Our aims
Artus Expeditions grew out of years spent living, travelling and organising journeys in Mongolia, and the friendships built along the way. We run small wildlife and adventure expeditions in places where conservation work is already under way, and we aim to work alongside these efforts rather than operate separately from them.
Three commitments shape everything we do.
First, the animal comes before the photograph. We never bait, feed or call wild animals, and we never stage an encounter for our travellers. We observe from a distance, follow the guidance of local rangers, and make it clear before booking that wildlife sightings cannot be guaranteed.
Second, the people who welcome our travellers should benefit from tourism. We work with local guides, trackers, rangers and herding families, and use locally run camps whenever possible.
Third, we keep groups to a maximum of five or six travellers and stay several days in one area, because patience is what wildlife observation actually requires, and because smaller groups have a lighter impact on the places we visit.
We are also building relationships with Mongolian researchers and conservation organisations working in these areas, so that travellers can better understand both the wildlife they see and the work involved in protecting it.
Reducing carbon emissions
Most international travellers reach Mongolia by air, and we recognise that international flights are the largest part of the carbon footprint of a trip here. While we cannot remove that impact, we can reduce emissions once travellers arrive in Mongolia.
We travel overland rather than by domestic flight wherever the itinerary allows. For example, Ikh Nart can be reached by the Trans-Mongolian railway to Choir. We use one shared vehicle per group rather than several, keep groups to five or six travellers, and base each expedition in one area for several days instead of moving camp every day. This means fewer kilometres driven per traveller and less fuel used.
We buy food and supplies locally rather than bringing them from the capital whenever possible, ask travellers to carry refillable bottles rather than buying bottled water, and carry out everything we carry in.
We are a young company and do not yet formally measure the emissions of our trips. As we grow, we intend to develop a more systematic approach to measuring and reducing them.
Protecting and restoring nature and biodiversity
Our expeditions take place in nature reserves and on steppe where Mongolian researchers and rangers have worked for years. We follow their rules and guidance rather than creating our own.
In the field, we keep to existing tracks where appropriate, observe from a distance using binoculars and long lenses, and never bait, feed, call or otherwise lure an animal. We do not stage encounters, and we do not disclose the location of sensitive sites. For example, Pallas’s cats in the eastern steppe live in areas without formal legal protection, and we do not publish the location of the research centre we work with.
We base our expeditions with organisations involved in conservation and research, including the team managing Ikh Nart Nature Reserve, the Hustai National Park Trust, and the Steppe Wildlife Conservation & Research Center in the east. Our activities in these areas are carried out with the guidance of their teams and local rangers.
We introduce our travellers to this work and are developing ways for our expeditions to contribute to it directly. Our Conservation page provides more information about the organisations we work with and their work.
Providing local benefits from tourism
Artus Expeditions is based in Ulaanbaatar. We work with Mongolian guides, drivers, trackers and cooks, and whenever possible work with people who live in or near the regions our expeditions visit.
We stay in locally run ger camps and with herding families rather than hotel chains, and buy food, fuel and other supplies locally wherever possible. This helps ensure that tourism spending reaches the people and communities who welcome our travellers.
On our Tsaatan journeys, travellers stay with reindeer-herding families in the northern taiga. Families receive payment for hosting travellers, providing horses and guiding them through the area.
We keep groups to five or six people so that accommodation and activities remain manageable for local hosts. We also work with rangers and local trackers in protected areas, supporting the people whose work helps protect these landscapes and their wildlife.
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