A Mongolian Ger Camp: Terelj Lodge
Mongolian ger camps are like campsites with gers instead of tents and the quality of amenities vary from camp to camp. Both local and foreign tourists visit them for a night or a few days.
After my younger brother Mike’s wedding in Ulaanbaatar, family and friends, a mixed Anglo/Mongolian group, all piled into vehicles and headed out of the capital to Gorkhi-Terelj National Park for a couple of days relaxation together.
We stayed at the serene Terelj Lodge 55 km northeast of the city. This was the first time that some of us, including my older brother Matt and our friends from England (all still in our first week in Mongolia) had stayed in a ger and was an experience we’d all been looking forward to. It was the most upscale of any ger camp I stayed at during my travels in Mongolia.
After relaxing, walking and eating lunch we all headed to a few local sights including Turtle Rock (Melkhi Khad) and the Aryapala Initiation and Meditation Centre which I’ll post about next. Later we returned to the ger camp for dinner and at night we sat around chatting while some downed beer or the traditional Mongolian shots of vodka.
Following are a few images of the ger camp.
1. Entering Terelj Lodge Tourist Ger Camp
2. View of the ger camp with my younger brother Mike walking towards me
3. Close up of gers
4. Looking inside a ger
5. Typical layout of a ger with woodburning stove, painted table and stools in the center and painted beds around them
6. Close up of paintwork on a bed
7. Close up of typical painted wooden roof framework inside a ger. The circular "tono" in the roof allows light in and an exit for the stove pipe
8. Weathered paintwork on outside of ger door
9. Close up of painted stool
10. View of ger camp and a hide hanging to dry
11. View in another direction with a lone ger
12. Inquisitive cow outside gers in early morning light
13. Our ger
14. Path leading to the restaurant
15. Final early morning image as we left the ger camp
loca4motion 
awesome photographs!
August 24, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed looking at them.
August 24, 2011 at 8:07 pm
Brittany, I’ve just been looking through your american depravity photos and love them! Need to check out the rest.
August 24, 2011 at 8:15 pm
Wow, what a cool place. The Gers are so beautiful. It looks like you were in the middle of nowhere. What did you do most of the time there? I assume there is hiking and riding. Anything else cool to do or see?
Great post!
August 24, 2011 at 3:18 pm
Thanks thirdeyemom! We were only there a short time as we wanted to get back to Ulaanbaatar for the Nadaam festival opening ceremony. We visited Turtle Rock and the Buddhist meditation center (which I’ll post about next) and relaxed. We needed that after all the build up to the wedding! There’s hiking, horseback riding, river rafting, mountain biking and archery in the area too.
August 24, 2011 at 8:29 pm
Nice photos !
August 24, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Thanks Emad!
August 24, 2011 at 8:31 pm
looks fantastic glad you had fun!
August 25, 2011 at 4:07 am
Thanks so much Laura! Mongolia is an incredible country and I still have tons more photos to post. I’m now going to check out your blog!
August 25, 2011 at 10:22 am
Awesome! I m sure it was a wonderful experience! I would love to do this as well, but I have to say I cant deal without a bathroom 😉
Looking forward to your Post about the Buddhist Meditation Center 😀
August 25, 2011 at 11:57 am
Thanks! You wouldn’t cope out on the steppe then. There are no bathrooms there but the tourist camp had one. Probably my next post will be about Eagle Rock and then the meditation center.
August 25, 2011 at 2:08 pm
Lucy, ya había leído tu post hace ya unos días. Hoy puedo comentar tranquilo desde mi ordenador, como siempre maravillosas fotos y el relato de tu visita a ese lugar tan lejano a donde muy pocos llegan. Repito siempre lo mismo, pero de verdad buenísimo¡¡ Perdón por escribirte en español, pero veo que eres bien fluida en este idioma…
Saludos para ti…
C.
August 31, 2011 at 1:46 pm
Cruz, muchas gracias por tus comentarios, como siempre! Me alegra mucho y me gustan los comentarios en español también. Saludos!
September 5, 2011 at 8:48 pm
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