Central Asia Area: 1 566 500 sq, km
Border line: 8 158 km
Neighbors: Russia (Siberia) to the North and China to the south
Average altitude: 1,560m
Highest point: 4,374m Khuiten Peak
Lowest point: 560m Khukh Lake
January average temperature: Minus 25-30 degrees Celsius
July average temperature: 25-30 degrees Celsius

     The Mongolian landscape can be divided into four different regions according to their geographic formations. These are mountain-forest steppe, mountain steppe to the north, and in the south, semi-desert and desert. Most of the mountains are located in the west and north which are about 7 percent forested. The central and eastern parts of Mongolia by dominated by hundreds of square kilometers of vast steppe (high altitude grassland) and we have the world famous Gobi Desert to the south. Mongolia becomes a water divide for three different water basins draining Arctic, Pacific and Central Asian land locked rivers. Most of the great lakes are up in the north and west. The largest in surface area is Uvs, covering an area of 3,350 sq. kilometers. Three times saltier than an ocean, this beautiful lake is registered by the World Heritage Fund.

     Because of Mongolia’s land locked geographic location in Central Asia the land is subject to very extreme weather conditions. Mongolia has a long, very cold winter and a short, dry summer. Autumn and spring can be as cold as winter or as warm as summer – it’s like they say about some other parts of the world: you can sometimes experience all four seasons in a day. The winter temperature falls below minus 20-30 degrees for over 4-5 months but also rises up to 20-30 degrees above (or more in the Gobi) during the short summer time. But sometimes this temperature falls well below -50 in the northern and western regions. The wind picks up during April and May and an unpredictable rainy season starts in June through July. Most of the precipitation drops in a short period of time so we have up to 278 days of sunshine in an average year, giving it the name “Land of the Eternal Blue Sky”.

     Mongolia supports 136 mammal species, over 460 different types of birds have been recorded here, and 76 species of fish swim in the lakes and rivers. Following the forest and mountain ranges most of the wildlife inhabits the western and northern regions. Though Mongolia’s rich with wildlife, seeing them is a different story. You have to be in the right spot at right time in order to see wolf, wild boar, elk, roe deer and brown bear in the mountain forests. Fox, gazelle, marmot, ground squirrels and wild ass roam the steppe. The western Altai Mountain range is home for Ibex and Argali Sheep, the very rare and beautiful snow leopard and, some say, our version of the yeti known as almas. Mongolia also hosts rare endemic animals such as Gobi Bear (only about 50 of which remain in the wild), wild Bactrian camel and ancient takhi horses. Birders also search out endemic or near-endemic birds such as Altai Snowcock, Saxaul Sparrow, Relict Gull, Pallas’ Sandgrouse and Mongolian Ground-jay.