Munkh Khairkhan Mountain in Khovd

Munkh Khairkhan Mountain is situated on the border between Munkhkhairkhan soum of Khovd province and Bulgan soum of Bayan-Ulgii province. This 40-80km wide, 200km long mountain range has become a national park in 2006. The highest point of Munkh Khairkhan Mountain is 4362m tall and it is the second highest peak in Mongolia. And the mountain is snow-capped and has a glacier that covers 200 square km. Usually, the glaciers in Altai Mountains has an average thickness of 56m but the glacier in Munkh Khairkhan Mountain has an average thickness of over 130m and it contains about two times more fresh water than all of the rivers in Mongolia combined. The mountain is a home to a rare species of lizard called Phrynocephalus helioscopus and this type of toadhead agamas cannot be found anywhere else in Mongolia. Also, some other rare species such as green toad, tench and junggar fish can be found in Bulgan River that flows through the mountain.