The Snow Leopard Tours team
Bolormunkh Erdenekhuu
I am a Mongolian-based tour operator specialized in birding and nature tours. My fascination with birds began when I started participating in ornithological studies for a local ornithological research NGO in 2009. It provided me with an opportunity to see and explore some of the bird rich destinations in Mongolia and to gain ample experience with bird identification; their characteristics, behavior and ecology. Through the years, I started organizing and leading birding tours within my own capacity, as well as offered my guiding services to other tour agencies.
I became involved in the tourism sector to enable me to share my knowledge about Mongolian wildlife and Mongolia’s diverse landscape with anyone who is interested in visiting.
So far, I have led over 60 tours and organized 35 birding and mammal watching group tours in Mongolia.
After completing my bachelor’s degree in Conservation and Ecology in 2011, I further studied MSc in Conservation Science and Policy degree at the University of Exeter in a beautiful coastal county, Cornwall, UK.
I was born and raised in a nomadic family in the Central Mongolian highlands where herding yaks and horses were an everyday part of my childhood. All my ancestors lived in this land and pursued a simple nomadic pastoral life that had minimum impact on their surrounding environment. I have a deep understanding of nomadic culture, environmental conservation and wildlife.
Otgonbayar Baatargal
As a passionate wildlife photo tour leader and excellent spotter, Otgonbayar mostly guides our Snow leopard and Pallas’s cat photography tours to help our clients to capture the most spectacular shots.
A native nomadic herder of Eastern Mongolia, living close to nature, he gained a strong appreciation for all things wild from a young age.
Between 2004 - 2010 he completed his bachelor's and master’s degree in zoology and biology at Irkutsk State Academy of Agriculture, Russia. When he was a student, he began working for Ikh Nart nature reserve as a field biologist and it’s where he picked up a hobby of wildlife photography. After years of a passionate search for animals, numerous field trips and exploration of many hidden places in Mongolia, he succeeded to become one of the top wildlife photographers in the country.
As his skill develops, in 2010 he initiated Pallas’s Cat watching tours and started leading groups of foreign enthusiasts to his homeland to show this elusive steppe feline. Later he explored the wilderness of Altai mountain for many years and has built up an extraordinary and unsurpassed knowledge of the Snow Leopard and its habits, so much so that he has been able to organize tours to the hidden mountains where this near-mythical mammal survives and enjoys a remarkable success rate with sightings.
While many are drawn to Otgonbayar for his foundational expertise in Pallas’s cat and Snow leopard photography, his collection of tours continues to expand in new directions based on where wildlife photography enthusiasts want to explore with him next.
Our philosophy is to offer tours for which we are both confident and capable of delivering the expected results. (high chance of spotting the target species, ability to access certain regions, etc…).
During the non-tourist season, we regularly travel to some of the most remote regions and destinations of Mongolia to explore, discover and enjoy the true wilderness.
Each of our tours comes with high expertise, quality, and organization. We have organized tours for many clients ranging from hard-core listers to general naturalists, wildlife watchers and photographers. For anyone who has the desire to see the birdlife of Central and east Asia or certain target species of this region, we highly recommend our tours.
We have a group of highly experienced, responsible, and reliable crew (tour guide, cook, drivers and travel assistants) who have an extensive background working in the tourism sector.
We have unparalleled expertise in our field in Mongolia and only promise to our clients what we are 100% confident in that we can deliver.
Experience: We have extensive travel experience across the country and have visited every corner of the country.
Wildlife knowledge: Our background is in biology, ecology and environmental conservation.
In Mongolia, most of the birding and other wildlife tours are organized by foreign tour operators and led by foreign tour guides. While generally knowledgeable, the guides typically lack the in-country experience necessary to maximize the chances for successful sightings. In contrast, local tour companies that run bird watching tours often lack quality tour guides who are familiar with the avifauna of the country. In addition, local companies can be short of experience in organizing bird watching tours and can have a different pace compared to other general sightseeing tours.
We differ from these companies by our extensive knowledge of avifauna and our background in biology and environmental conservation. We take pride in having a team of experienced and professional local guides and spotters. As wildlife enthusiasts ourselves, our guides have hands-on knowledge that has allowed them to identify some of the best locations in Mongolia that serve as the critical habitat for rare species.
Our lodging is a combination of hotels, tourist resorts and tents for birdwatching tours, depending on their availability. For Snow leopard and Pallas’s cat tours, we set up our own Ger camps (see the explanation) for the clients.
Hotel: In the capital city Ulaanbaatar, modern hotels are available for our stay which is usually in the evening of arrival and the night preceding departure.
Tent: We overnight in tents in places where there is no available accommodation. Mongolia is generally a great place for camping as we are allowed to wander and set up our own camp wherever we want. Tents are also the most suitable accommodation for a birdwatching tour because we are able to spend the night nearby, or exactly on the bird watching hot spots. Therefore, we can start birding early the following morning, without wasting time on travel. It is a genuine natural experience that allows people to connect with the environment.
We provide our clients high-quality, spacious 3 person North Face Summit series tents, warm sleeping bags and self-inflatable sleeping mattresses.
A spacious traditional Mongolian marquee style tent is set up for dining. It provides good insulation against the summer heat and protection from the cold spring wind. Tables and chairs are set up in the tent.
Tourist resort: In some places, we sometimes opt to stay in a tourist resort. They are usually privately owned businesses that offer lodging services for foreign and local tourists. They are most often found in key tourist destinations, but rarer in more remote areas.
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Ger camp: During our mammal tours we stay in the same area for a longer period which lasts up to a week. That allows us to set up our own accommodation that is designated especially for the trip in each key destination. Gers are the traditional round shaped, portable, felt dwellings in which Mongolians have lived for thousands of years. They are spacious and cozy, often heated by wood or coal fires. Each ger has twin or triple beds with bedding consisting of blankets, sheets, pillows, and duvets. Washing and toilet facilities at these camps are basic. There is a separate dining Ger with tables and chairs.
Mongolia is a vast country, and in order to reach the various habitats where our key species are found there will be a fair amount of driving. We will be traveling through flat open landscapes, sometimes crossing rugged rocky mountains and making plenty of stops for animals we see on the way.
Transport options are usually 4WD Toyota Land Cruiser jeeps or Russian UAZ 2206 minivans depending on the client’s choice.
