Truly Nomadic Land Horse Trek

Day 1: Osh City – Kara Bulak Village – Tepshi Camp

Riding time: 4 hours;  Riding distance: 12 km;  Meals: L,D;  Ascent: 1218 m; Descent: 154 m;  Accommodation: yurt

Start your ride up a dirt road after driving to Gulcha from Osh along the Pamir Highway. The road follows the Kara Bulak stream towards the Tepshi camp, passing shepherds’ yurts set up among junipers. Near the top of the climb, you will leave the road for a trail ascending the ridge on the left. Here, you will eat lunch and enjoy the rugged mountains of the Alay across the gorge formed by the Gulcha river. At the end of the ridge, you will descend into the Tepshi camp at 2710m to meet with your host for the night. Dinner.

 

Day 2: Tepshi Camp – Airy Bell Pass – Sary Oi Yurt Camp

Riding time: 5 hours; Riding distance: 14 km;  Meals: B,L,D;  Ascent: 613 m;  Descent: 1087 m;  Accommodation: yurt

Breakfast. Start the day heading up to Airy Bell Pass 2950m on a small trail starting from your yurt. A steep, hour-long ride will bring you to the summit and an impressive panorama of the Kum Bell Mountains to the west. Descend to the Cholo Kaiyng Gorge and stop for lunch. In the gorge, a dirt road follows a small river to the Sary Oi camp at 2270m. Arrive at your yurts and join your hosts in the daily activities of nomads. Dinner.

 

Day 3: Sary Oi Camp to the foot of Ak Tor Pass

Riding time: 5 hours;  Riding distance: 13 km;  Meals: B,L,D;  Ascent: 1020 m; Descent: 223 m;  Accommodation: yurt

Breakfast. The third day starts with a demonstration of milking and making dairy products from horse and cow milk. After an easy morning, descend from Sary Oi summer camp to the river and turn upstream, skirting a precipitous gorge. Eat lunch near a shepherd’s tent with a new view of the craggy mountain ridge you descended the previous day. Continue along meandering trails through a pine forest towards the foot of Ak Tor Pass at 3040m. Arrive at a private yurt. Dinner.

 

Day 4: Ak Tor Pass – Murdash Valley – Uch Chat Camp

Riding time: 5-6 hours; Riding distance: 14 km;  Meals: B,L,D;  Ascent: 757 m;  Descent: 1283 m;  Accommodation: yurt

Breakfast. Cross the headwaters of the river and ride south towards the entrance of the pass. A short, but steep 500 meters ride up brings you to the summit of Ak Tor Pass at 3500 meters. On the way up, admire the sharp rock walls of the Asan Korgon Range. At the highest point of your horseback ride, rest for a lunch with a side of the majestic Alay Mountain Ranges. Descend from the pass along a new stream to a final dirt road. Near the end of the day, ride on to Uch Chat summer camp and your host’s yurt. After weclome teas and before your dinner, take a walk around this scenic valley with scattered yurts of shepherds to experience local life. 

 

Day 5: To Osh City over Murdash village

Driving time/: 2,5 hours ; Riding distance: 18 km;  Meals: B,L;  Ascent: 846 m; Descent: 1515 m;

Breakfast. We say goodbye to our crew and host family before we leave for Osh city. Our 20 km drive goes along a picturesque gorge with gushing rivers until the main road, then road continues on a nice road all the way to Osh city. Arrival at your hotel around lunch time. End of the tour. 

Price in USD:

number of people	1	2	3	4	5
price per person	1050	710	590	540	490

Included: 
– Shared accommodation in a yurt camp 
– All meals indicated in itinerary*
– Personal meals and accommodation
– Transport from/to Osh
– Horses
– Horseman
– English-speaking guide

Not included:
– Hotel and meals in Osh city
– Helmet
– Tips
– Bottled water
– Travel and Health Insurance
– Flights or other domestic/international transport
– Sleeping bags (available at 5 USD per day)

*Please let us know in advance if you are vegetarian/vegan or if you have food allergies.

 

Join the following groups for summer 2024
(If the following dates do not suit your travel plans, please contact us, we will post a new tour with your dates and try to collect more people to join you)

What to Expect:

Yurts
Sleeping in a traditional Kyrgyz yurt is a highlight for many travelers. One yurt usually sleeps 5-6 people and you will sleep on mats on the ground with blankets piled on top. Toilets are outside, so be sure to have a headlamp with you to navigate there at night.

Food
Most of the meals on this tour are home-cooked and provided by a yurt camp, homestay or guesthouse. These traditional Kyrgyz meals usually include some sort of meat (often beef) served with potatoes, rice, or home-made noodles. Fresh bread rounds are also a must at every meal and you’ll often find homemade jams and traditional sour cream to go with this.

Vegetarian food
Yurt stays is able to cook vegetarian food. You should inform the company and guide in advance. In general, let us know if you have any specific preferences about food.

Drinking Water
There are clean mountain springs along the trail where we can refill water bottles. You can take cleaning powders as well to clean river/spring waters. Yurt stays will provide boiled water if needed. Drink as much water as possible to avoid dehydration

Difficulty
The trail terrain has ups and downs, not a flat. You will cross two passes during the trek. At few places the trail has scree and steep slopes. There you should get off the horse and walk those parts. Your guide will remind you. Some skilled riders can go over these difficult parts without getting off. 

Guide
You always have a guide and horsemen at this trek. Guides will provide you with all the necessary information and be with you to make sure everything is OK and safe. All the guides speak a good English and little bit of Russian. They have at least three year’s guiding experience.

Weather and season
The best season for this trek is from July to mid September. It gets + 10 to 20 at night during the best season. We also run this trek even in early June and late September with some snow on the high passes. The weather changes frequently on the high passes and gets windy so make sure to keep your bellies and stomach warm while crossing the high passes not get cold to your stomach. If you do get a cold, then you will have digestion issues.

Luggage
We ask all to leave all the unnecessary luggage in Osh city at our office and take the items needed for trek. You can take two bags: small day backpack carried by you where you put your bottled water, wallet and other personals items and a bigger backpack carried by luggage horses where you can put your clothes, pants, sleeping bag and other items. The bigger backpacks carried by horse should weigh 10 to 15 kilos. Horses have special bags designed for the trek. Each horse carries about 60 to 70 kilos.

High Altitude Sickness
Some of the clients come from a low land countries. Sleeping at 2600 meters high might cause some headache issues. You should judge your health. Otherwise, the first and second nights are at 2500 meters. High altitude sickness usually happen above 3000 meter elevations. Third night is at 3000 meters, so your nights at 2000 meters on day 1 and 2 will get you used to this elevation. 

Sleeping bag
Yurtstays have blankets to cover up at night. However, having your own sleeping bag is handy. You can rent from us if you don’t have one.

Recommended packing list for the trek:

• Warm clothes and layers as it gets warm during the day, but can go below freezing at night and when it rains
• Good trekking shoes • Day pack to carry camera, water, sunscreen, etc.
• Sun protection as the sun is very strong at altitude: Sunglasses, sunscreen (SPF 30 or above), and a sun hat /cap
• Water and windproof jacket and pants. It gets especially windy on the mountain passes
• Walking sticks are recommended (we can provide them if you don’t have them)
• Medical kit for treating blisters, traveler’s diarrhea and other minor illnesses.
• Water purification tablets or drops if you want to clean the spring water
• Refillable water bottle • Lip balm: your lips get chapped very easily in the mountains
• Wet wipes and/or anti-bacterial gel to clean hands
• Hat and gloves to wear at night for warmth
• Head lamp to navigate campsite and yurt camps at night
• Warm sleeping bag (we provide you with this if you don’t have one). Yurts and homestays provide blankets.