Mongolia Snow Leopard and Pallas Cat tour

On arrival into the capital at Ulaabaatar we will overnight at the Kempinski Hotel Khan Palace. Depending on the arival time of our group we will look at organising a short tour of the capital and provide a complimentary dinner at a traditional Mongolian restaurant.

After breakfast we will be transferred to the airport to connect with the flight to Khovd. On arrival we will meet up with our camping team and drive approximately 3 hours to our beautifully located private Ger camp. The camp is situated in an area where there is an ongoing scientific conservation program to protect the resident wildlife.

This is not a random process. We have a team of trackers and spotters looking after our group and they will be out in the morning long before you wake. In this way we narrow down our search zones and make the use of our 4X4 vehicles and trekking more efficient and more likely to achieve success for our group

Despite the use of vehicles it is important to note that walks of a medium length over rocky uneven terrain can be required for us to reach the best snow leopard observation points and for this medium fitness levels and leg flxibility/balance are important to ensure your safety. Extra camera bags can be carried by our porters and we have enough people on the ground so everyone walks at a pace they are comfortable with. Your safety and well being are paramount.

Depending on flight schedules (summer schedule has not been released yet!) we should be able to transfer from our camp in Khovd to the Pallas cat camp in one day.

Pallas Cat are very distinctive medium size cats with thick coats to protect them from their cold Asian steppe habitat. They are also known as Manul, Steppe Cat or Rock Wildcat and in recent years are expert local guides have come to know about their main breeding habitats and adapted an ethical, quiet, hide based approach to photographing them in the wild.

We drive 7-30 km to Pallas’s cat spot from camp site in early morning. Tracker and Pallas’s cat watching team will search for the elusive Pallas’s cat in rocky hillsides until lunch time. After lunch, start the Pallas’s cat observation until sunset. We can watch other mammals such as Brandt’ vole, Daurian Pika, Daurian ground-squirrel, Mongolian gerbil red fox, polecat and Corsac fox.

We may have time for one more early morning wildlife encounter before the long drive back to Ulaabaatar where we will once again overnight at the Kempinski Hotel

If you have an evening flight you will have time to further explore the city on your own before a final transfer to the airport to connect with your onward international flight. We also have the possibility to add a 2 night extension in Hustai national park for the re-introduced Przewalski’s horses and the chance to see Wolves.