IMAGES: XALAMY; AWL IMAGES


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Find solitude in the Mongolian taiga In an interconnected world, true seclusion is a rare privilege. Landlocked Mongolia — where everyday life


on the eternal steppe is a celebration of solitude — promises travellers a chance to unplug and unwind. Many plunge into the unforgiving deserts of the Gobi in search of silence, but few press on into the taiga in the far north. Part of the Earth’s largest land biome, the boreal forest


that spills over from Russia knows no borders. The seemingly impenetrable fortress of pine and larch trees stands sentry over moss-cloaked marshes, framed by the Khoridol Saridag Mountains, an eerie range of phosphorite peaks gilded with snow. The Mongolian taiga is remote in the purest sense of the word: the area is largely road-free, accessible only by horse (or on skis in the winter). Located 560 miles northwest of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s


capital city, Lake Khövsgöl is the ideal entry point into the taiga. Draped like a blue satin sheet over the tundra, the lake’s shore is where visitors cross paths with the Dukha or Tsaatan, semi- nomadic peoples who navigate across the vastness to herd their reindeer. The allure of stillness versus the urge to keep moving, the appeal of seclusion versus the impulse for human connection — the taiga brings these tensions to the surface. Those looking to immerse themselves in Dukha culture will be made to feel very welcome and taught the tribe’s generations-old practices around the likes of animal tracking and eagle hunting. HOW TO DO IT: Black Tomato Blink Camps — fully customised pop-up luxury camps — can be erected virtually anywhere in the world, including in the Mongolian taiga. Prices are available on request. blacktomato.com


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Venture to the World’s End on horseback This sobriquet is no exaggeration: dangling off the edge of the map like a silver charm, Tierra del Fuego — an


archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, otherwise known as the ‘World’s End’ — really is the final frontier. It takes grit to venture beyond the port of Ushuaia, the departure point for cruises to the Antarctic, into the most physically demanding reaches of Patagonia. Shared between Argentina and Chile, the name Tierra del


Fuego was coined in 1520 by Ferdinand Magellan, who was hypnotised by the distant flames of the Indigenous Fuegian people’s camps he spied from his ship. Now largely uninhabited, this relentless landscape of ancient glaciers, barren tundra and rugged mountains is only occasionally broken by vegetation — winter’s bark and beech trees bent and contorted by the feverish winds that batter the ‘Land of Fire’. Marked trails within the 243sq-mile Tierra del Fuego National


Park deliver views of the Beagle Channel and the mineral-infused Laguna Esmeralda. But the real adventure begins where the park’s boundaries end. Best explored gaucho-style in the saddle, the combination of extended valleys and hills is a dream for keen equestrians, blending uninterrupted canters with the thrill of the downhill gallop. Wild guanacos share the trails and Andean condors spin overhead as travellers make their way from estancia (cattle ranches) to estancia. HOW TO DO IT: Black Saddle arranges horseback expeditions across the Argentinean Tierra del Fuego in partnership with Jakotango. Tours are lead by Marcos Villamil, who rode the length of Argentina before guiding in Patagonia for two years. Prices start from £3,780 per person. black-saddle.com


NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC TRAVELLER – LUXURY COLLECTION 33


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