Mongolian Wonders

A campaign to select the top 7 Mongolian wonders is going in the country with results to be announced on February 20, 2009, before the Mongolian White Month - Tsagaan sar 2009, or Lunar Calendar New Year, to be celebrated on February 25.

The campaign is being jointly organized by the Mongolian Presidential Office, Ministry of Nature, Environment and Tourism and Mongolian Travel and the Tourism Association in order to promote Mongolia's Tourism Sector and raise awareness of the incredible variety and beauty of nature around us. Candidates for the 7 Wonders of Nature are clearly defined natural sites that have neither been created nor significantly altered by humans for aesthetic reasons. The 7 Man-made Wonders as unique creations should be included in historic, artistic and scientific categories. Sites and creations with ecological and tourism significance and unique beauty should be nominated.

Bearing the above general criteria in mind, the organizers will choose the final 7 according to public votes. Anyone wanting to cast votes for nominations may do so via the media and/or internet. At present, 27 nominations for the 7 Wonders of Nature have been submitted by individuals and organizations since the campaign's announcement in November, 2008, with 50 nominations received in the Man-made Wonders category.

Nominations for the 7 Wonders of Nature include popular Mongolian tourist destinations, such as, Lake Hovsgol, the Gobi Gurvan Saikhan Mountain, the Otgontenger Mountain, and so on. Amongst these, Bayanzag Mongolia's Flaming Cliffs have been nominated alongside 260 other natural landmarks worldwide, as an entry for the 7 New Wonders of Nature campaign. Located in the Gobi Desert of Southern Mongolia, these cliffs are renowned for their brilliant orange hue and the wealth of dinosaur fossils buried in the surrounding area. American paleontologist, Roy Chapman Andrews, first described the cliffs as 'flaming' during his expedition to the Gobi in the 1920s.

Nominations for Man-made Wonders include the Golden Whip complex- a huge Chinggis Khaan Statue, 13th Century tourist complex, the Tovkhon Monastery, the Erdene Zuu Monastery, petro glyphs, paintings, tankas, silver ware, and much more.

THE MONGOL MESSENGER