SNOW LEOPARDS & WILDLIFE OF MONGOLIA – The Ultimate Itinerary

PRICE INFORMATION

Birdquest Inclusions: Our tour prices include surface transportation, accommodations, meals and entrance fees.

We also include all tipping for local guides, drivers, camp staff and accommodation/restaurant staff.

We also include these flights: Ulaanbaatar-Khovd-Ulaanbaatar.

Deposit: 20% of the total tour price. Our office will let you know what deposit amount is due, in order to confirm your booking, following receipt of your online booking form.

TO BOOK THIS TOUR: Click here (you will need the tour dates)

The single supplement will not apply if you indicate on booking that you prefer to share a room/ger and there is a room-mate of the same sex available.

This tour is priced in US Dollars. Amounts shown in other currencies are indicative.

Air Travel To & From The Tour: Our in-house IATA ticket agency will be pleased to arrange your air travel on request, or you may arrange this yourself if you prefer.

SNOW LEOPARDS & WILDLIFE OF MONGOLIA TOUR: DETAILED ITINERARY

Mongolia: Day 1  Our tour begins today at Ulaanbaatar airport. Mongolia’s capital is often known outside Mongolia as Ulan Bator. From there we will take a flight to Khovd in western Mongolia and then travel southeastwards into the Jargalant Mountains, just a small part of the vast Altai Mountains range, for a seven nights stay in our ger camp.

[Note: Now that routing to Ulaanbaatar via Moscow or Beijing is no longer possible, the best routing is via either Istanbul or Seoul.]

Mongolia: Days 2-7  The wild mountain scenery of the Altai certainly makes for an awesome backdrop to our quest for the ‘Grey Ghost of the Mountains’! With six full days on the ground we have plenty of time to search for Snow Leopards and other interesting mammals and birds. Indeed it would be extremely surprising if we failed to see a Snow Leopard during our visit to the Jargalant as the chances during a six days visit in September are close to 100%. At this season there is even a good chance of multiple sightings.

Around 35 Snow Leopards are estimated to inhabit the Jargalant Mountains, a comparatively healthy population, and in recent times persecution has diminished in the area and the cats have become somewhat less shy. Nonetheless, close encounters of the kind one experiences in late winter and early spring in the Buddhist areas of Ladakh in the northwestern Himalayas are significantly less frequent, as are the overall number of sightings per week. Most sightings involve watching ‘the cat’ at middle to long range with binoculars or a telescope and it is unusual to get images, even with a long telephoto, that are more than small to middling.

On the other hand the viewing and living conditions in the Jargalent are much less demanding. Here, at this season, temperatures at night are typically a little above freezing and in the daytime temperatures are quite mild for such a high mountain area. Altitudes are much lower too, being in the range 2200-2600m (7200-8500ft). Best of all, in the Jargalant one can typically drive a short distance to the best areas and then walk only one or two kilometres to suitable viewing areas (sometimes on stony ground and sometimes but not always uphill). Living conditions in our ger camp (see Accommodation) are more comfortable than camping in the wilds in Ladakh and are made easier still by the mild temperatures at this time of year.

Snow Leopards typically have their cubs in June or early July and by early autumn the cubs have grown considerably and can leave the den areas, making it possible to spot females with one or more smallish cubs in tow. In addition, Snow Leopards in general are starting to descend from their high altitude and less accessible summer haunts towards the lower altitude areas where they will spend the winter. So early autumn tends to be better for sightings than the summer months in the Jargalant.

The main prey of the Snow Leopards of the Jargalant are the Siberian Ibex and the less numerous Argali, the world’s largest wild sheep. Tarbagan (or Siberian) Marmots and other mammals and birds are also regular prey items. Even the sweet little Pallas’s Pika makes for a snack if needs must.

On one of our days we will drop down to lower altitudes where the arid landscape holds Goitred Gazelles and in particular the wonderful Saiga, an antelope with a bulbous nose that would not look out of place on an elephant seal! This area is also prime habitat for the sought-after Henderson’s (or Mongolian) Ground Jay as well as Desert Wheatear, Isabelline Shrike, Red-cheeked Ground Squirrel and the diurnal Mongolian and Midday Gerbils.

Night driving in the area is possible and we will surely want to see the endearing Northern Three-toed and Siberian Jerboas, which often allow a very close approach. We even have a fair chance for the bandit-masked Steppe Polecat as well as Tolai Hare. Other mammals that we could encounter include Grey Wolf and Red and Corsac Foxes, although the former is rare and shy in the Jargalant owing to persecution by herders.

While we look for Snow Leopards we are going to have some great bird encounters. High on the wants list will be the near-endemic Altai Snowcock, which is pretty straightforward to spot in this area., Other likely species include Chukar, Bearded Vulture (or Lammergeier), Cinereous and Himalayan Vultures, Golden and Steppe Eagles, the superb Saker Falcon, Eurasian Eagle-Owl, Red-billed Chough, Brown Accentor, the showy Güldenstädt’s (or White-winged) Redstart, Black Redstart, Pied Wheatear, Red-throated and Black-throated Thrushes, White-winged Snowfinch, the Asian form of the Twite, Mongolian Finch and Pine Bunting.

Mongolia: Day 8  This morning we will head back towards Khovd, but we will make a detour along the way to the huge Khar Us Nuur (Khar Us Lake), a bird-rich wetland. Among the more interesting birds here are the endangered Dalmatian Pelican, Swan Goose, White-headed Duck and Pallas’s Reed Bunting, while Pallas’s Sandgrouse visit the area to drink.

Other likely species at Khar Us include Whooper Swan, Red-crested Pochard, Pallas’s (or Great Black-headed) and Mongolian Gulls, and Citrine Wagtail. The dry steppe surroundings hold Isabelline Wheatear and Asian Short-toed Lark.

From Khovd we will take a flight back to Ulaanbaatar and then travel the comparatively short distance to Hustai National Park for a two nights stay in a much more comfortable fixed ‘tourist ger camp’.

Mongolia: Day 9  Hustai National Park covers some 50,000 hectares of steppe landscape with rocky ridges and light woodland on some slopes and in some valleys.It is a pretty place and with such open terrain, easy to explore.

Przewalski (or Przevalski’s) Horses were reintroduced to Hustai from 1992 onwards and there are now around 400 living in the wild in the park. The species had been declared extinct in the wild in 1969 and it was only thanks to zoos and private collections in the west that the species could be saved from extinction. To this day, Hustai is the only place in the historic range of Przewalski’s Horse where animals have been reintroduced.

Initially, Przewalski’s Horse was considered a separate species of horse, Equus przewalskii, but more recently genetic studies have shown that Domesticated Horses differ markedly from Wild Horses Equus ferus in having two fewer chromosomes and they are now separated as Equus caballus, whereas Przewalski’s Horse is now treated as a subspecies of the Wild Horse (the other forms of which are all extinct).

Happily, the horses are straightforward to find and we will surely come across some stallions with their harems and foals during our visit.

Another prominent mammal species at Hustai is the Red Deer (or Elk) and here they graze in the open steppe rather than sticking to the woodland.

Other likely mammals include Corsac Fox, Mongolian Gazelle, Long-tailed and Daurian Ground Squirrels and the sweet little Brandt’s Vole. The Siberian form of the Roe Deer and Wild Boar are also possible. Grey Wolf occurs at Hustai but is difficult to observe.

Birdlife is interesting and features the attractive Demoiselle Crane, Daurian Partridge, Upland Buzzard, Amur Falcon and the striking Mongolian Lark. Along the river are White-tailed Eagle, White-crowned Penduline Tit, Long-tailed Rosefinch and the dapper Azure Tit, as well as White-backed Woodpecker.

Mongolia: Day 10  Today we will transfer to the Pallas’s Cat area in the Khalzan area of eastern Mongolia for a three nights stay.

Mongolia: Days 11-13  The part of Mongolia we will be exploring is still almost pristine steppe grassland interspersed with rocky outcrops and ridges with areas of elm woodland along the occasional river.

The focus of our visit will of course be the wonderful Pallas’s Cat (known as ‘Manul’ in Mongolian). The area we are exploring has a high density of Pallas’s Cats. The cats like the rocky areas that punctuate the steppe, probably because they provide cover when hunting and denning sites for the females in the spring. With the help of our local guide we should have no trouble getting sightings and hopefully some reasonably close ones. Of all the Asian cats, Pallas’s Cat is surely an outstanding one, what with its round pupils and staring yellow eyes combined with its long bushy coat and a strange, old-Chinese-sage-like face.

Mongolian Gazelles inhabit the area and spotlighting could turn up Steppe Polecat, Corsac Fox, Tolai Hare and a number of other rodents.

Mongolia: Day 14  Today we will return to Ulaanbaatar where our tour ends this afternoon.

Ulaanbaatar is a relatively modern if rather chaotic city situated in north-central Mongolia. Before the beginning of the 20th century, there were only a few permanent buildings here and in consequence, there is little of historical interest for the visitor to see. Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the city is the large stockades crowded with yurts (known locally as gers) belonging to country people who have moved to the capital. They seem wildly out of keeping with the present-day buildings, highways and vehicles that surround them and remind one just how recently Mongolia has been drawn into the modern world.