Join us in the summer of 2025 on an adventure to the Mongolian steppe! 5-15 June 2025
Once almost completely extinct from their ancestral home, the Mongolian wild horse or Takhi is a conservation success story. Careful and considered local action and international support has meant these horses are flourishing, but still need our help. To ensure the survival of the species, our Partner spends every summer collecting data and every winter analysing it. Information about the horses behaviour, movement and social dynamics is collected in this data and this is where we come in! A small group of us will work alongside the Mongolian and international conservation team to collect data, ensuring enough information exists in the winter when it’s time to analyse.
Staying almost 100 km away from the capital of Mongolia, we will be sharing space with golden eagles, pallas cats and of course the tahki. We will be living at the scientific research base, complete with showers and western toilets and where all your meals are provided. It’s an all inclusive trip, without the mega hotels! Our accommodations will be cosy and traditional felted ghers yurts when in the field and in locally owned hotels when staying in Ulaanbaatar.
Want to know more about the conservation efforts of our partner? Visit our Mongolia page!
We will be observing the horses in the field, noting their behaviour, their population size, and distribution. The data and information collected by the volunteers are used by the resident biologists and researchers to help them manage the reintroduction of takhi into the wild and to aid the study and protection of the forest-steppe ecosystem.
On days we are volunteering we start at 7am for a full breakfast. At 8am we will be driven through the national park to a location that has missing data. There we will make our observations until we are picked up again. In the afternoon we add our information to the computer and take part in any special projects like translating documents and taking photos for guidebooks.
On days that we are not volunteering we will be visiting a Bronze Age burial site deep in the steppe, spending the day with a traditional nomadic family, sightseeing around Ulaanbaatar and taking part in all the cultural immersion possible.
At Hustai National Park, volunteers stay in shared yurts on the location of the project. Accommodation is comfortable but simple—there is electricity in your yurt and a wood stove for heating during cold nights. The camp is equipped with a shower, toilet, and restaurant. Although electricity is available at this location, cell phone signal is limited. There is wi-fi in the premises now, making it easier to stay in touch with friends and family. Three meals will be provided for you each day.
Do you have questions about safety? We have answers right here!
We’ve got you covered every step of the way! Your volunteering journey includes:
Airport pick-up and drop-off at Ulaanbaatar Airport
Comfortable accommodation in Ulaanbaatar and at our field site.
All meals
Wifi
Excursions in the community including Bronze Age archaeological sites, natural history and anthropology museums, Buddhist temples, hikes, cultural presentations, throat singing workshops, and more!
Transportation around Mongolia
Comprehensive pre-departure & on-site training
A donation to our Placement Partner
AEI Travel Manual brimming with key travel insights including packing list, currency information and in-depth placement description
Premium Individual Travel Insurance (up to USD 500,000 in emergency medical coverage)
24/7 emergency support throughout your placement
One tree planted for every volunteer to help offset carbon emissions and create more livable ecosystems for wildlife
Enrolment with the Global Travel Academy to earn a certificate in International Volunteering
This program does not include flights, entry visa costs, international and domestic airport taxes, immunizations and medications.
Are you thinking of fundraising for a portion, or all your fees? Many of our clients have been very successful with their fundraising efforts. To learn more about their successful fundraising projects and see how you can raise funds for your experience, please visit our fundraising page!
June 5-15 2025
Nora will be arriving early to make sure everyone is picked up by a friendly face at the airport on 5 June. You should expect to be departing on 15 June. If you cannot make these dates, or want to extend your trip, we are happy to be flexible with different departing times.
Nora Livingstone! Nora is an experienced canoe/mountaineering guide and our volunteer coordinator. Having guided trips in the mountains of Italy, the rivers of Ontario and four animal conservation trips in Greece and Kenya and Guatemala, she is excited about another adventure in Mongolia! This will be her 5th AEI expedition and her 2nd time in Mongolia.
The mission of our partner in Hustai National Park is to conserve the ecosystems and biodiversity in the park. They aim to protect historical stone monuments, build up the wild takhi population, organise national and international workshops and meetings, and develop eco-tourism to support local communities. Your participation will directly and indirectly support all aspects of this important mission. You will be helping with the scientific studies that will support the conservation efforts of this organisation. Gathering information on the numbers, health, and behaviour of the horse population allows the scientists to evaluate the state of the herds and make educated conservation decisions. Your support also helps the communities around the park. By volunteering with this organisation, you are ensuring that there will be a future for the wild horses in Hustai National Park.
Immerse yourself in a true Mongolian experience with us! From throat singing to archery, there is always something to witness, learn more about and even try. Having a guide with you 24/7 means you are never on your own and you never have to navigate the cyrillic alphabet!
We will be visiting some of the oldest known burial stones in the area while also seeing the Mongolian stock exchange. It’s a country of diversity and many curiosities! Pictures of museums, ancient Buddhist temples, vodka distilleries and of course the tahki will fill your phone during this trip that you will never forget.
The dinners served at the centre are sit-down dinners and the servers dress up and practise their serving techniques. We encourage volunteers to bring watercolour paints and sketchbooks because inspiration is bound to strike here.
Observing these wild horses will be a magical experience, and your visit to Mongolia will be a trip of a lifetime. Want to read what our alumni have to say? Check out what the wonderful Sandy Sharkey wrote in Conjour. World. You can see more of her stunning photography on her blog!
B Corps are certified by the non-profit B Lab to meet rigorous social and environmental performance standards, accountability, and transparency. We have been a B Corp since 2013, and since then, we have always been in the top 10% of quantifiable benefits to the environment and the communities in which we operate.
We acknowledge the traditional and contemporary custodians of the land on which Animal Experience International’s Barrie office is located. These people are the Ho-de-no-sau-nee-ga (Haudenosaunee), Anishinabewaki ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᐗᑭ, Mississauga, and Wendake-Nionwentsïo People and we recognize their continuing connection to the land, waters, and culture. We pay our respect to their Elders, past, present, and emerging.
TICO REGISTERED: ONTARIO REGISTRATION # 50022902
© Copyright 2024, All rights reserved
