Nomadic Summer

In August 2024, Nomadic Road's Nomadic Summer expedition took a mixed group of families, honeymooners and solo travellers across 2,000 kilometres of Mongolia in 12 days. The route stayed mostly on dirt roads, weaving through the central and eastern parts of the country, where the steppe rolls for hours without a fence in sight. August is high summer in Mongolia, with long, bright days, cool nights and the kind of light that turns to amber a couple of hours before sunset. What participants describe most often about this edition is the feeling of openness. Mongolia in summer is one of the few places left in the world where you can take a right off the track for no reason at all and drive into a valley nobody owns. There are no fences, no borders, and no signs telling you where you are not allowed to go. The convoy crossed rivers, climbed onto high passes, and camped in private sites that felt like nobody had ever been there before. Daily life on the expedition mixed driving, photography and quiet time. Several days the group reached camp early enough that participants drifted off independently: some walking the cliffs, some heading back down the road they had driven to chase a view, some simply sitting outside the tent watching the light move. Evenings were communal, with shared meals and a slow rhythm. The 2024 edition delivered the soft, generous side of Mongolia. The country can be hard, especially in winter, but in summer it opens up in a way that almost everyone on this trip found unforgettable.