Price
From US$3,680
per person
Duration
8 days
Season
Year-round
Single supplement
US$640
Overview
For travelers short on time but not on ambition, the Odyssey compresses a serious snow leopard search into eight days. Fly to Ulgii in Mongolia's far west, drive straight into the Altai, and spend five nights in cat country with the spotters who know it best. No detours, no filler — just the mountain and the search.
Day by day
The essential snow leopard journey: eight days, five nights in the range, one single-minded goal.
Airport transfer, 1 hr
Arrival, transfer to your hotel, and an evening briefing over dinner: the territory, the team, the plan. Sleep well — the west calls early tomorrow.
Hotel in Ulaanbaatar
Dinner
Fly 2 hrs, then drive 3–4 hrs
The morning flight lands in Ulgii, the Kazakh capital of Mongolia's far west. From there the vehicles climb into the Altai — a drive through eagle-hunter country that ends at your ger camp beneath the peaks. If light allows, the first watch begins the same evening.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Out before dawn to glass the slopes at first light, when cats move and the mountain betrays every fresh track. The spotters divide the terrain and work it systematically; your job is to stay warm, stay patient, and keep your eyes on the rock.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
The day follows the evidence — scrapes on a ridgeline, ibex bunched and nervous on a scree slope, ravens where ravens shouldn't be. Between vigils, the high Altai delivers its supporting cast: argali, corsac fox, and raptors riding the cold wind off the summits.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
By now the team has a working picture of where the cats are moving. Today is about position: the right bowl, the right light, the long quiet hours that every genuine snow leopard sighting is built on.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
One more dawn on the scopes, one more traverse beneath the crags — and time, if you wish, to visit a local herding family whose winter pastures border the territory. The last evening in camp ends with a feast and the day's stories.
Ger camp
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Drive 3–4 hrs, then fly 2 hrs
The expedition descends east to Ulaangom and flies back to Ulaanbaatar. City comforts return all at once: a long shower, a proper bed, and a farewell dinner to toast the mountain.
Hotel in Ulaanbaatar
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
Airport transfer, 1 hr
Breakfast, airport, onward flight — eight days after landing, you leave carrying the far west with you.
Breakfast
From the field
Your visit supports
High snow-leopard country where the Kharkhiraa and Turgen massifs rise over 4,000 m — the western anchor of the Wild Cats Valley corridor.
Local herder families host research teams, maintain camera-trap lines through winter, and receive direct income from every Soaring expedition that stays in their valleys — turning the snow leopard from a livestock threat into a livelihood.
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.
