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I appreciate the close-up Chameleon shots! Great macros. Never seen its tongue and with the grub on it. Amazing. 

beautiful pictures as always, the close up of the chameleon is special! we did more or less the same trip in 2011, such a relaxed and beautiful country. We added a couple of days in a SAN community. Your report brings back so many memories.

great fun to read your report, you seem a tough cookie to me.

Ditto. Am also following your adventures and enjoying your report. Your writing is both humorous and insightful. Thanks for sharing this. 

Very much enjoying your report!  Thanks!

For the walking portion of this safari (7 nights out of 14),   I choose to put away the big camera.   After the fabulous encounter on the first day,   I decided I wanted to "live in the moment" as it were.   I took a small,  light "string" pack with tissues,   lip balm,  sunscreen,   an additional buff,   and the rehydration salts.    Over my shoulder was a water bottle sling I purchased from Amazon.   Quite a rugged one - with a zip for my iphone,  and clips for my flashlight.    Around my neck,   my binos.   And even though my binoculars are mid-sized and not large by any measure (8 x 32's),    I still struggled with how heavy they became around the neck.    Thank goodness they are small enough to rest on my shoulder (which was where they were unless I was looking through them).     Mental note:    harness for the next walking safari.      (see how I keep doing that??   Creating "next itineraries"??)     A one night stop is not something I'd usually enjoy,    but this felt different.    It felt truly like a "journey",    and I had  the small pack,   and just enough clothes,   and I would be reunited with the rest of my clothing at the airstrip anyhow.     Time to say good-by,   and walk the onward journey to Big Lagoon.     Okay......I'm in love     (looking into the "en-suite") (see these "baby-gate" things at the side?    they cover the front "window" at night)                       It is here that I meet my travel companion for the next bit.    Another solo traveller - from the UK.    A much more experienced safari-goer than I,    and I truly enjoyed his quiet company.           I usually nap in the afternoon "down-time",     but I had a strange notion......that maybe my bag wouldn't be at the airstrip tomorrow.    And I'd be right out of clothes.    So,   I set out washing just one set of long bottoms,   and my lightest weight fly-fishing shirt.     (and smalls,   as you do anyhow).     This was a bit of an experiment.    I had no idea how long they might take to dry.    Out in the sun,    probably seconds.    But there are yellow baboons watching my every move through the "en-suite" window.    I'm not entirely convinced my clothes will be safe to dry inside either lol.      And then the elephants saunter down for a drink.      So out comes the big camera.      No nap today!                         This "journey" of mine,   was transformative.     Flexing some "muscles" against fear.    I am not a squeamish gal - bugs and such do not bother me.     But I live and grew up in a "land of no snakes" (aside from the odd harmless garter).     The "baby gates" do very little to help me muster courage for the night.        But the mosquito nets DO.     I am very pleased to see,    that they have a weighted "hem",    and drag quite a bit.    And the overlap is huge.   (quite comical to see me trying to exit in the am).   They are heavy,  and high quality.      There is nothing getting in there.    No lizard,  no bugs,   no snakes.       A quick flashlight check under the bed.     All good.      I take one bed,   and lay my next-day's clothing out on the other.          What about leopards?  The mosquito nets offer little protection.  Oh right.....the baby gates.              Gosh Girl!!  Rewind your thoughts!   Remember 30 seconds ago when you felt good?       I settle in with my book on my ipad.      Sleep comes.    I wake up feeling like Wonder Woman.       Well.......maybe not quite as superhero as that.     But I do feel quite accomplished facing my fears head-on.        My flashlight becomes SO important to me.     Everything gets a sweep of light.     This kind of safari,   has me using my senses constantly.     "Skating with my  head up".    It is the most completely immersive experience I've ever had.      And we are just starting.      But I've some new-found courage and rehydrating salts.   

It really is a stunning place. An adventurous trip, and you share the highs and lows with us. Beautiful photos of wildlife and landscapes.

@ScooterMoved as agreed.  If you want to edit the title press and hold on title.

There is beauty in silence broken only by the winds riding across the valleys, zig zagging through the Gobi Altai mountains. The  flushes of green smother the smooth rolling slopes making the mounds even more prominent, like the silent restful burial grounds of giants sleeping among the mountains.   Horses bray. Across from where I sit, a herd of horses is lingering on a lower mountain. A couple of them have laid on the ground, enjoying the warmth of the sun in the biting chill. Another looks impatient to move on, braying, perhaps telling the others that the rest is over and it is time to go. A few peaks away, a herd of small dots of domesticated yaks are enjoying the fresh greens and warm sun.                  We have returned to last evening's stakeout point this morning of Day 6. As usual, I am the last to peak the top although OH waits for me. Sugi hurries us - a target mammal is seen behind a big rock.    Argalis! shy and really very nervous of humans, the wild sheep - the largest of all sheep in the world at up to 4ft tall - is intensively hunted in its range in central Asia, landing it on the IUCN Redlist's Near Threatened list and on the Mongolia's endangered status. They have the biggest horns of all sheep, which trophy hunters feel the lack of compunction to kill for it in Mongolia. There is an estimated 4,000 argali left in the wild in Mongolia, a massive decline from 40,000 in the 1970s due to illegal hunting, competiton for grazing land with the large volume of domestic lifestock. They are extremely difficult to see, and very skittish to any kind of noise or sound.  The three that are down in the valley keep staring in our direction. Even though we are as quiet as mice, the sheep are too nervous to stick around, and move off the valley and climb the opposite mountain until they blend in into the face of the rocks. May they stay safe and live long.              We sit and try to be comfortable, while scanning the mountains surrounding us on all four sides for the invisible big cat. Raptors fly above our heads. Redstarts hop around us, and a juvenile flies in, close to us, driven by curiousity. Over the ridge, the gentle slopes are pockmarked with holes hidden by tufts of grass. A pika steps out to see if the coast is clear but the others stay hidden.   A golden Eagle perches at the top of a peak before it opens its wings and launches into the valley. It flies straight across the valley then begins to circle around with each flyby a little lower into the valley, probably hoping to snatch an easy breakfast.The pika is well hidden and far from danger.    The ghost remains a shadow. Tumen desperate to find signs of the ghost, takes a walk to the other highland. after a long wait, he radios to say he sees tracks of the long-tailed ghost of a day old but nothing else to suggest it is still around. Our heads droop further down. The minutes tick into hours and we know, the ghost has ghosted us.    a curious redstart   griffon   Golden eagle   Saker falcon seen earlier   We stop in the valleys to have a packed lunch - instant noodles with huge flasks of hot water collected in DZ on our way out. We are going to a new camp tonight, but not without stopping in another peak to have another stake-out, located quite a distance away. My google timeline is missing these hours, presumably because phone and telecommunications connection is lost. A much easier hike up a gentle slope but still the ghost eludes us.     Another stakeout, another mountain view     It is past 8pm and the light is failing. Bagi drives quickly back to the grasslands that stretch miles and miles and miles. In the daytime, everything looks clear. But night has fallen and darkness makes everything unfamiliar. Tumen is directing him and seems to tell him to cut across the grasslands instead of keeping to the trails. It stretches and we pass one building 2x and OH and I know that we are going in  circles and are hopelessly lost. Each time we see a light in the distance, I hope that Tumen goes towards it to ask for directions but instead the car will turn and lurches into another blackness. By the time we pass the same building the third time, I call a halt and tell Sugi that we are lost and Tumen has to ask for directions. Sugi and Gaegi go towards a light in the distance but return to say no one is home. I don't know how Tumen figures it out, but he must have dug deep into his memory on that building to get his bearings, and finally we limp into Gobi Mirage past 10pm, hungry and tired. The camp staff is fantastic, they have kept our dinner aside. The great news is - we finally get ensuite gers! All is forgiven and forgotten!

We return to DZ and have a most delicious late lunch at a popular Korean restaurant Yuna. No pix as we are too ravenous and tuck in immediately.    It is already evening when we head to a new spot south of the Altai mountains to stake out the ghost. A climb up a steep slope sees me, Bagi and Gaegi breathlessly and slowly make our way to the top, at nearly 2,600 feet above sea level. We sit patiently, feeling fairly small as the mountains loom around us.   On the way with some small hopes   all hands on scope, bins and cameras         We wait till nearly 8pm, and make our way down to the cars, a little despondent and empty-handed once again. Not a sniff of the ghost.     The skies are losing the natural light. Tumen grabs Sugi and has a serious conversation away from us up on the mountain top.  At dinner we find out that our last two destinations are impassable because of the rains. We have to pivot (much as I hate to use this word). We don't know what places we should go to so I tell Tumen draw up a revised itinerary so we can understand it better. He agrees.  Strangely, that night, I sleep well, trusting Tumen will do good by us, despite not knowing where we will go to replace Khurkh and terelj. That's the adventurous spirit Tumen demands from us.             

Tumen diverts into the grasslands to show us another important project he is undertaking, a fenced up area of the head of a natural springwater source. The fences keep herders and animals away from the freshwater source so that the water flow is unimpeded and kept permanently clean. This improves the natural spring's water discharge and water flows increase, giving better and more access to herders and their animals and to wildlife. This is part of an on-going programme in Mongolia. WWF mentions in a report that some 43 heads of natural springs have been fenced as at January 2024 in the ranges where the critically endangered saiga roams.    The fenced area also allows natural plants to spring up around the clean waters, encouraging more shorebirds and waders to come into the area which increases the number of transitory stops for migrating birds from Siberia. I also notice within the same area, a fenced property housing a residential home surrounded by trees and plants, one of the many successful private attempts by residents at growing back trees in the arid region.   What note-worthy efforts these are by conservationists invested in the future of their country.      Across the  springwater is a property growing trees and plants in the desert, showing it is possible to revive greenery to the  arid region.  Some waders at the fenced project were Little Ringed Plover and long-toed Stint. Just outside the fences were demoiselle cranes.     

Is that big black cloud a harbinger of things to come, I wonder? Within two hours, that heavy hanging cloud dissipates and the sun cheerily shines against deep blue skies dotted with puffs of clouds once again.        After breakfast, we are out on the vast grasslands of Gobi desert and marvel at the miles upon miles of greenery. It looks so empty but surely there are living things that we just can't see. We are seeking the beautiful Oriental Plovers but these birds - medium-sized creatures - are still short enough to be hidden by the many tufts of grasses and wildflowers. We crisscross the vast flat land. I can't even recall how long or how far as our eyes strain for any movement or shape that stands out from the tall grasses. Isabelline Wheatears are everywhere, and each time we stop for a bird, Tumen radios in - Isabelline.      Isabelline Wheatear looking pretty against the wildflowers     Talking about radios, Tumen has set up both cars to communicate with each other with a car radio backed up by walkie talkies which are brought along on long walks for Tumen to bark orders at his team. Today, Tumen is in the lead car with our friends. We stop by to greet a pair of red-cheeked ground squirrels, also known as the Daurian Ground Squirrel, which is native to the grasslands and steppes of Mongolia, China and Russia.        Dashing again across the grasslands, Bagi suddenly stops and points to a pair of birds. Pallas's Sandgrouses! A top target in our bird list, the sandgrouses are found mainly in Mongolia with scatterings in China, and central Asia. The lead car is far ahead so Sugi has to radio them to turn back. One of the jittery birds however flies off as the lead car races back, and the second bird follows suit soon after, but not before our friends manage to snare a shot or two.       Further along, Tumen has located the much-sought after Oriental Plover, with a small family still lingering in the country. We are lucky; many of the plovers have already flown off to begin their migration southwards.      We have to stop in the middle of nowhere as one of the tyres of our vehicle has sprung a leak. Bagi has to pump up the leaking tyre, and this happens a couple more times in the morning, but this is finally fixed during lunchtime. Tumen finds a Toad-headed Agama which sits quite contentedly on his finger.          Fixing the tyre - reminds me of the flat tyres we often face in the African bush too! \   Tumen scans the grounds for any tiny critters

I awake early at 5.30am on Day 5 to get ready ahead of other guests. I step out in the chill, but stop at what is before me. A thick, heavy dark cloud hangs over the entire sky. Against the brooding black clouds, a narrow band of open skies  in the east shines gold, blinding my eyes as I try to figure out if the sun is rising. Even as the blazing round ball peeks out, the skies are coloured into a brilliant painting of many hues.  "Such a dazzling coat of many colors; It was red and yellow and green and brown And scarlet and black and ochre and peach..." from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat     I am mesmerised. I tell myself, just be still for a few more minutes to drown in this splendour unfolding before me, to watch that golden fire spouting from that spot while around it layers and layers of orange and pink, and grey and black build upon each other.    There's no time like now. Never again will I see such a grand display of nature. Let me bathe in it for one more second.    Please excuse me for the overload         Sunrise in Gobi Desert (please let me know if you can't see this)  

@Julianand @wilddog,    perhaps the opening paragraph of this report needs some editing then too!    (I assumed my other trip reports being 2019,  and 2021 were posted in the wrong spot - but turns out I was wrong on being wrong!).      Thank you for pointing me in the right direction.   I will know for the future.   @wilddog,   if you are easily able to move the report,    I am completely agreeable.   

@ScooterI think @Julianhas a point. Your report is still helpful and relevant for potential visitors to Zambia.    I can easily move it to the main Zambia TR forum as long as you are agreeable @Scooter. Just let me know.   Don't worry Julian.... you can do catch up when you are ready and, as you say, in the main country forums. 🙂