About
Two of us in Ulaanbaatar.
Two of us. Plus the drivers and families we work with across the country.
How we work.
We design and run every trip ourselves. Two people: Baska, planning and routing in Ulaanbaatar; Buya, leading on the ground in the regions where the trip happens. We do not subcontract. We do not run packages we have not run before.
The reason for the small scale is that the country is large. Mongolia is over 1,500 kilometers from Ulaanbaatar to the Altai, mostly on tracks rather than roads. The work we do is the planning that happens before the visit, the driver who knows the section, the family that has expected you, the route adjustment when the weather changes. None of this delegates well.
We write the itineraries on this site ourselves. Itineraries flex to your dates. Pricing is consultative, we talk first, plan second, quote third.
Baska · Co-founder & route designer
Baska
Baska is short for Baasandoljin. She co-founded Imperial Nomad Tours with Buya and is the person who designs every itinerary the company runs. The route you are quoted is the route she drew, not a brochure offering.
She guided full-time in Mongolia from 2007 to 2009, then returned to guiding in 2018, leading one or two trips a year alongside her route-design work. The travelers she has led range from multi-week tours where groups become friends, to festival weeks centered on Naadam and the Golden Eagle Festival, to short city-and-Terelj trips for travelers with only a few days.
Baska's day work now is route design. Every itinerary on the site, and every custom route built around a traveler's specific dates, is hers. She schedules the trip against your group size and pace, picks accommodations and overnight stops with the families and ger camps she has worked with for years, and balances driving days with rest days so the trip is paced like a holiday, not a rally.
Baska is your first contact and stays with you through the planning. She replies to every inquiry personally, in writing, within 24 hours. The conversation is hers, in this order: talk first about what you want from the trip, plan second around the dates you have, quote third when the shape is right. There is no call center and no sales funnel between you and her.
By the time you fly into Ulaanbaatar, Baska has already shaped what the days will look like. Then Buya takes over on the road. Baska stays reachable on WhatsApp if anything needs adjusting mid-trip, and is the person you write to afterwards when you start thinking about coming back.
Buya · Tour leader
Buya
Buya is short for Buyanbat. He co-founded Imperial Nomad Tours with Baska and leads every trip on the road himself. He has worked as a tour driver in Mongolia since 2016. The name above the door, and the name written next to whichever route you book.
Born in Arkhangai province in central Mongolia, where he grew up herding yaks and riding horses. That is not a backstory, it is working knowledge. When to call ahead to a herder camp before the weather closes in, which spur road still goes through when the main track has washed out, how a family ger is laid out and how to share a meal in one. Buya speaks the country fluently because the country raised him.
Before starting Imperial Nomad Tours, he spent a decade driving for other Mongolian operators across the Gobi, Central Mongolia, the Altai, and Khuvsgul. He has driven festival weeks (Naadam in July, the Golden Eagle Festival in October), single-region weeklong loops, multi-region combos, and cross-country expeditions of twenty days and longer. The 24 itineraries on this site are not a wishlist, they are routes he has driven.
On the trip, Buya is the one calling the herder a hundred kilometers ahead, deciding which night camp to lengthen when the weather turns, and pointing out what visitors otherwise miss. He cooks khorkhog (lamb steamed with hot stones in a milk can) and the other camp meals himself, drives the long stretches, and stays through the cold mornings, the family stays, and the dust.
There is no scenario where Buya hands you off to a stranger. Every itinerary Imperial Nomad runs, he runs himself, often for the dozenth time. If you book a trip with us, the person in your photos at the eagle hunter camp is the same person who answers, three years later, when you write asking where the Tovkhon Monastery road branches off the main route.
Where we're based.
Our office is in Ulaanbaatar. Address: Apartment 1406, Building 14, Narnii Khoroolol, 26th Khoroo, Bayangol District. We are a registered Mongolian tour operator. License and association memberships, to be added. The team is two: Baska and Buya.
Common questions about Imperial Nomad Tours.
Who runs Imperial Nomad Tours?
Imperial Nomad Tours is run by two people. Baska (Baasandoljin) designs every itinerary and replies to every inquiry personally. Buya (Buyanbat) founded the company and leads every trip on the road. Both are Mongolian. Baska guided full-time in Mongolia from 2007 to 2009 and has led one or two trips a year since 2018, alongside her route-design work. Buya has worked as a tour driver in Mongolia since 2016.
Is Imperial Nomad Tours a registered Mongolian tour operator?
Yes. Imperial Nomad Tours LLC is registered in Mongolia under state registration number 000371141. The company is based in Ulaanbaatar.
Where is the Imperial Nomad Tours office?
Apartment 1406, Building 14, Narnii Khoroolol, 26th Khoroo, Bayangol District, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Every itinerary starts and ends in Ulaanbaatar.
How big is the team?
Two of us, Baska and Buya, plus the drivers and nomadic families we work with across each region. Group sizes are kept small (2 to 6 guests) and every trip is private to the booking party.