s lighting. Building materials, furniture and decor are sourced as locally as possible, within a 50-mile radius of the lodge.
“I think you have to have a commitment through architecture, environment, design and operations to the culture you are trying to promote,” Jalsa says. “Finding some level of authenticity that is consistent, that’s the underlying spirit. “Permanent sustainable tourism is based on local hiring.”
For Jalsa, that means investing in local people. There are almost 30 full-time Mongolian employees at Three Camel Lodge, and it was important that they share the same sentiment.
“It’s wonderful to be able to protect our planet and share our culture with people,” he says.
Investing in the broader Gobi community is also an important part of the lodge’s sustainability goals, whether supporting educational programs or working with international paleontological organizations to help protect dinosaur fossils.
“Mongolia is one of the last places where you can escape and see untouched nature and wonderful landscapes,” says Jalsa.
Get there
Getting to and from Three Camel Lodge is not for the travel-weary. Did we mention it’s a remote place?
“It’s a seven- or eight-hour drive (to Gobi), and the average tourist doesn’t want that,” Jalsa tells CNN of the trip from Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar.
There are flights to the Gobi, but they usually leave in the middle of the night and arrive at Dalanzadgad airport just as the sun begins to rise. After that, it’s another hour’s drive through the roadless desert before the lodge appears in the distance, almost like an oasis.
Leaving the Gobi can be even more complicated: flights back to the capital are often canceled (ours was canceled twice) at short notice. In winter, some flights do not operate at all.
Currently, Jalsa says the shelter is open to the public from early May until November. He hopes there can be more government support to improve logistics and also extend the annual tourist season, at least “a little bit more.”
“I think for the government to embrace tourism, it should subsidize air travel domestically, especially if it is for tourism,” Jalsa says.
“Basically, you are bringing customers into the country and making places within the country accessible to them. “I think it’s a wonderful opportunity and we’ve been working for over 30 years to put it on the map.”
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