Mongolia – The Bogd Waterfall and Power Plant

 

After a visit to the area of the Otgon Tenger or more correctly the Otgon Tenger Uul (Отгонтэнгэр Уул) [1], at 4008 meters the highest mountain in the Changai Mountains and a sacred mountain of the Mongols, we also visited the Bogd waterfall, about which less is known; but about which you can collect enough data if you are interested in finding out more and a picture of the waterfall and “Oh, nice, a waterfall!” is not enough for you.

The Bogd River waterfall is an artificial waterfall. It is located about 36 kilometers east of Uliastai (Улиастай), the sum center (зүүн) of the Zavkhan Province (Завхан) [2]. It is the largest waterfall of its kind in Mongolia. The small river has its origins at the Otgon Tenger. A channel has been branched off about two and a half kilometers above the power plant or waterfall. This paved tributary creates an artificial gradient. The waterfall has a height of 37 meters and has a nice view from a certain angle, but of course I found the power plant much more interesting. It has a capacity of 2000 kilowatts and supplies Uliastai with electricity. The amount of storage in the supply channel is 708 cubic meters. This power plant was approved in 1997 and put back into operation in 2000 after the renovation of “the station's head buildings, water approach channel, thrust reservoir, water overflow, thrust pipe support, dump, channel” [3]. This work was carried out through a donation from Germany.

Old and new channel

You can see – and walk along – the open supply pipe, then the steel pipes that feed the water to the turbines, and then you can even tour the power plant itself. This is not so easy elsewhere. However, rarely anyone comes here. There is a tourist camp called Orgikh (Оргих) halfway between Uliastai and the waterfall, but it only has a capacity of 40-50 people. I want to say that you have enough peace and quiet there and can not only look at the waterfall and power plant but also enjoy the surrounding area.

Before reaching the channel

Links and Annotations:
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otgontenger There will be more to report on the Otgon Tenger. The elevation varies, probably because it is a snow-covered peak.
[2] МАНАЙ ОРНЫ ХАМГИЙН ТОМ ХИЙМЭЛ ХҮРХРЭЭ http://www.touristinfocenter.mn/news_more.aspx?NewsID=1008
[3] https://montsame.mn/mn/read/322335

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