Mongolia wildlife holiday

Planet

CARBON REDUCTION

This trip has no domestic flights. We travel overland from Ulaanbaatar, and Ikh Nart can also be reached by the Trans-Mongolian railway to Choir.

We stay four nights in the same place instead of moving camp every day. This means fewer kilometres driven per traveller and less fuel used.

We buy food and supplies locally whenever possible, provide drinking water in the field, and ask travellers to bring a refillable bottle instead of buying bottled water.

We are a young company and do not yet formally measure the emissions of our trips. As we grow, we intend to measure and reduce them.

ENVIRONMENT AND WILDLIFE

We stay at the Ikh Nart Research Center, inside the reserve, and follow the rules of the reserve and the guidance of its rangers.

We never bait, feed or call wild animals. Argali and ibex are watched from a distance with binoculars and spotting scopes, and we rest in the middle of the day, when the animals rest too.

We keep to existing tracks, carry out everything we carry in, and do not share the location of sensitive sites such as vulture nests.

Travellers explore the reserve with a local guide and, where possible, meet the research team to learn about their work protecting the reserve.

People

LOCAL ECONOMY

In Ikh Nart, we stay at the camp of the Ikh Nart Research Center, inside the reserve, rather than in a hotel. The money travellers spend on their stay goes to the people who live and work in the reserve.

A local guide from the reserve area joins the group in the field. Their knowledge of the hills, the valleys and the animals' habits is what makes the wildlife observation possible, and it gives local people a reason to value the wildlife as much as visitors do.

We buy food, fuel and supplies locally wherever possible, including in Mandalgovi on the way back to Ulaanbaatar, rather than bringing everything from the capital.

Where possible, travellers meet members of the research team and learn about their work in the reserve, so that their visit supports an interest in protecting it.

EMPLOYMENT, INCLUSIVITY AND DIVERSITY

Artus Expeditions is based in Ulaanbaatar. Our guides, drivers, trackers and cooks are Mongolian, and whenever possible we work with people who live in or near the regions we visit.

We keep groups to a maximum of five or six travellers, so that the camp and the people who host us are never overwhelmed.

The walks on this trip are generally short and not steep, with plenty of time to rest, although the ground is rocky and uneven. Travellers with limited mobility or other needs are welcome to contact us before booking, and we will tell them honestly whether the trip suits them and what we can adapt.