windhorse tours and hostel

I came to Mongolia too early in the year: the tourist season hadn't really started, the camps were mostly still closed, the snows in Gobi had just about melted and I had only vague half-contacts and promises of day trips I could make from Ulaanbaataar. Three of us ran into Uka almost by accident, having never met before. Uka performed several minor miracles and arranged the most amazing week in Gobi I could have imagined. She found the nomad families that were ready to host us, let us experience the desert in its fullness and introduced her country in the best way possible: through its people. We started out as three strangers, plus Uka as the guide and her brother Bagi as the driver. A day later we were friends, a day after that family. I rarely endorse anyone, but Uka deserves the highest kudos. She is fluent in English and, by the time you are reading this, probably also French, and will go to any lengths to make sure her guests are well taken care of. She is opening a ger camp close to Ulaanbaatar, and I imagine it will be a great place to stay. Mongolia is not for the "room service and champagne" crowd - if you need silk bedsheets, pick another destination. But if you want to meet the most hospitable people in the world and see their astonishing country, call Uka.

My 8-day trip in Mongolia was fabulous. Uka organized our trip for us, a group of Thai women, making sure it wasn't too strenuous for us to explore the Gobi. We enjoyed every moment, starting from Ulaanbaatar to the heart of Mongolia, then predominantly towards the southern Gobi. On our very first day, our car encountered a problem, so we had to change it. Actually, we changed cars almost every day, but for me and my sister, it never bothered us. Through this situation, we witnessed Uka's competence; she remained composed, swiftly resolving issues, and always wore a smile. Throughout the journey, we never felt like typical tourists; instead, it felt like we were traveling with family, with Uka seamlessly becoming a part of our group. We learned extensively about Mongolian culture and the nomadic way of life. I highly recommend traveling to Mongolia with kind-hearted people like Uka and her team. Love you, Gayle.

I was to join a Windhorse tour which already had 2 people on it. Having arrived on the first day of tour the third person didn't show up. I had no idea what was going on and our guide told us the third person will not be joining. Uka the tour operator then took it upon herself to reduce the quality of our tour without discussing it with the two of us who were already on the tour. Which we found out at the end of the tour. The issues with the tour: 1. The guide provided was a translator and not an actual guide. He knew nothing about the region or places we were visiting. Simple questions such as how far is gobi from the China boarder, what type of rocks are formed on this white steppe, how long are we driving for today, where are we staying. He knew nothing. What was surprising is that he didn't even bother googling facts about the places. 2. For the first two days we had no toilet paper. We had to share one tea bag between 2 people for breakfast, we had no sugar or coffee. We then went to a supermarket on the 2nd day. 3. We ate the same food for breakfast and dinner for 5 days in a row, boiled rice, canned peas and carrots and a fried egg. Till I brought my own cheese and cucumber to make sandwiches. 3. The driver drank vodka and beers every night and drove drunk on one of the nights where the host invited us for a drink. We did ask to walk back on foot however it was very dark we didn't know where we were going and the guide said the driver was fine to drive. having got into the car we recognised he was not ok to drive. 4. Only 3 out of the 10 yurt accommodations we stayed had locks. Which made me feel very unsafe. 5. On one night we had 2 very drunk Mongolian men walk into our yurt and one of them wouldn't leave. Till the owner came and kicked him out. The next morning we asked our guide if he knew about the incident and he casually said he saw them come into our yurt but he did nothing. 6. There we was no electricity in 8 out of the 10 yurts we stayed. We couldn't charge our phones. Felt unsafe as I didn't have a torch and no phone for light for going to the toilet or just even having a phone in case of an emergency. 7. On one of the guest stays the host was very unprofessional and was drunk and knocked on our door to invite us to drink vodka with him and talk in his yurt. Earlier he also kept talking about my thighs as i was wearing shorts. I said no however could hear him outside our yurt for another 2 hrs. Thankfully this yurt had a lock. 8. On the last day at the Yak festival our driver was drinking again and Uka the tour operator was also there and witnessed this. The last day of the tour we met Uka the tour operator and she apologized for the quality of the tour and mentioned it was because the third person cancelled and she had to give us a lower quality tour. Which for me is totally unacceptable, as a tour operator you should be able to service your customers and for me as a customer I've paid a certain amount of money and would requir

Again, Uka has been incredible! I've been coming here for years and she always blows me away with her warm heart, great network of contacts and her ability to solve every problem. She offers a warm home and great tours for very reasonable prices. The number one place to go in Ulaanbaatar! She'll pick you up from the airport, make you breakfast and arrange everything you need ❤️

We stayed 3 weeks in Mongolia and we were lucky to be in contact all this time with Uka. At first we wanted to do our trip by ourselves but we realized that it's really difficult unless you speak Mongolian. Uka helped us all among our trip to buy bus tickets, find drivers and guesthouse. We took a trip in Gobi désert with her agency, every accommodation was included (driver guide good) for a really good price. We strongly recommend her horse guide contact in Tsagannur that made our 5 days trip to the Tsaatan wonderful ! We had the chance to stay in her guesthouse in Oulan Batoor 1 night between two trips, it has all the comfort we needed (washing mashine ++) and Uka offered us diner and breakfast 😍 Thank you very much Uka for your help and kindness, we won't forget our mongolian trip thanks to you 😘