Each woman who joins our team brings her own story — from rural teachers and single mothers to young students and community leaders. Together, they reflect the spirit of aspiration at the heart of our work.
With half of Mongolia’s population living in often underserved rural areas, and around 60% of Ulaanbaatar’s population living in ger districts, women across the country face significant barriers to opportunity. They shoulder extraordinary responsibilities, balancing domestic roles alongside societal expectations — yet too often lack access to opportunities that lead to decision-making power.
They are resilient and resourceful. And it is for this reason that, from the outset, Eternal Landscapes has sought to design tours, programmes, and initiatives that use travel as a catalyst for meaningful change — change that gives women the opportunity to prove just how extraordinary they are.
The women we work with are navigating far more than a single journey. They balance family and societal expectations with ambition, learning, and change — sometimes even a deeply held longing for freedom, so central to Mongolian life. When you travel with them, you’re not just discovering Mongolia. You’re learning together.
Our approach to guiding is built around the inspiring, brilliant, and persevering women we work with. We know that no single tour, workshop, or training session can have a truly transformational impact on someone’s life. Real change takes time. It’s a commitment that spans years — with plenty of bumps along the way. That’s why Eternal Landscapes doesn’t measure impact by a single trip. We measure it by the growing confidence of our team of female guides and how they develop personally and professionally. The opportunities we create aren’t just about helping a guide improve her second language. They’re about her realisation that a university degree is within reach. They’re about a young woman asking if she can join EL as a guide so that she can develop personally while proudly showing the world where she’s from. It’s about opportunity — opportunity that transforms. That transformation takes years. It’s a path we’ve been on since our founding in 2010. At Eternal Landscapes, we’re dedicated to creating meaningful opportunities for women that have a lasting, transformational impact on their lives.
Zumbee embodies the spirit of our impact ethos. From a herding family in Middle Gobi, she came to Ulaanbaatar alone in 2006 to study. Later, she joined our low-season training programme.
For her, guiding wasn’t just a way to support her studies. It was an opportunity to gain life skills, improve her language abilities, and develop a broader, global perspective.
Many in the travel industry would have denied her this opportunity, citing her “lack of experience” or the fact that her career path lay in medicine — not tourism. In fact, Zumbee was the recipient of our worst-ever TripAdvisor review, one that remains online for all to see.
But that review has since become a symbol of our philosophy. We saw in Zumbee what the review didn’t: a brilliantly smart, ambitious young woman eager to learn, explore, and grow.
And that’s exactly what she did. After guiding hundreds of our guests across Mongolia, Zumbee completed her degree. Not long after, she moved to Australia, where she now lives with her young family and is studying — in English — for a Master’s degree.
While we miss Zumbee, we’re incredibly proud of her achievements, work, spirit, and time with us. This is the kind of impact we strive to create in Mongolia. This is the work we want to continue. So if you want your travel to mean something — to you and to those you meet along the way — we invite you to join us.
From: Dundgobi Province
From: Dundgobi Province
From: Dundgobi Province
From: Dorngobi Province
From: Khovsgol Province
From: Bayankhongor Province
From: Khovd Province
From: Gobi Altai Province
From: Ovorkhangsi Province
From: Ulaanbaatar
From: Dornod Province
From: Bayankhongor Province
From: Ulaanbaatar
From: Bayankhongor Province
From: Gobi Altai Province
From: Omnogobi Province
From: Dundgobi Province
From: Ulaanbaatar
Building on the positive impacts observed among our female team members, we are excited to announce our plans to formalise our training scheme through Chandmana Erdene. This pioneering project is our own creation—a low-impact, community-based centre dedicated to offering an aspirational tourism training program for Mongolian women. Our aim is to create a tangible and enduring difference in their lives, empowering them for a brighter future.
