On the Trail of Genghis Khan

An Epic Journey Through the Land of the Nomads

By: Tim Cope

Narrated by: Dugald Bruce-Lockhart

Length: 16 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents On the Trail of Genghis Khan by Tim Cope, read by Dugald Bruce-Lockhart.

Grand Prize Winner, Banff Mountain Festival Book Competition

The relationship between man and horse on the Eurasian steppe gave rise to a succession of rich nomadic cultures. Among them were the Mongols of the 13th century - a small tribe, which, under the charismatic leadership of Genghis Khan, created the largest contiguous land empire in history. Inspired by the extraordinary life nomads lead, Tim Cope embarked on a journey that hadn’t been successfully completed since those times: to travel on horseback across the entire length of the Eurasian steppe, from Karakorum, the ancient capital of Mongolia, through Kazakhstan, Russia, Crimea and the Ukraine to the Danube River in Hungary.

From horse-riding novice to spending months in the saddle, he learnt to fend off wolves and would-be horse-thieves, and grapple with the haunting extremes of the steppe as he crossed sub-zero plateaux, the scorching deserts of Kazakhstan and the high-mountain passes of the Carpathians. As he travelled he formed a close bond with his horses and especially his dog Tigon, and encountered essential hospitality - the linchpin of human survival on the steppe - from those he met along the way.

Cope bears witness to how the traditional ways hang in the balance in the post-Soviet world - an era that has brought new-found freedom, but also the perils of corruption and alcoholism, and left a world bereft of both the Communist system upon which it once relied, and the traditional knowledge of the nomadic forefathers.

A journey of adventure, endurance and eventual triumph, On the Trail of Genghis Khan is at once a celebration of and an elegy for an ancient way of life.

©2013 Tim Cope (P)2021 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"Tim Cope is a beautiful explorer - by which I mean that he explores beautiful places, but also that he does it beautifully. This is a young man possessed of extraordinary courage, but also great sensitivity and respect. His writing, like his journeys, speaks to a heightened soul, operating at its highest potential. He is an inspiration to me and I believe he will be an inspiration for many. To anyone who believes that there are no worlds left to be discovered, I offer up the evidence of this magnificent tale." (Elizabeth Gilbert)

"This great journey gives the lie to any notion that the world is too much known. It's an astonishing feat of courage and imagination, travelling in its own rich dimension - of nomad history and the horse." (Colin Thubron)

"Vivid, insightful, thoughtful, with great narrative drive. A modern classic." (John Man, author of Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Resurrection and Marco Polo: The Journey that Changed The World)

beautiful epic story!

this book is beautifully written and the perfect mix of historical facts and a really cool adventure. You can tell this book really came from the heart and took a lot of planning and research. Cope's writing reminds me a lot of Levison Wood's books which I Love so it definitely recommend this!!!!

Must Read

Loved the book thank you for sharing your journey. Although, a long book it was well worth it.

So much fun

A wonderful blend of adventure, history. ethnography, and geography. Wish I' had been there also.

An Honest Look at the Land and People

Tim definitely achieved an impossibly hard feat with this journey from Mongolia to Hungary on horseback. Nowadays it would be impossible to achieve given the political changes that have happened since the book was written. I got this book thinking it would go into more detail about Genghis Khan's history, while it does touch on some of the history at points it's overwhelmingly about the modern journey Tim Cope made. Tim gives an honest look at the people he encounters without holding back his feelings about different encounters. The flowery imagined places about Mongolia's empire have definitely changed into the post-Soviet gritty landscapes all too often plagued with alcoholism. It seemed like the further toward Europe Tim went the worse the encounters became. I found his experiences in Crimea and Ukraine to be interesting as well because it gave some of the background history of how the people there came to be who they are now. Tim's story obviously takes place before the Russian invasions in 2014 and 2022 in Crimea and Ukraine so it's like a snapshot of the geopolitics leading up to the modern wars. So while the book wasn't exactly what I was expecting I generally liked most of it and it does keep your attention while listening.