In search of ADVENTURE

Basingstoke’s Katy Willings gave up a career in the city for a life of horses and adventure in Mongolia

- Duncan Hall

Basingstoke-born adventurer Katy Willings was already planning to take a bit of a backseat in 2020, as she expected the arrival of her first child.

But like all of us, she wasn’t expecting the coronavirus lockdown to strike, which would instantly put her Mongolian adventure holiday business Morindoo on hold. “It has had a catastrophic impact,” she admits over the phone. “Every single booking I had a month ago is no longer in the diary. There is no possibility of forward planning – even if people were able to travel to Mongolia I’m not sure it would be an ethical thing to do for quite some time. The Mongolian government has been on the front foot as regards the lockdown and social distancing and shutting businesses and public places down, as they have a very poor health infrastructure. To combine a busy late international tourist season with that could be very catastrophic for them. I have paid back every deposit, and now we are just in my house trying not to spend any money while we apply for relief grants!”

Up to this point, she had a very personal connection to the holidays her company provided – which are centered around horse-driven tours of Mongolia. She was directly involved in planning each trip, and frequently could be found leading them. This year she had been planning to focus more on pushing the business forward through PR and personal appearances, while profits were to be plowed into developing a boutique hotel just 50km outside of Ulaanbaatar which would double as a hospitality training center during the off-season.