All activities / Wildlife Safaris / Hustai National Park
Wildlife Safaris in Hustai National Park
A protected steppe and hill reserve about 100km west of Ulaanbaatar, the first place the Przewalski's horse, or takhi, was returned to the wild in Mongolia. Managed by a non-profit trust, it is the most reliable place on earth to see the last of the world's wild horses.
Why here
Hustai National Park is where the takhi came home. The Przewalski's horse, the only horse species never domesticated, went extinct in the wild in Mongolia by the 1960s; in 1992 sixteen horses were brought back from Dutch reserves to these hills, and the herd now numbers around 380 in more than thirty breeding harems. At dawn and dusk they come down to the valleys to graze and drink, stocky and dun with upright manes, and you watch them from the ridgelines with the park's rangers. Red deer, marmot, gazelle and marsh eagles share the reserve, and Bronze Age burial mounds dot the grassland. It sits close enough to Ulaanbaatar for an overnight from the capital, which makes it the surest wild-horse encounter in the country.
Best months
The takhi are most active and visible around dawn and dusk from spring through autumn, when they move down to graze; midday sightings are harder. Summer brings marmots and wildflowers, and foals appear from late spring. The park is reached on a sealed road about two hours from Ulaanbaatar, and staying overnight gives you the crucial early-morning and evening viewing windows.
Getting there & around
Hustai is about two hours west of Ulaanbaatar on a paved road, making it one of the few wildlife sites reachable as an overnight from the capital. Stay at the park's own ger camp or the nearby tourist camp to catch the dawn and dusk viewing; rangers run the vehicle drives to the takhi valleys. Park entry and camp beds should be booked ahead in summer.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
Hustai National Park Trust
OutfitterThe non-profit, non-governmental trust that has managed Hustai National Park without state funding since the reintroduction began. In 1992 it received sixteen Przewalski's horses from Dutch reserves; the herd it monitors now stands at about 380. The trust runs the park's visitor centre, ranger-led takhi drives and its own ger camp near the headquarters, with standard gers and gers with ensuite bathrooms.
Nomadic Journeys
OutfitterAn Ulaanbaatar operator working in low-impact, slow-paced travel for more than thirty years, running seasonal collapsible ger camps and using horse, yak-cart and camel-cart transport in place of long vehicle journeys. Hustai National Park is a core part of its programme, including a dedicated winter Hustai trip for cold-season takhi and wildlife viewing, tied to community and conservation partners.