Home

Fascinating Mongolia

Youth Adventures

References

Equipment

Links and Resources

About Blue Bandana

Photo Gallery

Contact Us

Expedition Planning - Community Projects - Expeditions in China
 

The endless Steppes and mountains of Mongolia offer a unique and spectacular natural environment,  perfect for adventurous expeditions. Our flexible programmes emphasise on personal development and  adventure travel, including important environmental and cultural components. Living the life of the local  nomad by joining them on a horse trek and staying with them in their traditional gers can form the core of  an expedition and provide an ideal opportunity for cultural interaction with the local community.  This can  be complimented by community projects, sporting events and visits to local schools and industries.
Our expeditions can run from 5 days to 4 weeks. Our clients normally range from 16 to 25 years of age. Group size can range from 8 to 20 people. We can take you hiking or horse trekking, following yak treks or  mountain trails, over the Steppe across the mountains, or on water – the decision is yours.

Our experience lies not only in the world of Outdoor Education and youth development: we are more than  capable of organising expeditions for all active travellers out there.  Check our Active Mongolia web site for  more details: www.activemongolia.com

Expedition Planning

Being flexible with expedition planning, we have developed 2 major models for our youth adventures:

1) After consultation with the expedition organizer (i.e. you) BB plans and runs the complete expedition. That includes one of our staff being the group leader and facilitator. All logistical arrangements are  arranged by us. This is a hassle free approach to running a youth expedition.

2) BB acts like an agent for the expedition organizer. We only provide certain services the customer  desires, such as booking internal flights, pre-arranging horses and teaming the group up with an  experienced translator or just providing help and advice. The expedition organizer than provides their own  expedition leader who is responsible for most of the logistical arrangements.


   
 

You could join us with ongoing work at project sites from 1 to 5 days with one of the organisations we  support - depending on their needs and requirements.

The voluntary work covers 7 areas:

Painting:  school classrooms, furniture, indoor/outdoor play equipment, Naadam Stadiums, face painting!
Renovation: school, kindergarten and dormitory buildings, stadium
Craftwork: jewellery, ornaments, art.
Sports: mini Olympics, races, games, constructing sports' fields and outdoor equipment.

Summer Camps: organising sports days, swimming sessions and walks, concerts, discos.
Environmental: path construction, green house building, litter sweeps.
Educational: computer and IT classes, English lessons

Groups not only impart with their skills, but gain important life skills themselves from their experience  which can't be learnt in a classroom or from a book. In many cases their presence is already overwhelming  enough for some young children they meet, as those children desperately lack the individual attention that  they deserve at their age .
Many groups have arranged the collection of much needed clothing or equipment for an organisation prior  to coming to Mongolia and carry on fundraising work on their return to their native country.

Join us at one of the following sites:

Khan Onder Brigade School, Ikh Temir Soum, Arkhanghai Aimag



 

Lotus Children’s Centre, Ulaanbaatar: www.lotuschild.org






Mongolian Association for Conservation of Nature and the Environment (MACNE) Hustain  Nuruu Mountain  Forest Steppe Reserve:www.owc.org.mn/macne/hustai




Verbist Care Centre, Ulaanbaatar
www.geocities.com/yamataro670/verbistcarecenter.htm


Oyuntulkhuur Foundation: Temuule Children’s Centre, Ulaanbaatar
www.owc.org.mn/oyuntuljhuur/introduction.htm




World Vision Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar: www.wvi.org



Renchinlum School, Renchinlum Soum, Hovsgul Aimag: www.hovsgul.org




Renchinlum Community Stadium, Renchinlum Soum, Hovsgul Aimag




Renchinlum Kindergarten, Renchinlum Soum, Hovsgul Aimag




Grade 8 School #63, Ulaanbaatar



 

If you are travelling through China to get to/from Mongolia, why not add 3 days onto your adventures and  spend some time out at an unrestored section of the Great Wall.
Blue Bandana is able to organise treks along the wall with overnight stops in the guard towers. We tend to  use areas (Simatai and Jinjanling) which are less commercial and with fewer visitors. It requires a bit more  effort to get there (3.5 hour drive from Beijing) but avoids tedious queuing and shoving for space with other  visitors, in a bid for their wall experience.  We trek carrying all our own resources and are especially  careful to make sure what came in with us, also goes out. Amazing panoramas are never ending and in  the peacefulness of your trek your imagination can run wild with visions of Mongolian warriors on the  horizon, or eternal hours of duty on the watchtower!  Contact us for more details: info@bluebandana.co.uk