Gorkhi-terelj National Park, Mongolia

One of the national parks of Mongolia. It is about 80km north-east of Ulaanbaatar, is a deservedly popular destination. At 1600m, the area is cool and the alpine scenery is magnificent, and there are great opportunities for hiking, rock climbing, swimming (in icy water), rafting, and horse riding and, for hard-core extreme sports fanatics, skiing in the depths of winter. The park has many rock formations for rock climbers, and includes two famous formations named for things they resemble: Turtle and the Old Man Reading a Book (Praying Lama Rock). Terelj was first developed for tourism in 1964 and 30 years later it became part of the Gorkhi-Terelj National Park. To the north-east, the park joins into the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area, comprising over 1.2 million hectares of the Tov, Selenge and Khentii aimags. The Khan Khentii park is almost completely uninhabited by humans, but it is home to endangered species of moose, brown bear and weasel, to name but a few, and to over 250 species of birds.