Making It Rein
A Reindeer-Assisted Trek Through Mongolia

Consider the reindeer. It’s a strange, magnificent beast of the wilderness, used by Mongolian tribesmen and Santa alike to deliver mirth throughout the world.

And this summer, you’re going to ride one.

Introducing Reindeer Riding by Urbane Nomads, an 11-day trek into the wild, reindeer-filled heart of Mongolia, taking reservations now for an August expedition.

That’s right: you’ll be saddling up and riding a real live Dasher, Prancer or Vixen. But before that, you’ll start out in a hut-cum-hotel in Ulaanbaatar, splitting your time between massages and fresh-caught fish dinners—until the call comes to head out to Rudolph country. Then you’ll hop a flight to your base camp in Muren, pick up a horse and ride it for two days through the Mongolian north country with a trusty native guide (call him Genghis) to speed your passage.

Soon, you’ll meet the Tsaatan—the only tribe left on earth still grazing reindeer, and therefore the only people in the world who can let you ride one. Fortunately, they’ve been doing this for centuries, so they can show you everything from how to steer a reindeer through the local lakes to how to use one when you’re herding sheep through some of the more challenging canyons. And when the magic’s over, you’ll hop back on your horse and ride back to civilization.

But your soul remains with the reindeer.