Mongolia

Mongolia's northern river systems — the Eg-Uur, Delger Mörön, and rivers of the Hovsgol province — are the primary habitat of the Siberian taimen, the world's largest salmonid. These ancient fish can exceed 50 inches in length and attack large deer-hair and foam surface flies with violence that must be experienced to be believed. Mongolia is truly wild: the rivers are accessed by horseback through the steppe, accommodation is in traditional ger camps, and the sky at night is overwhelming.

Mongolian steppe grassland, taiga forest of larch and pine, wide braided rivers over gravel bars, the vast Hovsgol lake, and the extraordinary emptiness of central Asia.