Snow leopard and Pallas’s cat are among Asia’s most prized felines. This innovative tour visits the Altai mountains and the edge of Hustai National Park, offering the unique opportunity to see both.
From two comfortable ger camps, rented from local families, we explore two hugely contrasting landscapes in the west and centre of Mongolia. In addition to snow leopard and Pallas’s cat, we hope to see a host of exciting mammals including Asiatic ibex, argali, Mongolian gazelle, goitred gazelle, saiga antelope, Altai wapiti, tarbagan marmot, long-tailed suslik, Siberian jerboa, Pallas’s pika, tolai hare, corsac fox and steppe polecat.
Typical Itinerary
Day1: Depart UK
Fly from the UK to Istanbul and on to Ulaanbaatar.
Day2: Ulaanbaatar
Arrive in Ulaanbaatar and visit a local birdwatching site in the afternoon.
Accommodation: 4* hotel, 1-night
Days3-8: Khovd Region
We spend six nights in the Altai mountains, near the city of Khovd, camping in traditional gers, searching surrounding valleys by day for snow leopard and other montane and steppe-desert wildlife.
Accommodation: Traditional Ger Camp, 6-nights
Days9-11: Hustai National Park
From a second comfortable ger camp, we explore an area close to Hustai National Park where our local trackers have located a population of Pallas’s cats. The area has plentiful Pallas’s pikas, long-tailed susliks and tarbagan marmots, plus large herbivores, so it also sustains corsac and red foxes, wolf and steppe polecat.
Accommodation: Traditional Ger Camp, 3-nights
Day12: Ulaanbaatar
We return to the capital Ulaanbaatar prior to our international flight the following day.
Accommodation: 3* hotel, 1-night
Day13: Fly to UK
We take scheduled flights back to the UK.
Key info
Duration and price including flights from/to UK: 13 daysfrom £6,995 pp
Duration and price excluding international flights: 11 daysfrom £6,495 pp
Terry has held a lifelong fascination for wildlife and as an ecologist is fascinated in how plants and animals exist and fit together, their behaviour and their impact on each other.
His self-taught knowledge of British wildlife has led him into voluntary survey work for the RSPB, Bat Conservation Trust, Vincent Trust and British Butterfly Conservation, as well as funding raising for many wildlife charities. Alongside this, he organised day trips and weekends away for birdwatchers from local ornithological societies in the south east of the UK. Eventually his interest led him to return to university and study a host of courses including British Cetaceans, Biological Field Studies and finally a degree in Environment and Conservation.
The Khovd Region, in the Gobi-Altai, in Mongolia’s far west, is beautiful and hugely varied. It has mountains inhabited by snow leopards and Asiatic ibex, stony steppe where saiga antelope and Pallas’s sandgrouse are found, and vast wetlands with Pallas’s gulls and rare white-headed ducks.
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Though close to Ulaanbaatar, Hustai National Park is a stunning example of Mongolian steppe. Chosen as the first release site for Przewalski’s horses being returned to the wild, it is also home to Mongolian lark, Altai wapiti, Siberian roe deer, tarbagan marmot, long-tailed suslik and wolf.
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