AT THIS time of year reindeer are everywhere but how many people can say they have actually seen Rudolf in the flesh rather than just on a Christmas card?

James and Karina Moreton have not only witnessed these magnificent creatures at first hand but are now offering wannabe Santas a chance to meet them and their owners.

But unlike the popular Christmas story, these reindeer don’t live in Lapland but northern Mongolia where they play a key part in the way of life of the Tsaatan nomadic people.

The Moretons fell in love with Mongolia while backpacking and now they want to share their knowledge and enthusiasm with international visitors.

As a result, they set up Panoramic Journeys based in Charlbury and gradually built up a portfolio of small group trips ranging from cultural visits – such as the annual Naadam festival, which features archery, wrestling and horse-riding – to physically-demanding expeditions.

They also offer trips to the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. As well as the reindeer expedition, last year saw Panoramic Journeys’ first tour focusing on the endangered wild Bactrian camel, and their first ballooning trip across Mongolia’s spectacular landscapes.

Karina said: “Our trips are about helping people to escape their day-to-day lives and widening their horizons. People come back changed.”

The Tsaatan use reindeer as their main form of transport as well as for milk, meat, skins and antlers, which they use for tool and medicine.

Last August, the Moretons took a small group of clients on a new expedition to a region near the Russian border they describe as “remote even by Mongolian standards.”

Reindeer are prolific there because the vegetation includes willows and birches, sedges and grasses and, above all, a particular species of lichen they favour.

The trip included six days on horseback, riding through larch forests and marshes, along rivers and over mountains, and stays with two Tsaatan communities, living in their teepee-style tents known as urtsuud, and learning about their way of life and the beautiful, unspoilt land where they live.

For 2011, they are planning an itinerary for photographers led by acclaimed photo-journalist Timothy Allen.

Visitors are briefed carefully, and payments go directly to the local people who provide services, such as transport and accommodation.

They invest some of their profits back into development projects, which have included providing equipment for midwives, renovating a secondary school and planting trees in the Gobi desert.

Karina added: “Mongolia offers such an attractive contrast to the crowded and hectic lives that many people in industrialised countries lead.”