A Year in Review 2024

Odontuya Adiya
December 19, 2024

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First of all, we would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our friends and partners for helping us close another wonderful year together.

This year is especially meaningful as we celebrate 10 incredible years in the travel and tourism sector. Over the past decade, our journey has been about more than just building a successful business—it has been about shaping the industry, contributing to science and education, supporting conservation, empowering local community, and protecting the resources we hold dear.

Tourism encompasses so much: history, nature, wildlife, people, culture, traditions, and even the future. As we reflect on what we’ve achieved in the past year, let us step forward into the new year with love, support, and peace, ready to embrace new opportunities together.

Every tour we organized in 2024 was special in its own way, but here are a few highlights from the year!

🥹 Highlights from 2024

We traveled back to 90–60 million years ago! 😱

That’s right—you heard correctly. This year, we organized three paleontological expeditions in collaboration with the Mongolian Academy of Science - Institute of Paleontology and our renowned international experts, including Dr. Phillip Currie and Dr. Eva Koppelhus from the University of Alberta, Dr. Phil Bell and Dr. Nic Campione from the University of New England, and Dr. Susannah Maidment from the Natural History Museum in London.

The Mongolian Gobi is famously known as a dinosaur haven, where the first dinosaur eggs were discovered in the 1920s. It’s the perfect place to explore eggs, fossils, tracks, and all things related to dinosaurs from the Late Cretaceous period, approx. 90-60 million years ago. Additionally, as one of the least densely populated countries in the world, Mongolia offers vast, untouched deserts where you can immerse yourself in history without distractions.

Don’t miss this extraordinary journey—secure your spot on next year’s “time machine” adventure!

A last supper at Flaming Cliffs, 2024, Photo credit goes to Tetsudo Miyashita

True Mongolian Quest with North America’s Leading Mongolian Expert, Dr. Christopher Atwood

Our team deeply values working with beautiful minds, and this educational travel is truly a dream come true! We are honored to have a long-standing relationship with Dr. Christopher Atwood, Chair and Professor of Mongolian and Chinese Frontier and Ethnic History at the University of Pennsylvania. Last year, we had the privilege of leading his signature tour in Mongolia, and it was nothing short of extraordinary. Throughout this journey, Dr. Atwood shares captivating insights, enriching your experience as you enjoy activities like fishing, trekking, and horse or camel riding.

With an unparalleled knowledge of Mongolia’s history, nomadic culture, and geography—combined with his ability to speak the language—Dr. Atwood offers a unique and scientific perspective on the country.

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity for 2025—an unforgettable journey awaits!

Dr. Christopher Atwood at The Khongoryn Els Dunes, Umnugobi province. Photo credit goes to Badral Yondon

Alumni, Friends, and Family Tour with the University of Wyoming

“Mongolia is just like Wyoming, except everything is vaster and bigger!” This was the most common sentiment I heard while guiding this memorable trip. Our guests felt at home while simultaneously discovering an entirely new world.

Last year, we had the privilege of hosting alumni, friends, and families from the University of Wyoming on a journey through Central Mongolia and the Gobi Desert. Together, we explored national parks and even contributed through donations, forging meaningful, long-lasting relationships along the way.

This experience marked the beginning of our collaboration with educational institutions, allowing us to showcase Mongolia from a unique and enriching perspective.

National Academic Drama Theatre, 2024, Ulaanbaatar city

Raising Global Awareness Through Filming Projects

Our extensive network in Ulaanbaatar and across the countryside ensures you connect with the right people to feature in your projects. With years of experience supporting international and domestic media outlets, we have the expertise to serve as a fixer for almost any type of media production.

This year, we worked as a fixer for two productions: one focusing on a documentary about snow leopards and another highlighting the Gobi Bear, also known as the “Mazaalai.” Stay tuned—we’ll share updates as soon as these films are released!

We are delighted to witness the release of the BBC series Asia, featuring the Gobi Bear in Mongolia—another project where we provided ground support as the fixer over the past couple of years.

Through these projects, we are steadily achieving our goal of becoming leaders in educational travel in Mongolia while contributing to raising awareness about the beautiful and unique creatures that call Mongolia home.

The world’s rarest bear, Gobi Bear, known as Mazaalai in Mongolian

✨ What’s New in 2025?

Mongolian Learning Academy

This is a project our team has envisioned for over a decade. With Mongolia’s population of just 3.5 million, there has always been a shortage of well-educated human resources and advancements in scientific research. Our solution is to contribute science through tourism, and engage young minds studying Mongolia by offering them opportunities to experience our beautiful country firsthand.

Nature is one of our most vital resources, and its guardians are the rangers who protect it. We have always valued rangers from around the world and are committed to supporting their efforts by providing opportunities for learning, travel, education, and cultural exchange.

In 2025, we are thrilled to offer a 50% discount on specific tours to students and rangers worldwide who meet certain criteria.

Supporting Sustainable Tourism Through the Ulaanbaatar Travel Association NGO

In line with our commitment to educating and empowering travelers, conserving wildlife, preserving natural and cultural heritage, and strengthening local communities, we have been operating a nonprofit organization called the Ulaanbaatar Travel Association alongside Mongolia Quest for over a decade.

Through this NGO, we actively support local and regional events, enhance the capacity of local communities, and develop management plans for cultural and natural heritage sites such as the Flaming Cliffs and Shar Tsav. Additionally, we create tourism management plans for regions like Umnugobi and Hovd aimags.

Our team is dedicated to serving Mongolian society by promoting domestic tourism and advocating for sustainable, eco-friendly practices across the country. If you have an innovative and impactful project to implement in Mongolia, we would be thrilled to collaborate and provide our support.

Mrs.Ariunaa, a herder in Khovd aimag, Photo credit goes to Theo Allofs

New Archaeological Odyssey Awaits You!

In 2025, a brand new archeological adventure awaits for those with passion on new discovery and ancient history. In 2024, a young and aspiring archeologist made a brand new discovery in north western Mongolia, of about 200 aristocratic tombs belonging to Late bronze era, Xiongnu and Xianbei empires. We participated in its pilot excavation of one of the tombs which yielded hidden tombs and valuable articrafts, along with remains of adults and a child. Further excavation will certainly yield more light into this important period of Mongolian history. Mongolia Quest is planning to sponsor at least one of the excavations and we welcome any science enthusiasts who want to also contribute or participate in this endeavour of revealing Mongolia’s past hidden history.

Dr. Iderkhangai Tumur-Ochir at the Luut City (Longcheng) site, Arkhangai Province

A New Plant Discovered

In line with our citizen-science tourism projects, we have been striving to support young and aspiring local experts. Two of them are young biologist named Khuderchuluun and her botanist wife Khaliunaa. The couple discovered a new species of Saussurea plant in western Mongolia while surveying the wildlife there. We are quite excited about this new discovery science and therefore, have been sponsoring their field trips to collect more samples. We are currently in process of helping them for further research on the phylogenetic, establishing the sequence of Saussurea and further molecular research work and actively seeking a research institution outside of Mongolia to assist these two aspiring biologists.