11 days from £5,395
(Inc flights)
Land only price from £4,595
This holiday is based in a remote site in Mongolia that offers an excellent chance of seeing Snow Leopard – and without having to brave the harsh physical and climatic conditions so often associated with viewing this secretive and much sought-after species. After a night in Ulaanbaatar we fly to the city of Khovd, then drive west to our ‘ger' camp for a 6-night stay in the foothills of the Altai Mountains. Our focus will be on finding Snow Leopards and enjoying the other wildlife of this remote and beautiful region. We will visit nearby steppes in search of antelope and gazelles, as well as special Asian birds. We end our tour in Hustai National Park, home of the Przewalski’s Horse.
- Approx. 30 to 35 Snow Leopards live in the area where we will based
- 5 days looking for Snow Leopard and other wildlife in rocky valleys & higher elevations (max. 3,000 metres)
- Visit steppes where Mongolian Gazelle & the critically endangered Saiga Antelope live
- Siberian Ibex & Siberian Marmot among other highlights
- 2-night stay in Hustai National Park, home to Przewalski’s Horse & Long-tailed Souslik
- Led by expert naturalist guides
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Highlights
Kerrie Porteous
Outline Itinerary
Day 1
Depart London
Day 2
Ulaanbaatar
Day 3
Fly Khovd, transfer to Altai Mountains
Day 4/8
Altai Mountains
Day 9/10
Fly Ulaanbaatar, transfer Hustain Nuruu National Park
Day 11
Ulaanbaatar
Day 12
Fly London
Food & Accommodation
All food is included in the price.
In Ulaanbaatar we use a modern tourist hotel, where all rooms have private facilities. For the rest of the tour we will stay in simple but comfortable tourist ger camps. These are usually twin bedded with shared outdoor washing/bathroom facilities.
Tour leaders
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Nick Acheson Tour leader -
Gerald Broddelez Tour leader -
Andy Smith Tour leader -
Ed Drewitt Tour leader
Nick Acheson
Nick Acheson grew up watching Bitterns and Bog Bush-Crickets in North Norfolk. A year spent in the Camargue and Crau during his French literature degree inspired him to seek bigger, wilder landscapes and, on completing his MSc, he moved to Bolivia. Here he spent ten glorious years ringing James' Flamingos and austral migrant flycatchers, lamping for Maned Wolves and Giant Armadillos, working with Aymar , Quechua and Chiquitano indigenous people on sustainable development projects, teaching yoga, and whistling sweet nothings to Golden-headed Quetzals. Yoga then took him to India, where he has spent almost three years tracking Tigers and Snow Leopards, cruising on the Brahmaputra, and speaking clumsy Hindi. On return to the UK he worked for two years for Norfolk Wildlife Trust and he continues to work freelance for NWT, RSWT and the Hawk and Owl Trust. When not shedding tears to the sound of Indris in Madagascar or watching Walruses and Belugas from zodiacs in the arctic, he thinks, writes and listens to Bach in a flint cottage by a duckpond and swims in the sea off North Norfolk.
Gerald Broddelez
Gerald is an experienced naturalist and has spent a good deal of his adult life working as a tour leader on natural history tours, expedition-style travels and environmental and conservation projects. He is a Belgian national, speaks fluent English, and over the last 17 years has travelled the globe in search of birds and animals, visiting over 100 countries on all continents, many of them several times. During the last couple of years, Gerald has concentrated on tour leading and lecturing on expedition ships on all the world's oceans, specialising in the Antarctic and Pacific regions. As a cameraman and scriptwriter he has also worked for Belgian television and produced several natural history films.
Andy Smith
Andy lives in north-east Dorset with his wife and the youngest of his six children. A keen birder and naturalist for as long as he can remember, Andy has enjoyed a diverse career divided between nature conservation work in Britain and Ireland, school teaching and wildlife tour leading. He has now led over 75 tours for Naturetrek and his travels have taken him to various parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas and Antarctica. When not busy leading tours, Andy teaches teenagers at an independent small school project near Ringwood in east Dorset.
Ed Drewitt
Ed's been a naturalist for over 25 years with a special interest in birds and marine mammals. He studied Zoology at the University of Bristol and worked for seven years as a museum learning officer at Bristol's Museums, Galleries and Archives, and then four years on the Bristol Dinosaur Project at the University of Bristol, enabling people to learn more about the city's own dinosaur! Ed is now a full time freelance naturalist, broadcaster and wildlife detective. He leads bird song and bird identification courses, gives various wildlife presentations, provides wildlife commentary on boat trips, writes for BBC magazines and gets involved with bird ringing studies, with his own bird ringing site on the Severn Estuary. He also runs a project that puts colour rings on Peregrine chicks so they can be tracked later in life. Ed has previously worked for the RSPB in Bristol and still does the commentary on their Avocet Cruises on the Exe Estuary. Ed leads on researching the diet of urban-dwelling peregrines in the UK and his findings have been published in British Birds, BBC Wildlife magazine and across the national media. He has just had a book published, the first of its kind, titled 'Urban Peregrines'. Ed is often involved with broadcasting on TV and radio, ranging from appearances on the BBC's One Show, Springwatch and Autumnwatch, Radio 4 Natural History radio, and BBC Radio Bristol. Ed loves watching wildlife around the Severn Estuary, Somerset Levels, Forest of Dean, Ashtead Common and the Chew Valley, while his adventures have taken him all around Europe, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Azores, the Caribbean, Madagascar, the Arctic, and the Gambia. Ed is a regular tour leader for Naturetrek throughout the year, leading exciting holidays both in the UK and abroad.
