Into the Elements: A Harsh Expedition at the Edge of Kyrgyzstan ❄️🏔️

In 2025, a joint international team of biologists — the Wild Sheep Partnership for Central Asia — was formed, bringing together experts from Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan to conduct research on argali sheep. Within the framework of an interstate Memorandum of Cooperation, a joint expedition was successfully organized and carried out from 📅 8 to 13 December 2025.

Despite biting cold and snowstorms, staff of the Ilbirs Foundation, together with representatives of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Kyrgyz State Hunting Enterprise under the Presidential Administration, and scientists from five countries, set out for some of the most remote and harsh regions of Kyrgyzstan — Yshtyk, Uzengu Kuush, and Kotur.

📌 Extreme weather conditions, remoteness, and challenging terrain turned this journey into a true test. Yet it is precisely under such conditions that critically important work is carried out: monitoring and updating data on the status of argali and ibex populations, developing and strengthening conservation measures, and advancing interstate cooperation and scientific exchange among Central Asian countries.

This expedition was more than a scientific mission — it was a real adventure, a test of endurance, teamwork, and commitment to wildlife conservation, even where nature reveals its most unforgiving face.