LIVE AMONG NOMADS IN MONGOLIA

After a five-hour drive from the capital, Ulaanbaatar, the Mongke Tengri camp shimmers into view like a mirage above a ribbon of river in the Orkhon Valley. A welcoming committee dressed in robe-like deels cradle silver bowls of airag, the quitesour-but-pleasant fermented milk of mares. One sip and you’ve truly arrived in the Mongolian Steppe.

This special summer retreat, established in 1996 as a polo club and family getaway by German Christopher Giercke and his wife, Enkhe Sanjaardorj, has been open to outsiders only since 2015. Sanjaardorj and most of the 35 staff were raised in this very valley. Between June and September each year they relocate their lives to this camp – known officially as the Genghis Khan Retreat and operated by The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts (pavilionshotels.com) – to give well-heeled travellers a taste of (rather fancy) nomadic life.

The 20 spacious gers (yurts) are equipped with cashmere blankets and felted carpets, fine linen and wood stoves. So although there are few concessions to 21st-century life – not even electricity – you’ll adapt quickly to a timeless lifestyle.

Nomads migrate to this valley each summer to pasture livestock and sell cashmere. Step into their world on a visit to a family’s ger, where you can see how airag is made and have lunch – perhaps dumplings filled with goat meat. The reception you receive is always warm; daughter Doda works at the retreat.

Horsemanship is a defining trait of the Mongolian nomads. Children learn to ride early and camp staff initially came here to be trained in polo, later learning English and the finer points of hotel service.

Polo is still key to the experience. Visit the Genghis Khan polo school or watch an impromptu chukka in action at the arena just in front of the camp. You’ll also get the flavour of life here by horseriding or hiking through painterly landscapes, in carpet-making and cashmere workshops or on trips to the Silk Road capital of Karakorum.

Come evening, guests assemble on the terrace for aperitifs, later filing into the dining tent to feast, drink French wine and perhaps listen to a performance by piano protégé Odgerel Sampilnorov. When the night draws to a close, there’s the promise of a stovewarmed ger.