Mongolia hosts 1,000 snow leopards, roughly one in five of the global population. They live in the Altai, Khangai, and Khan Khentii. Finding one takes patience, luck, and a guide who spends his life in the mountains.
Tsetsegmaa Dorj
The snow leopard, called irbis in Russian and iewb in Mongolian, is the apex predator of Mongolia's mountain ranges. A solitary cat weighing 30 to 55 kilograms, hunting ibex, argali sheep, and marmots across steep terrain at 3,000 to 5,500 metres altitude. They are nocturnal, solitary, and excellent at staying unseen.
The Altai Tavan Bogd and Khoton Khurgan valleys have the highest Mongolian density. Our partner Snow Leopard Conservation Mongolia operates a camera-trap network that confirms cat movement weekly. Our snow leopard expedition in February builds on this data for best-chance tracking.
On a 10-day expedition in prime winter conditions, your probability of a confirmed sighting is approximately 35 percent. Pug tracks and scat in snow: almost guaranteed. Trail camera pulls with the cats' images: 100 percent. Direct visual contact through spotting scopes: one in three trips. These are real odds, not marketing.
Ten days, February-March. Base camp at Rara Avis Altai outpost, 2,800 metres. Dawn climbs to lookout ridges. Spotting scopes and binoculars provided. Local spotters, two per guest. Alpine lodges, not camping. Minus 25 mornings, plus 5 afternoons. Fitness level: good, must be able to ascend 400 metres per day at altitude.
We never bait, spotlight, or lure snow leopards. We work with Snow Leopard Conservation Mongolia to ensure our expeditions add funding to ranger salaries and community conservation. 15 percent of each expedition fee is donated directly to SLCM, totalling over 40,000 USD annually.
Argali sheep (the world's largest wild sheep), ibex, red deer, wolves, beared vulture lammergeier, golden eagle, saker falcon, and a Kazakh winter landscape that is extraordinary regardless of cat sightings.