Mongolian Wilderness

This year’s Mammal Watching trip to Mongolia was a memorable trip with the prime objective of seeing Snow Leopard achieved and excellent views of the animal obtained by those that spent the second day with this lovely cat culminating in watching it roll onto its back and wait for one of us to fly across the gorge and tickle its tummy!

The landscapes of both Jargalant and Hustai were just wonderful in particular the setting of the ger camp on the former. The abundance of Przewalski’s Horses and Red Deer in Hustai was impressive and we all enjoyed the large herd of Mongolian Gazelle there a lot too. The Corsac Foxes using the Gazelles to help them catch their dinner and just what were the Wolves doing wandering around amongst the Przewalski’s Horses? Jerboas hopping around the camp, Jargalant’s crazy ninja-Stoat who visited the camp area each evening for a spot of hunt-dancing, Saiga speeding across the steppes and the many cute pikas, jirds and voles we encountered, all provided great memories, as did the rich variety of rather special birds we saw, notably the duelling eagle and black stork and the fun-loving young Lammergeiers of Jargalant. Dare I mentioned the Pallas’s Cat? Up there almost with any of this were the remarkable Throat Singers who visited the ger camp on Jargalant.