Lakes Region

Altai Tavan Bogd National Park, Mongolia

The twin lakes of Khoton Nuur and Khurgan Nuur and nearby Dayan Nuur has most of the people and archeology of the park, as well as the greenest scenery. Kazakh nomads live on the shores of the lakes during the summer. Many of these families hunt with eagles during the winter, and enjoy showing off their eagles to friends and tourists during the summer. Plenty of evidence of past civilizations can also be seen near the lakes with Turkic Stone Men, petroglyphs, and large stone burial mounds called khirigsuur. To the south of the lakes is forests with bears and red deer. Southwest of the lakes, two of the streams have waterfalls of 7 to 10 m in height. Khoton Nuur and Khurgan Nuur are connected by a narrow channel crossed by a bridge. At this crossing is a ranger station, border patrol base, a small shop and a few homes. Some of the families here rent horses for trekking and provide room and board to tourists.