Mongol Daguur is a strictly protected area in the far east of Mongolia, in Dornod province, where the steppe rolls away towards the Russian and Chinese borders under a sky that seems twice the size of any other. Together with Russia's Daursky reserve across the border, it forms the Landscapes of Dauria, a World Heritage site covering one of the last great intact steppe ecosystems on Earth. There are no fences, no villages, barely any tracks, just grass, lakes, wind and wildlife.
The landscape is a mosaic of grassland, wetland and scattered lakes, some freshwater, some salty, that swell and shrink in long cycles of wet and dry years. Rivers like the Ulz wander slowly through it. In wet years the lakes fill with birds; in dry years they become cracked white pans. It is a crucial stop for migrating birds between Siberia and China, and home to rare cranes, including the white-naped and the red-crowned, as well as great bustards and swan geese. Huge herds of Mongolian gazelle sweep across the plains, and wolves follow them.
Riding out here is about navigation and self-sufficiency rather than corners. There are no paved roads near the reserve; the routes are dirt and grass tracks that split and rejoin and sometimes vanish altogether. After rain they become muddy and boggy, in dry weather dusty and corrugated. Entry into a strictly protected area normally requires a permit from the authorities, and riding off designated tracks damages the fragile steppe. Summer, from June to August, is the realistic season; winters are long and bitterly cold.
The people of this region are mainly herders, Khalkha and Buryat among them, living in gers and moving with their livestock. If you meet a herding family, you will likely be offered milk tea and dried curd, and a visit to a ger is a lesson in hospitality.
Choibalsan, the provincial capital on the Kherlen river, is the main supply point for this part of Mongolia, and you should carry enough fuel, water, spares and food for days, plus a satellite communicator. The rewards are immense: complete silence, enormous skies and a night sky so dense with stars it seems to press down on the grass.