Tagong Festival

Big race day! Drive to Lhakang, a small Tibetan town built around the Lhakang Monastery, surrounded by high grasslands. Mt Zhakra majestically overlooks the mountains and green plains. Attend the horse festival above the town, with morning horse blessings, and then spectacular races of the town, with long races, short sprints, and stunt races. (Our Ecolodge, 3800 meters). (2 hour drive)

Acclimatization day. Ride 3 hours near the lodge, meet your horse, and prepare to enter the wilds. (3 hour ride, Ecolodge, 3800 m)

Take a 20 minute car ride to the trailhead at Gyergo Nunnery. Then ride over high Griffon Pass (4900 m) with stunning views of sacred Mt. Zhakra, 5900 m).
Then walk down into the back valley to camp at the Zhakra Hotsprings. (4 hour ride, 3 hour hike, camp at 4100 m)

Ride today back over Griffon Pass (4900 m). Enjoy the nuns chanting this afternoon, and stay in a basic nunnery homestay with a local family. (7-8 hour ride, very steep terrain, hiking may be preferred for some riders. (Hut at 3900 meters)

Ride up into the high nomad areas. Another lovely day on the horse to end at the home camp of our guides. We will settle in to spend the night at this camp, to be wined and dined by nomads, and experience their traditional life. Opportunity for nomad tent stay for interested guests. (7 hour ride, camp near nomads, 4200 m) 

Spend the morning at Dashika Nomad Camp, enjoying the traditional life. We can try yak milking, butter processing, yak fiber spinning for string and rope, and yak herding. Then ride to Yibei Lake, a high sinkhole (cenote) lake. This is a short 3 hour ride across the high plateau where we will see many nomad camps dotted across the area. Yibei is a Great Lake for swimming, but cold! (3 hour ride, camping, 4450 m) 

Ride to high lookout to the west, across wolf and gazelle country and the Lhagang plateau's highest area. Lunch at the lookout, at 4600 m, with views of isolated hermitages nestled in mountains, after mountain, after mountain. Then drop down to see sacred Ragni Lake, home of lammergyer birds in cliffs and the site of many legends. Camp nearby. (5 hour ride, camping, 4200 m)

Ride across the Lhagang Plateau's most populated nomadic area. Some years we happen upon a religious festival in this area. Arrive after lunch to high Genup Gompa, an 300-year-old nomad temple. After visiting the temple, we’ll say goodbye to our guides and drive to the Ecolodge with a quick stop for snacks in Bamei. (5 hour ride, camping, 3800 m)

Return to Chengdu by plane, and on to your destination.