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Monday 6th January
Arrive into Ulaanbaatar
- Meet at Hotel | Whenever you arrive, we'll be there to meet you at Chinggis Khan International Airport and drive you into downtown Ulaanbaatar to your hotel.
- Central Ulaanbaatar | Our adventure will begin with a walking tour around Mongolia's capital city, starting with the central square. Sukhbaatar Square is the beating heart of Ulaanbaatar – named after the titular Damdin Sukhbaatar, a leading revolutionary in the early 1920s, the square is surrounded by some of the most important buildings in the city – from the government palace, hosting statues of Chinggis Khan and his descendants, to the Cultural Palace, Art and Drama Theatre, Post Office, and City Government Offices.
- Natural History Museum | Skirting around the side of the Soviet-Era Government Palace, we'll take a walk down one of the city's tree-lined boulevards towards the Natural History Museum. Formerly the Museum of Lenin, today this grand building houses exhibits about the prehistory of Mongolia. It includes a vast room filled with stuffed animals that we hope to see out in the West (where they'll ideally be alive!).
- State Department Store | Following on from our museum trip, we'll make our way through the bustling back streets to the State Department Store – the perfect chance to exchange currency for the local Mongolian Tugrik, find weird and wonderful souvenirs, and stock up on any snacks you might want for the upcoming adventure.
- Beatles Statue | Near the State Department Store is an intriguing, yet charming, statue dedicated to the Beatles – so we'll head over here to discover why this Liverpudlian band is commemorated so far away from the UK.
- Evening Briefing | Finally, we'll head to our first group dinner, where we'll also have our pre-tour briefing. This is the chance to ask any pressing questions, find out about the imminent adventure, and make sure you know how to stay safe during the trip.
Accommodation: Hotel 9, Ulaanbaatar
Included Meals: Dinner
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Tuesday 7th January
Flight to Khovd/Drive to the Snow Leopard encampment.
- Internal Flight | It's up and out early this morning as we head out of the city to board our domestic flight from Chinggis Khan International Airport to the far western city of Khovd.
- Ovoo | Leaving Khovd, we'll make a stop at a lookout point just outside the city. This will give us a chance to see the Ovoo, which sits atop the mountain outside of Khovd. These Ovoos may look like piles of rocks, often with prayer flags sticking out the top, but they are an artefact of pre-Buddhist Mongolia. Many people here still believe in shamanism, and these Ovoos are home to spirits. Locals will walk around them three times, throwing stones at them to bring themselves good luck. Something we will need for our adventure!
- Local Shaman | It’s here where we’ll visit a local shaman. Shamanism continues to be an important aspect of life in Mongolia, and these traditional figures are considered to be finely tuned with the natural environment and the wildlife that surrounds them.
- Mountains & Forests | After we’ve had our journey blessed by the shaman and been granted luck for the coming days, we’ll leave the city and make our way east towards the mountains, forests, and valleys which serve as home for the elusive snow leopard.
- Snow Leopard Camp | Over the next week, we’ll traverse the area we’re now driving through hoping to catch a glimpse of these majestic mountain cats, and hopefully get some stunning photos in their natural habitat.
Accommodation: Snow Leopard Camp
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Wednesday 8th January
Search for the Snow Leopards Day 1
- Snow Leopard | This morning, we will head out in search of Mongolia’s elusive mountain beast – the Snow Leopard. There are an estimated 35-40 Snow Leopards in this local region of the Altai Mountains, and we’ll spend our day attempting to observe these magnificent creatures in their natural habitat.
- Altai Mountains | Our local friends in the mountains have a series of observation points scattered throughout the area which we’ll be able to drive to, followed by a short walk up to the final point. These observation posts are perfect for a snow leopard search, as well as watching for some of the other local wildlife which populates these high mountains and deep valleys.
- Observation Posts & Local Spotters | In addition to their observation posts, our local friends have a team of trackers who spend their time in the mountains tracking these majestical creatures and keeping us updated on any opportunities to catch a glimpse.
- Over the next six days, we’ll be traversing five total peaks in the surrounding area, each with dedicated observation posts in search of Snow Leopards and other incredible wildlife.
- Back to Camp & Rest | After our day of mountainous searching, we’ll head back to camp for a well-deserved rest.
Accommodation: Snow Leopard Camp
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Thursday 9th January
Search for the Snow Leopards Day 2
- Snow Leopards | This morning, we’ll enjoy a hearty breakfast and set out for our second day of searching amongst the peaks and valleys of the region.
- Viewpoints | Depending on our success so far, we’ll head further afield to different viewpoints in our ongoing search for Snow Leopards. In addition, we will keep an eye open for some of the regions' other aforementioned wildlife.
- Other Wildlife | If we’re really lucky, we may catch sight of the extremely rare Palla’s Cat. Mongolia is home to the largest population of Palla’s Cats in the world, however, they are hard to spot as they have extremely expansive territories. Ground squirrels are their favourite food, and the best chance to spot these predators is while they’re waiting for these small rodents to pop out of their holes.
Accommodation: Snow Leopard Camp
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Friday 10th January
Search for Snow Leopards Day 3
- Snow Leopards | This morning, we’ll venture back out into the wilderness in our continuing search for Snow Leopards.
- Depending on our success so far, our spotters will hopefully have worked out the ideal spot for our observations today.
- Steppe Eagle | As we head off into the mountains, we’ll no doubt catch a glimpse of the steppe eagle. At this time of year, the eagles have begun to malt their summer coats and instead are a lighter, more camouflaged colour. This makes them harder to spot on their rocky perches, but no less beautiful to witness gliding silently above us.
Accommodation: Snow Leopard Camp
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Saturday 11th January
Searching for Snow Leopards Day 4
- Today marks the halfway point of our hunt in the wilderness. For those that wish, there is always the option to spend the day relaxing at the camp, taking in the surroundings, and spending some free time taking a break from our wild escapades.
- Wildlife | However, for those keen to continue to search, we’ll head out once more, following the path of wolves, ibex, and gazelles as we make our way to today’s viewing point in the hope of catching that glimpse of silver fur that is unmistakably a Snow Leopard.
Accommodation: Snow Leopard Camp
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Sunday 12th January
Searching for Snow Leopards Day 5
- Penultimate Day | The hunt continues on our penultimate day at the camp.
- Adaptive Search Tactics | Today, we’ll be able to adapt our search tactics based on our experiences over the past few days to maximize the chance of a Snow Leopard encounter.
- Trekking | Once again, we’ll depart the camp in our trusty vehicles, and spend our day trekking amongst the wildlife of Khovd Province to our observation spot. After which, we’ll return for a relaxing evening.
Accommodation: Snow Leopard Camp
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Monday 13th January
Searching for Snow Leopards Day 6
- Final Snow Leopard Trip | Whether or not we’ve seen Snow Leopards so far on the trip, we’ll head out one final time with all the experiences of the past few days behind us, hoping for an encounter with these incredible creatures.
- Evening at Camp | In the evening, we’ll enjoy one final evening at our camp, reminiscing about the various creatures we’ve seen, and hopefully sharing our leopard photos!
- Finally, it’s off to sleep in preparation for a long journey tomorrow. As we depart the home of the Snow Leopard, it’s not quite yet time to pack away your cameras and binoculars as our next stop offers more chances to view Mongolia’s incredible wildlife.
Accommodation: Snow Leopard Camp
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Tuesday 14th January
Drive to the Wild Horse Camp
- Khomyn Tal National Park Drive | Today we’ve got a long journey ahead of us as we depart the Snow Leopard Camp and make the roughly 100km drive off-road to the Khomyn Tal National Park.
- Landscapes | As we drive, we’ll traverse some incredible landscapes. Distant steppe, the edges of the Gobi Desert, frozen rivers, and mountains which rise to pierce the open blue sky above us.
- Today is mostly a day of travelling, an unfortunate by-product of Mongolia being so massive. However, when we arrive we’ll have a late afternoon and evening free to rest, relax, take a short walk, or enjoy a drink as we prepare for the day ahead where we will go in search of another of Mongolia’s wild beasts.
Accommodation: Khomyn Tal National Park
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Wednesday 15th January
Searching for Wild Horses
- Khomyn National Park | Today we’ll set out into the Khomyn National Park. The national park is home to the rare Mongolian wild horse known as Perzevalski or Takhi. Once extinct in the wild, the Perzevalski Horse is a true conservation success story with captive breed horses released into, and then surviving in the wild.
- Initially, these horses were only extant in the Hustai National Park, near Ulaanbaatar. However, their incredible success and growth in numbers means many have been relocated here, to this much more remote park where they continue to live wild. The only such example in the world.
- Takhi Horses & Wildlife | Mid-afternoon offers us the best time to catch a sighting of the beautiful Takhi horses, so we’ll pile into our trucks and drive out into the rolling terrain to spot them coming down from the mountains for water at the nearby river. As well as the famed Perzevalski horse, it is also possible to see foxes, red deer, roe deer, eagles, and other various animals.
- Complete Safari & Return to Camp | After our safari is complete, we’ll head back to the camp for a relaxed evening sharing wildlife photos.
Accommodation: Khomyn Tal National Park
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Thursday 16th January
Return to Khovd.
- Early Start | Today it's up and out early, bidding goodbye to our remote surroundings we're offroad as we make our way back to Kovd town.
- Khovd Monastery | Once we arrive, we grab some lunch, we'll make a stop at the Khovd Monastery. A typical small-town Buddhist monastery with some truly incredible architecture and filled with brightly coloured artefacts and immaculately kept by the resident monks.
- Steppe Hotel | We'll stop at the hard-to-miss Steppe Hotel for a late lunch. One of the most modern buildings in the city. This restaurant is also our hotel for the night, so we'll drop off our gear, enjoy some local delicacies, and head out for an adventure in Khovd.
- Local Market | Our first stop is the market. The perfect chance to rub shoulders with locals and also an opportunity to pick up any last-minute souvenirs. Khovd market has everything. Whether you need wellington books, a tennis racket, or 500 metres of string. This is the place to go. Grab the phrasebook. This is your chance to try out a little Mongolian language, something which always elicits a happy response from the market vendors.
- Khovd Museum | After the market, we'll head over to the Khovd Museum – dedicated to the surrounding province. This Soviet-style museum hasn't yet got the memo from the modern age and is still very much a communist-era highlight. It'll be our chance to learn about the province we've spent our last few days.
Accommodation: Hotel 9, Ulaanbaatar
Included Meals: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
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Friday 17th January
Return to Ulaanbaatar
- Today, we say goodbye to our amazing team in Khovd and catch our flight back to the capital, Ulaanbaatar.
- Ulaanbaatar City | This afternoon offers us the chance to explore some of the city alone, whether shopping, visiting a few extra museums, or just relaxing. Make sure to meet this evening for a well-deserved last group meal where we can reminisce about our adventures.
Accommodation: Hotel 9, Ulaanbaatar
Included Meals: Dinner
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Saturday 18th January
Departure Day
- We end our adventure in the morning, with transfers to the airport for international flights. Pack your souvenirs, your dirty clothes and your memories, and have a safe trip home!
Accommodation: N/A
Included Meals: Breakfast
