Price
From US$5,500
per person
Duration
10 days
Season
March · June · July · August · September · October · November · December
Single supplement
US$540
Overview
The Pallas's cat — flat-eared, dense-furred, permanently unimpressed — has become one of wildlife photography's most wanted subjects, and the steppe below the Margaz Mountains is among the best places on earth to work with it. Long lenses, low profiles and ranger knowledge of den sites and hunting grounds give you honest, ethical chances at intimate frames across six full days.
Day by day
The world's grumpiest-looking cat, photographed properly: six field days among the rocky steppe of the Margaz Mountains.
Airport transfer, 1 hr
Arrival, hotel, and a working dinner with your photo guide: current den activity, how close is close enough, and why the best Pallas's cat pictures are made lying very still on cold ground.
Hotel in Ulaanbaatar
Dinner
Fly 1 hr, then drive 4–5 hrs
Fly to Uliastai and drive into the Margaz country — a landscape of rock outcrops, marmot burrows and open steppe that is pure Pallas's cat habitat. Camp is set within reach of the areas the rangers are currently watching.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
The day starts glassing outcrops at dawn, when cats sun themselves after cold nights. Once an animal is located, the approach is everything: a wide arc, a low profile, and a final position that lets the cat forget you exist. Then the real photography begins.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
A full day following the rhythm of one or more cats — hunting voles among the rocks, posing (unintentionally) on lookout boulders, flowing between crevices like grey smoke. Your guide works the light and background while the spotters track movement between sites.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Where an active den is known, a careful distant watch can produce the shots everyone dreams of. Hours pass; then a flat-eared face appears at the entrance, and the shutter does not stop.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Range farther across the territory for variety of backgrounds and behaviour — and keep one eye on the crags above, because this is also snow leopard country, and the massif occasionally gives photographers an extraordinary bonus.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
By now you know your subjects and they tolerate you. Today is for the deliberate frames: backlit whiskers at dawn, environmental wides that place the cat in its enormous landscape, detail studies of that unrepeatable face.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
A final morning and evening session, with the middle of the day for camp portraits, landscapes and the farewell feast preparations. The steppe gives what it gives; six days here nearly always give plenty.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Drive 3–4 hrs, then fly 2 hrs
Drive out of the massif and fly back to Ulaanbaatar for a farewell dinner and a first proper edit of the take.
Hotel in Ulaanbaatar
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Airport transfer, 1 hr
Airport transfer after breakfast — with a memory card full of the steppe's most charismatic predator.
Breakfast
From the field
Your visit supports
A mountain-to-water transition zone where snow leopards and Pallas's cats share the same slopes — the corridor's scientific heart.
Herder partnerships monitor wildlife movements between seasonal pastures; guest stays fund predator-proof corrals that protect livestock and cats alike.
Every Soaring expedition is private and tailored — dates, pace and comfort shaped around you.
We confirm availability within one business day — secure online payment coming soon.
10 days · March · April · October · November
10 days · January · February · March · November · December
8 days · January · February · March · November · December