A conservation-minded expedition into the Altai to search for tracks and signs of the elusive snow leopard with local wildlife specialists. Sightings are never guaranteed.
Somewhere above the valley, an animal may be watching without ever allowing itself to be seen.
The itinerary that follows is the structure. The expedition itself will be shaped by weather, people, wildlife, road conditions and the opportunities that appear along the way.
A conservation-minded expedition into the Altai to search for tracks and signs of the elusive snow leopard with local wildlife specialists. Sightings are never guaranteed.
The purpose is not to promise a sighting. It is to understand the habitat, tracking process and conservation work required to live alongside a rarely seen predator.
Hotel, local guesthouse and heated field camp
Patient wildlife travelers and photographers
Meet the expedition leader and review equipment, wildlife ethics and field communication.
Fly to western Mongolia and continue to a regional base.
Travel by 4x4 into mountain country and establish a heated field camp.
Search for tracks, scrapes and movement corridors with local trackers.
Glass ridges and valleys while discussing predator-prey ecology.
Visit permitted monitoring areas and learn how camera traps and field signs support research.
Move to a second observation zone if local conditions support it.
Undertake dawn and dusk observation with a long midday rest.
Meet herding families living in snow-leopard habitat.
Travel out of the mountains and review the expedition.
Return to the capital for rest and a farewell dinner.
Private airport transfer.
Where you sleep is chosen for the route. Some nights are the best room for hundreds of kilometres; some are a tent beneath a sky with nothing else under it, which is its own kind of luxury.
Where this journey stays somewhere we book by name, here it is. The nights not listed here are ger camps, herder households or our own tents, described below.
Ulaanbaatar
The city's largest hotel, a short walk from Sükhbaatar Square.
Ulaanbaatar
One hundred metres from Sükhbaatar Square — the closest good hotel to the centre.
Permanent seasonal camps with beds, bedding and a wood or dung stove. Facilities vary by region: the better camps have private shower blocks and reliable hot water, remote ones have neither. We will tell you which is which before you book.
Staying in a working household, sharing the family ger or a guest ger beside it. Simple, warm, and the reason most travellers remember a journey. Washing is basic and the space is shared.
Our own mobile camp where no fixed accommodation exists. Proper sleeping mats, a mess tent, a cook and a toilet tent. Carried in and carried out, leaving nothing.
In Ulaanbaatar and provincial centres. City nights are booked at the standard you ask for, and we will tell you what to expect where a provincial hotel is a simpler place.
Every journey is priced for your dates, party size and choice of accommodation, and confirmed in writing in your proposal. This is a private journey, so the vehicle, driver, guide and camp staff are the same whether two of you travel or six, and the per-person price falls as your party grows.
The price also moves with season, domestic airfares and any specialist staff your route calls for. Single travellers and anyone wanting sole occupancy should ask about the supplement.
Confirmed in writing at proposal stage. Anything not listed here is not assumed to be included. Booking terms →
Deep cold and short days. Our equipment page notes that winter journeys in the Altai and the north routinely see −30°C and below, so the clothing you bring is the single thing that decides whether the trip is comfortable.
Hire the bulky, expensive items rather than buying them for one trip; bring your own base layers. Equipment hire → · What the month is like →
A private journey can usually be moved a grade in either direction by adjusting pace and distance. How we grade a journey → · Choosing your month →
Adjust the pace, accommodation, specialist access and regional extensions around your interests.
Plan a private itineraryThe experiences that give the route its character.
A defining moment of the expedition.
A defining moment of the expedition.
A defining moment of the expedition.