Welcome
Thank you for your interest in Hustai National Park (HNP). Located in Central Mongolia, it is home to the rare and endangered Przewalski’s horses--the only species of wild horses in the world--as well as many other internationally-important plants and animals. Hustai National Park Trust (HNPT), a non-profit and self-funded non-governmental organization, is responsible for management of the park without financial assistance from the Mongolian government. We are dedicated to establishing a sustainable population of Przewalski’s horses, along with protecting the many other endangered plant and animal species found in the park. We are able to work toward these and other goals through our sustainable ecotourism activities and your support. As you learn more about our park on this website, we hope you will be inspired to visit. It would be our pleasure to host you at the Hustai Tourist Resort, whether it is as a tourist or for business meetings and conferences. In either case, you will help ensure that HNP and its wildlife resources will be protected for generations to come.
Przewalski’s horse
The Przewalski’s horse (Equus ferus przewalskii), also known as “takhi” in Mongolian, is considered to be the last and only remaining wild horse species in the world. Once found throughout the steppes of western Europe and Asia, by the early 1960s, Przewalski’s horses were only found in Mongolia’s Gobi region. By 1969, they were declared extinct in the wild. In the early 1900s, however, 53 Przewalski’s horse foals had been shipped to Europe from the Gobi, where they were kept in zoos and privately-held “parks.” Of those, only 12 produced foals. Nevertheless, by the mid-1980s, the captive population grew to over 1,000.In 1992, reintroduction of Przewalski’s horses was begun in Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan. At that time, 16 Przewalski´s horses from the Netherlands were successfully transported to Hustain Nuruu--which later became Hustai National Park (HNP)--in central Mongolia. The reintroduction was accomplished in association with the Foundation for the Preservation and Protection of the Przewalski Horse and the Mongolian Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment. Every two years, beginning in 1992 and continuing into 2000, Przewalski’s horses from European countries were reintroduced into HNP. By 2002, the population of Przewalski’s horses in the park increased from the original 84 to 150. The number is now 380. This includes 34 breeding harems and more than 80 young stallions. Mongolia is the only place in the world where Przewalski’s horses exist within their historic range; HNP is home to the world’s largest number of Przewalski’s horses in the wild.
Hustai National Park
Pursuant to Mongolia has stated internationally to conserve up to 30 percent of its territory specifically in supporting its biodiversity conservation, today there are 102 state protected areas established with 28 million ha area equal to 14.86% of total territory. One of them is Hustai National Park. Implementing the Przewalski’s horse reintroduction program was the fundamental reason for establishing Hustai National Park. The State Great Khural (the legislative parliament of Mongolia) declared Hustai National Park a nature reserve (resolution 83) in 1993. Initially established for the first reintroduction of the Przewalski’s Horse the park covers more than 50,000 hectares. After the scientific programs being run out of the reserve since 1992 achieved measureable success and provided valuable conservation outputs Hustai was upgraded to a National Park in 1998 (resolution 115).