Mongolia : 800 years later
(Video)

Photography, Cynthia Bassett ; script, Nancy Kaeser ; producers, Cynthia Bassett & Richard Braun.

Narrated by Cynthia Bassett ; voice of Genghis Khan: Eric Mason.

Indulge yourself by traveling back in time over eight centuries to Mongolia's Golden Age of Genghis Khan. For the moment consider that he and his successors created the largest land empire in history, laying the groundwork for commercial trade and a global economy. From mountains and taiga to grassy steppes, to dunes and dessert of the Gobi, learn why Mongolians are still more comfortable navigating their harsh terrain on horseback. Horses were key to their conquest and Genghis Khan s success. Through sheer military genius, he directed self-sufficient warriors, intelligence networks and applied new techniques and strategies to absorb entire civilizations. In the northern province of Hovsgol Aimag granite monoliths called Deerstones represent ancient rock art. Residing nearby are Reindeer People, one of the last remaining nomadic cultures clustered near spectacular Lake Hovsgol: old, pristine, and holding two percent of the world s fresh water. As you move south crossing ecological zones of Gobi, stop at the massive singing dunes known as Khongoryn Els; the breathtaking Flaming Cliffs; and the Saksaul Forest. Finally, visit the ruins of Karakorum where caravans converged and the Mongol Empire ruled. While deciding if Genghis Khan s legacy of religious tolerance governs today's nomads in their gers, or urbanites in Ulaanbaatar, you will be challenged to look to the future of Mongolia, the Eternal Blue Sky.