Altai Expeditions LLC
The Company
Our Origins and Story
Altai Expeditions was founded in 2007 by a young couple based in Western Mongolia. We aim to develop our region, create new jobs for locals, and increase their household earnings. Our company organizes: mountain-climbing expeditions, hiking trips, horse treks, meetings with eagle hunters, visits to nomadic families, cultural tours, fishing trips, bird-watching, mountain-biking, and the Golden Eagle Festival tours. We have successfully raised funds from domestic and foreign supporters for projects and initiatives to improve the living standards of our local communities. We also contribute a certain percentage of our annual income to local projects and events. In 2018, Altai Expeditions LLC was selected as the “Best Tour Operator of the Year” by the Tourism Association of Bayan-Ulgii province.
Currently, our company receives about 500 foreign tourists a year. They experience Mongolia’s beautiful nature and learn about the people’s unique cultural heritages while travelling in a leisurely manner.
Our company uses high-quality travel equipment: tents, utensils, tables, chairs, etc. We are the pioneers in Bayan-Ulgii province of organizing mountaineering expeditions with specialised mountain-climbing equipment on a highly professional level.
Altai Expeditions team
The Growth
of Altai Expeditions
In the spring of 2009, Altai Expeditions was selected during a project to support start-ups organized by the Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation, and received three fully-furnished gers (yurts), nine beds, blankets, home utensils, and monetary aid. This was the beginning of the “Altai Peaks” tourist camp. Currently, the camp has 25 gers and a wooden restaurant with a capacity of 60 guests. Over time, we increased our circle of acquaintances and began organizing tours of our own.
Since starting our official website in 2010, we have been able to attract more travellers from around the world. In 2013, we participated in a training program on how to market your company and develop plans, which was organized by CBI of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to support tour operators.
To expand our business, we received a loan with low interest from JICA’s initiative to support foreign businesses and founded the “Eagle’s Nest” hotel in 2013. This gave us good results and we were able to fully repay the loan on time.
Later with our own finances, we built a ger camp on the shore of Tolbo Lake with a restaurant capable of receiving up to 80 guests at a time. In 2018, we opened the “Altai Guesthouse” and “Jadra Coffee Shop" in the center of Ulgii city.
Our Advantages
- Altai Expeditions LLC is a 100% locally owned company, providing stable job opportunities for locals.
- One of the first tour operators in the region.
- Always getting involved in projects to improve the living standards of the local community and became one of the regional organizations that successfully implements projects.
- 10 to 15% of our income from travellers is used on financing some kind of a local project or event.
- Our team is always innovating.
- We work together with non-government organizations to raise funds from inside and outside the country. Our focus is on improving the quality of local healthcare and education, and on improving the expertise of teachers.
- We implement programs of cultural exchange between local and foreign students.
- To support women at home to earn income, we have formed a cooperation of women who make handicrafts and we help sell their products during the travel season.
- We have many years of experience in sustainable tourism.
- We are experts in the region’s natural features and the local people’s cultures and customs.
- It is important for us to preserve the local cultural heritage and traditions.