THE ALTAY SAYAN ECO-REGION – the LAND of SNOW LEOPARD Travel Itinerary 30 July-8 August, 2018
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THE ALTAY SAYAN ECO-REGION – THE LAND OF SNOW LEOPARD Travel itinerary 30 July-8 August, 2018 Altay-Sayan Ecoregion (ASER) located in the center of Eurasia linking together Russia, Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan, lies on of the last remaining areas of practically pristine nature in the world. Encompassing an area the twice the size of France, the ecoregion hosts Snow leopard, Siberian lynx, Saiga antelope and one of the world largest sheep, the Altai argali. The area is also considered as one of the cradles of human origin and an extinct species or subspecies of human in the genus Homo – the Denisovan or Denisova hominin (currently carries the temporary names Homo sp. Altai, or Homo sapiens ssp. Denisova) – was first found in the remote cave in the Russian part of the Altai Mountains. Today, the ASER is a home to diverse ethnic groups that differ in their origins, religions, languages, household traditions, custom and economic activities since the ancient time. OUR TRIP THROUGH THE ASER The land of Snow leopards will be around 1100 kms over 9 days. The trip will start on 30 July with the arrival in Khovd town of Khovd province and will end on 7 August in Ulaangom town of Uvs province. This programme is only for general guidance and could be tailored to the actual circumstances on the ground. Trip route map DAY 1 TRIP TO KHUSTAI NATIONAL PARK & 30 July 2018 FLY OUT TO KHOVD CITY (~approximately 5 hours of net driving & 3 hours of flying) The accompanying team D. Batbold – the Country Representative of WWF Mongolia, B. Chimeddorj – Conservation Director of WWF Mongolia Key people to meet D. Baigalmaa – the Head of ASER Field Office, O. Munkhtogtokh – Senior Biologist of WWF Mongolia (to be joined at Khovd town) E. Sergelen – Biologist of WWF Mongolia, Ecoclub children from Mankhan soum (county) Today we will have a full day trip to Khustai National Park located 110 kms to west of the Ulaanbaatar city. This is the very first site where the wild horse (Equus ferus Przewalskii) EVENTS AND – Takhi was re-introduced in 1992. ACTIVITIES We will start driving with WWF and a rental car after the breakfast and enjoy the park until late afternoon. After a nice lunch in Khustai National Park, we will drive to Chinggis Khan International Airport. The team will fly from Ulaanbaatar to Khovd town, the provincial center of the Khovd province at 21:20 p.m. by Hunnu air flight MR 181. The plane is expected to arrive in Khovd town at 23:30 p.m. local time. The three western provinces and Ulaanbaatar has one hour time difference. We are spending a night in Khovd hotel ahead of our exciting trip. The Takhi at Khustai National park DAY 2 SEARCHING FOR SNOW LEOPARD IN 31 July 2018 JARGALANT KHAIRKHAN MOUNTAIN (~150 kms – approximately 4 hours of net driving and 4-5 hours of walking) The Jargalant khairkhan Mountain range is part of Mongolian Altay Mountain range and serve as a part of the chains of mountain range that connect Snow leopards in the area. The mountain range is good habitat for Snow leopard and its main prey such as ibexes and marmots, however, does not have any protection status. The accompanying team D. Batbold – the Country Representative of WWF Mongolia, B. Chimeddorj – Conservation Director of WWF Mongolia, O. Munkhtogtokh – Senior Biologist of WWF Mongolia EVENTS AND After breakfast, the team will start driving in two 4WD cars to the Mankhan soum located at 80 kms south of the Khovd town. We will drive to Bayantumbe Mountain ACTIVITIES located in 4kms to north of the Mankhan soum center. The children from the local school ecoclub will meet us and share their experiences in promoting conservation work, including anti-trap campaign and wildlife monitoring through camera traps. After meeting with ecoclub children, the team will drive another 70 kms deep into Jargalant khairkhan mountain range to stay overnight at summer camp sites of local herders. A separate tent will be built for your stay. On this day, we expect to spend a good 3-4 hours in hiking in snow leopard habitats, searching for signs and marks of Snow leopard. We will visit Snow leopard regular visiting areas and will search for scrapes – bumbaa (made by raking the paw through the dirt so as to create a scrape with a pile of dirt at one end and deposit scent from glands in the feet and sometimes adding scats or urine in scrapes) and other territorial markings. We will also scan with binocular the areas where Snow leopards most frequently visited in the past, including the areas where WWF Mongolia had recorded Snow leopard family of five – mother Snow leopard with four cubs. After returning the tent camp, we will enjoy authentic Mongolian food followed by a brief presentation about next day activity. Tonight we will retreat early after the dinner to get up early in the morning. Mankhan county school ecoclub children after play about Snow leopard DAY 3 DRIVE TO SAIRKHARIKHAN 01 August 2018 VIA KHOVD TOWN (~300 kms – approximately 6 hours of net driving) The accompanying team D. Batbold – the Country Representative of WWF Mongolia, B. Chimeddorj – Conservation Director of WWF Mongolia, O. Munkhtogtokh – Senior Biologist of WWF Mongolia Key people to meet Mr. Esbol – the Head of the local Community Based Organization (CBO) Mr. Janatbek – the Head of local CBO Mr. Oraz – Aksakal ( or Aqsaqal) of the Local Community EVENTS AND Today we will get up at 5:00 a.m. and will start driving in close by areas to spotlight wild animals. If lucky, we should be able to see some of the common animals like ACTIVITIES wolf, fox, Pallas’cat (manuul cat), hares etc. By 8:00 a.m. we will come back to the camp site and will have a good breakfast and will start packing to leave for our next destination. On the way back we will stop for a bird watching at Khar-Us lake. The Lake is one of the 11 RAMSAR sites in Mongolia and considered as an important stopover and breeding ground for migratory birds that use Central Asian and West Asian-East African flyways. We will have a lunch at Khovd town. From Khovd town we will drive 120 kms and will arrive at Sairkhairkhan Mountain. The Sairkhairkhan-Khatuu mountain range is one of the important Snow leopard habitat that are facing habitat fragmentation of prey species and Snow leopard by regional level road development and it is one of the sites for new project - IRBIS. At foothills of Sairkhairkhan Mountain, we will stay with Kazakh communities (ethnic minority in Mongolia). WWF Mongolia had worked with these particular local communities during 2015-2017 as a part of the recently ended WWF US programme. We will have a dinner together with local community members led by Messrs. Oraz, Esbol and Janatbek. It is expected that during the dinner, and afterwards, we will learn the challenges the local communities are facing and exchange ideas on improving local communities’ livelihoods while ensuring conservation of Snow leopards and its prey species. Sairkhairkhan mountain DAY 4 INTRODUCTION OF ONE OF THE SELECTED 02 August 2018 SITES OF SNOW LEOPARD CONSERVATION (~20 kms – approximately 1 hour of net driving and 4-5 hours of walking) The accompanying team D. Batbold – the Country Representative of WWF Mongolia, B. Chimeddorj – Conservation Director of WWF Mongolia, O. Munkhtogtokh – Senior Biologist of WWF Mongolia Key people to meet Mr. Esbol – the Head of CBO, Mr. Janatbek – Head of CBO, Mr. Oraz – Aksakal (or Aqsaqal) of the Local Community and project local coordinator in Bayan-Ulgii province (tbc) EVENTS AND We will have an ample opportunity to watch ibexes in early morning of this day because during the night the animals stay close to human settlement to avoid predators. In ACTIVITIES addition, the camp site is located close enough to the salt march that animals come for licking. Therefore, everyone are welcome to get up soon after sun rise and do small hiking exercise to watch these marvelous ibexes. After the breakfast with the local communities, during which we could continue our talk and observations from the morning hiking, we will drive up to the Sairkhairkhan Mountain and then will do some more hiking to areas where, WWF Mongolia trap cameras had taken some amazing recording and photos. A light lunch will be served during the hiking which would allow us continue to enjoy the scenery and have a break from the hiking. In late afternoon, we will drive back to our camp site and after some refreshment and resting we will enjoy traditional cuisine and performance by the local community members. Camera trap photo of Snow leopards in Sairkhairkhan Mountain DAY 5 DRIVE TO TURGEN MOUNTAIN 03 August 2018 VIA ULGII TOWN (~280 kms – approximately 8 hours of net driving) Turgen is part of the Tsagaan Shuvuut-Kharkhiraa Turgen mountain range that form one of the key connectivity area for Snow leopard and its prey with its Russian population. The Tsagaan Shuvuut-Kharkhiraa Turgen Mountains Range is also one of the sites for new project-IRBIS. The rugged mountain terrain of Turgen Mountain is best suited for ibexes and Snow leopards and one of the best filming of Snow leopard in Mongolia was taken in this mountains. The accompanying team D. Batbold – the Country Representative of WWF Mongolia, B. Chimeddorj – Conservation Director of WWF Mongolia, O. Munkhtogtokh – Senior Biologist of WWF Mongolia Key people to meet Project local coordinator in Uvs province (tbc). EVENTS AND Today we will have rather long drive mostly by dirt road.