MONGOLIA: PALLAS’S CAT KITTEN QUEST AND MORE

MONGOLIA: PALLAS’S CAT KITTEN QUEST

There’s something incredible about wild Pallas’s Cats that pulls at our hearts in ways that are hard to explain. Maybe it’s their elusive nature, the way they vanish into rocky landscapes like ghosts in fur coats. Or maybe it’s the wild energy they carry, reminding us of something ancient the rest of the world has forgotten. Wild Images has had a long-standing, successful track record of Pallas’s Cat sightings on our wildlife tours in both India and Mongolia.

This incredible tour travels deep into the vast and spectacular grasslands of Eastern Mongolia to specifically photograph wild Pallas’s cats at the peak of their breeding season, when they have their adorable kittens.

Pallas’s Cat is a very distinctive, medium-sized cat with the densest fur of any wild cat on earth, helping them to stay protected from their cold Asian steppe habitat. Yet despite this, a Pallas’s cat needs to catch up to five rodents a day to stay warm. Relative to their body size, Pallas’s cat has the shortest legs of any wild cat, and that, along with their flat-shaped head, gives them a low profile when they stalk for prey. Unlike other small cats, Pallas’s cats also have round pupils. This artful combination of physical features gives them a rather angry appearance, turning them into nature’s ultimate ‘Grumpy Cat’.

At the top of their daily rodent menu are voles and gerbils.  When they have young kittens, quite often they leave them at a den site while a parent cat goes out to hunt so it can feed its young. As the saying goes, “When the cat’s away…” we will be utilising unique hides to see their kittens playing and practising hunting for when they are finally left on their own to survive.

This exclusive tour is limited to just 4 guests, and it begins in the bustling capital of Mongolia, Ulanbataar.  From there, we will travel to remote eastern Mongolia, where we will stay in a comfortable Ger camp at the edge of an area that has a high density of Pallas’s cats.

We will spend seven nights and six full days photographing wild Pallas’s cats and their kittens in these vast and stunning landscapes.

HUSTAI EXTENSION OPTION

For guests wishing to photograph other Mongolian wildlife, we can arrange a three-day extension to Hustai National Park, where we will see the world’s rarest wild horse, Przewalski’s Horse, which will also be in the peak of its foaling season. During our time in Husta,i we will search for other mammals including Grey Wolf, Siberian Red Deer, marmots and ground squirrels. If you are interested in taking an extension to Hustai National Park, please contact us at the time of booking. The cost will depend on the number of participants.

Accommodation & Road Transport: The hotel in Ulaanbaatar is comfortable and of good standard. The ger camp used in the Pallas’s Cat area consists of traditional wood and felt gers (yurts) as used by Mongolian nomads for thousands of years. Each ger has two beds complete with good bedding. There is a separate dining ger with a table and chairs. Washing facilities are very simple, and toilet facilities are pit toilets. (At the Pallas’s Cat camp, some accommodations are chalets rather than gers.) At Khustai, the ‘tourist ger camp’ is fixed and more comfortable with larger gers, including pretty furniture, while there is a large dining area and proper toilets and showers in conventional buildings

Roads range from good to poor (tarred roads are limited in Mongolia). Our transport consists of sturdy 4×4 vehicles.

Walking: The walking effort during our tour is mostly easy, sometimes of a moderate grade.

Climate: Predominantly dry and sunny, but some overcast weather is likely, and wind is a regular feature. Temperatures are generally cool in the daytime (sometimes warm, especially at lower altitudes), but it can be cold at night at higher altitudes.

Photographic Equipment: For Pallas’s Cat photography, we suggest prime lenses from 200 to 500mm in length. If your budget does not run to big prime lenses, a high-quality 400mm f5.6 or a 100-400mm or similar zoom with a converter on a crop-sensor type body can be a viable alternative.

For birds, typically, a similar setup will be good.

Mongolia is full of panoramic views, and a wide-angle lens in the 16-35mm range is ideal.

You can get wonderful photography results with many subjects with a high-quality digital compact camera with a 20-30x or higher optical zoom. If you have questions about what equipment you ought to bring, please contact us.