MONGOLIA

Mongolia is situated in the heart of the great Asian continent, sandwiched between China in the south and Russia in the north.

With its size of 1.5 mln sq. kilometers and 2.5 million people, of which one and a half million live in the capital city of Ulan Bator, it is one of the least densely populated countries on the planet.

The vast open spaces are a true wilderness, giving you a wonderful feeling of freedom and loneliness.

The nature here is shaped by the climate, which except in the spring is nothing but harsh. Bitterly cold winters with temperatures as low as minus 50 and baking hot summers at 50 + Celsius have resulted in huge deserts and steppes with little vegetation.

The Himalayas further south also contribute; by receiving all the rains very little precipitation reaches Mongolia’s southern parts.

Despite this, Mongolia is a home to numerous wildlife and some of the rarest animals in the world are found here - the Gobi bear, the only true wild camels, Snow Leopard, Argali Sheep, Wild Ass and the recently reintroduced Prezhewalski’s Horse, which was once extinct in the wild.

There are two ways of exploring Mongolia in search of its birds - an easy one in June where one can use ger camps and hotels throughout the tour and still see a good variety of local species.

However, there is a second option. It needs to be early in the spring and requires camping in tents throughout most of the tour. it is not a holiday, but a tour, or better an expedition, but the reward is in the form of excellent chances of seeing Mongolia’s special birds - Relict Gull, Pallas’s Fish Eagle, Black-billed Capercailie, Hodgson’s Bush Chat, Oriental and Greater Sand plovers, Altai Snowcock, Asian Dowitcher, Henderson’s Ground Jay, Saxaul Sparrow, Siberian Rubbythroat, Pallas’s Sandgrouse, Demoiselle and White-napped cranes and Azure Tit.

To see all that variety we will visit various habitats - the vast steppe, with some steppe lakes, taiga forests, sand dunes, saxaul “forest” and some rocky gorges.

We will need to do some driving in order to cover all these habitats. We expect over 250 birds species to be recorded.

Get the full itinerary writing to us at:

info@ornitholidays.com

Eastern Steppes, Lakes & Desert of this evocative Country