Snow Leopard & Pallas's Cat Photography

Day 1|Ulaanbaatar — The Long Game Begins

Airport transfer, 1 hr

Arrival, kit check and briefing dinner. Fifteen days of cold-weather photography start with battery strategy and layer discipline — your guide has both down to a science.

Day 2|Margaz Mountains via Uliastai — First Territory

Fly 1 hr, then drive 4–5 hrs

Fly to Uliastai and drive into the Margaz country. Camp tonight sits between Pallas's cat outcrops and snow leopard crags — arguably the best double act in cat photography.

Day 3|Margaz Mountains — Manul Mornings

Dawn belongs to the Pallas's cat: sunning sessions on east-facing rocks, hunts among the marmot burrows, the low crawl to a clean sightline. Evenings move up to the leopard vantage points as the light goes gold.

Day 4|Margaz Mountains — The Massif at Work

Full days weaving between the two cats' worlds, guided by ranger intelligence and the week's fresh sign. Ibex, lammergeier and corsac fox fill every hour the cats leave empty.

Day 5|Margaz Mountains — Snow Leopard Watch

A day committed to the crags — long glass on the travel lines, position pre-planned for the light. When the radio murmurs and a grey shape moves on the rock, everything you carried west earns its weight.

Day 6|Margaz Mountains — Last Margaz Day

Final sessions at the strongest sites, then packing for the crossing — with an evening edit around the stove to mark what the first territory gave.

Day 7|Ulaangom — The Crossing

Drive 3–4 hrs

North across the Uvs basin to Ulaangom: hot showers, resupply, backups — and dune-and-lake landscapes worth shooting along the way.

Day 8|Altai Mountains — Second Territory

Drive 3–4 hrs

Climb west into the high Altai and a different leopard territory — bigger walls, deeper snow, new backgrounds. Camp sits within reach of vantage points the spotters have used for years.

Day 9|Altai Mountains — New Ground

First full day on the new territory: learning its light, its lines and its cats. The contrast with Margaz keeps the portfolio honest — no two frames from the two ranges look alike.

Day 10|Altai Mountains — The High Watches

Long vigils in grand country. Argali and ibex stage the foreground; the summits burn at dusk; and somewhere on the rock, the second territory's cats keep their own schedule.

Day 11|Altai Mountains — Committed Days

The spotters press the strongest leads while your guide manages angles and light. Days ten and eleven are where multi-territory expeditions pay off — double the ground, double the chances.

Day 12|Altai Mountains — Farewell to the Heights

A last dawn on the scopes and a final sweep of the territory before the descent toward Bayan-Ölgii begins.

Day 13|Ulgii & Eagle Hunters — The Hunters of the West

Drive 3–4 hrs

Drive to Ulgii and spend the golden hours with a Kazakh eagle-hunting family — portraits, action, detail; furs, eagles and wind-carved faces. One of the great photographic encounters, and a deliberate finale.

Day 14|Ulaanbaatar via Ulgii — Return East

Fly 2 hrs

Morning flight to Ulaanbaatar, an afternoon to breathe, and a farewell dinner with the team.

Day 15|Fly Home — Departure

Airport transfer, 1 hr

Breakfast and airport transfer — carrying the complete Mongolian cat portfolio.