Mount Ararat Summit Trekking 8 days

     After breakfast at the hotel, we leave unnecessary items in a storage room and drive to the Cevirme village or Eli village is a starting point at an altitude of 2250 mt. On mount Ararat. Unload gear, luggage and trek 4 hours to the base camp at 3200 mt. Horses and mules will carry all our backpacks and gear. You will carry your lightweight a day pack only with a lunch box, fruits, water inside. We will stop for tea break and take some photos in a nomad tent on our route. Continue our walk to our base camp and enjoy a nice dinner.

     After breakfast, trek to camp II (4.100 m) and return to camp I. Our hiking takes about 4 hours. Dinner and overnight on camp I

     We prepare our luggage after we have a great breakfast. The luggage is loaded by the horses. We got our lunch-boxes and we started hiking to the 2. camp at 4100 m. Our hiking takes about 4-5 hours. On the 2. camp we drink tea and eat some sweets and we rest and wait for dinner. Dinner in the camp. Overnight in the tents.

     We will wake up long before sunrise (usually about 1-2 am) and eat something. Then we will take necessary equipment, thermoses with hot tea and lunch packets and we will start the ascent to Ararat summit. We should reach peak of Mount Ararat within 5-7 hours, depending on weather conditions and the pace of the group. It may be necessary to use crampons on last 200-300 meters before summit. On the summit we will have some time to celebrate and take photos. Afterwards we will descent to Ararat Camp 2, where meal will wait for us. We can rest about 1-2 hours in our tents. Then we will pack our luggage and walk down to the point where minibus will wait for us (on the way we can make a short break on the Camp 1). We will return to Dogubayazit, to our hotel. At the evening we will have dinner in one of local restaurants.

Overnight at a hotel in Dogubayazit.

     Last day of our tour we will few interesting places located close to Dogubayazit. First we will drive to Ishak Pasha Palace – one of the most important palaces in Ottoman history, built in 17th century.
Then we will visit Durupinar site (a ship-shaped area that some people believe could be the “footprint” of Noah’s Ark).
     The last point of our tour will be Meteor Crater, located just next to the border crossing with Iran. It is the second largest meteor crater in the world, after the largest one in Alaska. Then we will back to the town for lunch. On the afternoon those who want can go to Turkish bath (Hamam).

Overnight at a hotel in Dogubayazit.

     Following breakfast, we travel to Akdamar Island to explore it’s lovely old Armenian church. Drive to van Van motel for the night.

Story of The Akdamar Island.. Read it you will love it..

     The Armenian high priest of Akdamar Church had a beautiful daughter named Tamara. In a village near the island, a young shepherd sees Tamara and falls in love with her charming beauty. While falling in love with the island despite the long distance, the young shepherd swims to the island every night and wants to meet Tamara. Tamara shows her loved one where she is with a flashlight. They meet secretly for a while.
     When Tamara’s father finds out about this, he tries to separate the two. One unsuccessful, stormy night locks Tamara in the church, takes a lantern and descends to the shore of the island, constantly showing different places with the lantern, causing the young man to swim to the wrong side. The young man, who is constantly swimming in the stormy lake, gets tired when he is about to drown and shouts “AH TAMARA” with the pain of his burning heart. Hearing this sad cry, Tamara sees the death of her loved one and leaves herself to the cool waters of the lake in the hope of reuniting with her beloved. From that day on, O island of Tamara! naming begins. Ah Tamara takes the name Akdamar over time. It is known as Akdamar Island.

     Transfer to airport (Van / Igdir / Agri) and end of our expedition.

     There is an emergency extra day in our program. Weather conditions on the mountain sometimes make the climb impossible. With a extra day, you’ll have a chance to wait in the second camp area to wait for the weather conditions to improve and then try again the next day when the weather gets better. If there are no bad weather conditions, this day will be used after the summit descent to rest at the Base Camp area at 3200 meters.