Munkhbayar Bat-Erdene has been guiding for Rara Avis for 18 years. 82 completed expeditions, five mountaineering summits, three books about Mongolia. Our profile of the guide many guests return to book by name.
Batbayar Gombo
Munkhbayar was born in 1984 in Bayan-Olgii, the westernmost province of Mongolia. His father was a Kazakh eagle hunter, his mother a Mongolian teacher. He grew up multilingual (Mongolian, Kazakh, Russian, later English), between two cultures, and on horseback from age four.
Graduated Ulaanbaatar National University in Geography, 2006. Joined Rara Avis as a junior guide in 2008. Completed Wilderness First Responder certification in New Zealand in 2010. Summited Khuiten Peak (4,374 m) three times, including once in winter.
Altai Tavan Bogd trekking expeditions. Snow leopard winter tracking. Eagle hunter cultural journeys. Trans-Mongolian rail-overland hybrids. Select Khangai horse expeditions.
The single most common phrase in our post-trip surveys: quot;I would come back just to travel with him again.quot; He remembers names, remembers your previous trip, and treats every guest like a returning friend.
Three coffee-table photo books on Mongolian wilderness, published by Mongol Publishing House. Available in the Rara Avis shop and at our lodge libraries.
In 2019, leading an expedition in the Altai, he and his guests encountered a Kazakh herder whose motorcycle had broken down 40 km from the nearest settlement. The herder had his infant daughter with him. Munkhbayar loaded the infant into his guests' vehicle, took the herder on his own horse, and rode the 40 km together to the settlement. Returned two days later to continue the expedition.
Munkhbayar accepts 12 private expedition departures per year. These are booked 18 months in advance. He also leads our snow leopard expeditions (February). Contact our plan desk to enquire availability.
This is the first in our series profiling the seven senior guides at Rara Avis. Upcoming: Tsetsegmaa Dorj (women-only trips), Bayartsogt Ganbold (Khangai specialist), and Tuvshinjargal Batbayar (our photographer-guide).