About Sayat Travel · Bayan-Ölgii, Western Mongolia

We grew up here. Now we show you our home.

Sayat Travel is a Mongolian travel company from Bayan-Ölgii, in the Altai Mountains of the far west. Western Mongolia and its Kazakh eagle-hunting culture are our home ground, and today we also travel through the Gobi, northern and central Mongolia.

Plan your journey See a journey with us

Guiding since 2007

Yerlan’s first year as a tour guide

Founded 2014

Sayat Travel LLC established

Our own Land Cruisers

Four 4×4s and a supply truck

5.0 on Tripadvisor

82 reviews · checked 12 Oct 2026

Altai Tavan Bogd National Park

Yerlan Shakhabai smiling and adjusting his cap, with a camera on his shoulder, beside a river with autumn trees and mountains behind — Yerlan Shakhabai, founder of Sayat Travel

Our story

Why I show people my home

I was born into a nomadic family in the Altai Mountains of Bayan-Ölgii, at the far western edge of Mongolia. Most people here are Kazakh, and the traditions you travel to see, from eagle hunting to life in the ger, are the ones I grew up with.

I started working as a tour guide in 2007, leading small groups on hikes and horseback rides through the mountains I know best. In 2014 I founded Sayat Travel LLC.

We grew step by step. Our groups became larger and our routes went further: our first Gobi tours in 2019, journeys well beyond Western Mongolia from 2022, and climbing and other adventure trips from 2023. Today we run festival trips, Gobi expeditions, driving adventures, climbing and photography tours.

What has not changed is how we travel. We stay close to local people, so you can share their everyday life, traditions and culture, and every journey supports the families who welcome you.

Yerlan Shakhabai

Founder, guide and travel photographer

Our journey

How Sayat Travel grew

From hikes and horseback rides with small groups to journeys across Mongolia.

2007

First steps as a guide

Yerlan starts guiding small groups on hiking and horseback trips.
2014

Sayat Travel LLC founded

Yerlan establishes his own company.
2019

Into the Gobi

Our first tours in the Gobi Desert.
2022

Beyond the west

Our journeys expand well beyond Western Mongolia.
2023

More adventure

Climbing and other outdoor adventure experiences join our range.
Today

Across Mongolia

Festivals, Gobi expeditions, driving adventures, climbing and photography tours.

Our team

The people behind your journey

A small office team plans and prepares every trip. Between us we speak English, Mongolian, Kazakh, Russian, Turkish and Kyrgyz.

Yerlan Shakhabai

Founder, guide & travel photographer

Began guiding in 2007 and founded Sayat Travel LLC in 2014. An experienced guide and travel photographer from the Altai.

Speaks English, Russian, Mongolian, Kazakh and Kyrgyz
Nazyerke

Management & tour preparation

Supports the management of the company and prepares each tour behind the scenes.

Speaks English, Mongolian and Kazakh
Yerlan Kukyebai

Management & travel logistics

Manages travel logistics, including our vehicles and all transport arrangements.

Speaks Mongolian, Kazakh and Russian
Janyerke

Sales manager

Manages sales for Sayat Travel.

Speaks English, Mongolian, Kazakh and Turkish
Makhsat Sanyaz

IT & marketing support

Looks after IT and technical consulting, and supports our marketing.

Speaks English, Mongolian, Kazakh and Turkish

On the ground with you

The guides, drivers, cooks and horsemen who look after you each day.

Four men from the Sayat Travel team laughing together on a boulder beside a mountain lake — T1 · Our guides, on the road together

A guide in a blue checked shirt holding a wooden walking stick, arm round a smiling trekker in a sun hat, in an autumn mountain valley — T2 · A guide and a guest on an autumn trek

A driver in a rust-red sweater and cap leaning on the front of a grey UAZ van with fuel cans on the roof, among larch trees — T3 · One of the drivers we travel with

A horse guide in a purple hoodie sitting inside a decorated ger with two young children — T4 · Bakha, horse guide, at home with his children

Our cook in a red jumper and fleece vest preparing lunch at a folding table on the steppe, where a team member and a guest sit with a thermos, with mountains behind — T5 · Our cook preparing lunch on the steppe

A smiling cook in a red bandana lifts khorkhog from a milk can while a man holds the bowl and guests gather round with a camera — T6 · Khorkhog for dinner at camp

A golden eagle perched on a mound in the foreground, looking towards a white Kazakh ger where a family sits outside, with a bare mountain behind — A Kazakh family’s ger and their golden eagle, Bayan-Ölgii

Our home ground

Western Mongolia, from the inside

Bayan-Ölgii is Mongolia’s westernmost province and home to its Kazakh community. In September and October, eagle hunters gather for festivals in Sagsai, Tolbo, Altantsogts and near Ölgii. In winter, families move their herds through the Altai to their winter camps.

Local knowledge matters most where the map runs out. Roads turn into tracks, phone signal comes and goes, and weather can close a pass in an afternoon. Knowing the families, the routes and the seasons first-hand is what lets us plan journeys that work here, and change them safely when we need to.

Two Kazakh eagle hunters in fox and wolf fur coats and red-topped fur hats, on horseback — Eagle hunters in winter furs

A long line of eagle hunters on horseback in traditional dress at an eagle festival, with dry mountains behind — The parade at an autumn eagle festival

A herder in a long dark coat walking behind a large herd of goats, sheep and blanketed horses on gravel steppe — The winter migration through the Altai

How we travel

Travelling with local people

Yours

Private tours, shaped around you

Join one of our small-group departures or travel privately. A private tour can be fully customised around your interests and requests, from the route to the pace and the people you meet.

Group tours for 2–10 travellers
Private departures available

Fair

Families paid for what they provide

We pay local families for the accommodation, meals and horseman services they provide on our tours. We work with different families depending on the itinerary and the needs of each trip.

Families told in advance once a tour is confirmed, so they can prepare

Part of the community

We stay close to local people, so our guests can share their everyday life, traditions and culture. We also contribute to local celebrations and community events.

Funds towards weddings and eagle festivals

How our tours work

A journey with Sayat

What a trip with us looks like, day to day: how you travel, where you sleep, what you eat, whom you meet and what you will do.

01 On the road
02 Making camp
03 At the table
04 With nomadic families
05 Out in the landscape

How you travel

On the road

Distances in Mongolia are long and many tracks are unpaved. Depending on your route and group size, you travel in one of our own Land Cruisers or with drivers we contract for larger groups. Days on the road bring lunch stops in open valleys, river crossings and visits to village shops.

A grey UAZ van parked in a green Altai valley while the crew sets out a picnic lunch on a folding table, with horses grazing and snowy mountains behind — J1 · Lunch stop in an Altai valley

View from inside a van over the driver's shoulder down a gravel track into a wide valley with a lake and bare mountains — J2 · Heading down into the valley

A pale blue UAZ van driving out of a shallow river onto a gravel bank, with brown hills and a lake behind — J3 · Crossing a river

Travellers laughing at the counter of a small wooden village shop stocked with snacks and drinks — J4 · Stocking up at a village shop

Four travellers sitting and standing on the roof of an olive-green UAZ van on snowy ground under a blue sky — J5 · Guests on a winter trip

Inside our UAZ van: a hand-carved wooden console painted orange with Kazakh patterns, quilted blue panels with UAZ badges, and the driver's seat and wheel beyond — J6 · Inside our UAZ, with its hand-carved Kazakh console

Our own vehicles

Sayat Travel owns four Toyota Land Cruisers and a minitruck. For larger groups we also work with contracted drivers and transport providers, so the vehicle you travel in depends on your route and group size.

V1

Toyota Land Cruiser 105

Pictured on a high pass below the glacier
V2

Toyota Land Cruiser 80

Our support vehicle on tours
V3

Toyota Land Cruiser 200

Two vehicles
V4

Kia Bongo minitruck

Our winter support truck. It carries equipment, supplies and the gers our guests sleep in on the winter migration photography tours

Where you sleep

Making camp

Depending on the route, you stay in ger camps, in a local family’s ger or in tents. On camping nights the team pitches camp and sets up a dining table with a view.

A long camp dining table with thermos flasks, cups and camouflage folding chairs set out on grassland beside a lake at sunrise — J7 · Breakfast set out by a lake

Black-and-white photo of a dome tent and two UAZ vans with open doors on open steppe below a bare hill — J8 · Camp for the night

Inside a Kazakh ger hung with brightly embroidered felt wall hangings, with patterned rugs and a low table of food — J9 · A Kazakh ger ready for guests

What you eat

At the table

Meals are cooked at camp and by the local families who host us. Expect khorkhog, mutton and vegetables cooked with hot stones inside a milk can; buuz dumplings; meat stews from the ger stove; and picnic lunches on a riverbank.

A group of travellers in sun hats serving themselves from bowls on a folding table on the stony bank of a fast river — **J10** · Lunch on a riverbank

Tongs lifting pieces of mutton, potatoes and onion out of a milk can into a steel bowl — **J11** · Khorkhog straight from the milk can

A bamboo steamer of buuz dumplings, some made with red dough, beside a pot of soup — **J12** · Buuz, steamed dumplings

Two women preparing meat in a large pan on the stove of a wooden-roofed ger — **J13** · Our hosts preparing dinner

A large pot of slow-cooked meat and ribs in broth with a ladle, on a ger stove — **J14** · A stew from the ger stove

Our cook in a red bandana and apron serving stuffed cabbage rolls and potatoes to young guests at a folding table beside a river — **J15** · Dinner served by the river

Whom you meet

With nomadic families

We visit herding and eagle-hunting families along the way, choosing them to suit each itinerary. Once your tour is confirmed we let them know you are coming, so they can prepare. You might be poured milk tea in their ger, watch the evening milking in the sheep pen or see aaruul, dried curd, laid out in the sun.

A Kazakh eagle hunter in a fox-fur hat with his mother and two small children in fur coats, sitting in front of embroidered wall hangings and fox pelts in their ger — **J16** · An eagle-hunting family at home

A smiling guest kneels on a felt rug in a ger hung with floral fabric while a herder drinks tea and an older woman pours milk tea from a kettle — **J17** · Milk tea with a Kazakh family

A woman in a striped coat and headscarf ladling from a pan on the stove of her ger, with a cat asleep beside it — **J18** · Our host at her stove

Guests and hosts seated around a low table spread with bread, sweets and dairy inside a large ger — **J19** · A welcome spread

Guests watching a herding family among their sheep and goats in a wooden corral below a larch forest — **J20** · Evening in the sheep pen

Pieces of white aaruul, dried curd, laid out on a reed mat on a wooden rack under a blue sky, with brown hills behind — **J21** · Aaruul drying in the sun

A man takes a selfie inside a herders' canvas tent while an older herding couple sit by the stove and kettle — **J22** · Tea in a herders’ summer tent

What you will do

Out in the landscape

Between the visits are the journeys themselves: hiking and horseback riding in the Altai, the eagle festivals in autumn, Gobi expeditions, driving adventures, climbing and photography tours. Every private tour can be shaped around what you most want to do.

A group of eight travellers posing on stony ground in front of a huge glacier and snowy peaks in Altai Tavan Bogd — **J23** · Our guests below the glacier in Altai Tavan Bogd

A rider leading a line of pack horses and riders across snowy steppe towards snow-covered Altai mountains — **J24** · Riding with pack horses through the Altai

Aerial view of a blue mountain lake with a curving white sand spit and green marsh, below red and green mountains — **J25** · Khoton Lake, Altai Tavan Bogd

A herder in a blue deel leading three Bactrian camels down a golden sand dune — **J26** · Camels in the Gobi dunes

A guest in a riding helmet on a brown-and-white horse on stony steppe below snow-covered Altai mountains — **J27** · Riding below the Altai peaks

Photographers with cameras and long lenses kneeling inside a ger to photograph two Kazakh eagle hunters in fur coats with their golden eagles — **J28** · Behind the scenes on a photography tour

A roped team in harnesses and crampons on a glacier at sunrise, one climber raising an arm — **J29** · Roped up on a glacier at sunrise

Want to see how a specific trip runs day by day?

Browse the itineraries → Explore the regions →

Why travellers trust us

What our guests say

Tripadvisor

5.0

From 82 reviews on our public Tripadvisor listing

As of 12 October 2026

Read all reviews on Tripadvisor →

Best Adventure & BEST TOUR GUIDE EVER!!

“A huge part of what made this trip amazing was our tour guide, Yerlan. He was knowledgeable, patient, organized, and genuinely passionate about sharing Mongolia with us.”

Jasmin TTravelled May 2026 · Tripadvisor

A Once-in-a-Lifetime Journey With Mongolia’s Nomads

“Yerlan organized the logistics team, the ger set-ups, and the meals. Sometimes we ate with the locals for a full cultural immersion, and sometimes the team cooked for us — everything felt effortless and authentic.”

Ngoc-Dung NTravelled February 2025 · Tripadvisor

One of the best experiences of my life

“Yerlan took really good care of us, and booked internal flights and bus for us. The whole crew was super nice and helpful. We camped with a Kazakh nomad family and explored the beauty of the West of Mongolia.”

Esme MChiang Mai, Thailand · travelled June 2023 · Tripadvisor

Sayat Travel LLC

Established 2014 · company registration no. 3073408

Mongolian Tourism Organization

Sayat Travel is a member

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Start a conversation

Plan your journey with Yerlan.

Tell us when you’d like to travel, what you want to experience and how many of you are coming. Yerlan and the team will help you shape the trip, whether you join a group or travel privately.

We aim to reply as soon as possible, usually within one day.

Send an enquiry Browse all tours

WhatsApp +976 9942 5394 Email info@sayattravel.com

We grew up here. Now we show you our home.

Why I show people my home

How Sayat Travel grew

First steps as a guide

Sayat Travel LLC founded

Into the Gobi

Beyond the west

More adventure

Across Mongolia