Ulgii - Altai - Golden Eagle Festival

As we have an early start this morning for the three-hour drive to Altai where the Eagle Festival is taking place, we are up at 06:00 and in the restaurant for breakfast at 07:00

We leave promptly at 07:30, and again we drive in a convoy across the steppe, with Adilla, our driver, leading the way. Apparently, he is the one who is most familiar with the various shortcuts. The scenery, as elsewhere in Mongolia, is stark and austere, but stunningly beautiful, traversing a 2,500-metre high pass along the way. Tulga is not travelling with us in our car today, however, we are allocated a young local guide called Mirbek. He is only 19, but very knowledgeable and passionate about local customs and traditions.

Adilla and Mirbek in the car

After a while, the track turns rougher and potholed, and at one stage, we travel through a snowstorm.

Altai Eagle Festival

On arrival at the festival site on a steppe outside the small village of Altai, confusion reigns. There is no obvious area for the displays to take place, no ropes or fences, and no markings on the ground. Just a lot of people milling around. Despite being shown a Program of Events, no one seems to know what is happening. While we wait to find out, we stay in the large dining ger with a few other people to keep warm.

The proposed program

After a while, Adilla comes in and beckons us to follow him to the car, and he drives us up on a hillside overlooking the steppe. Mirbek explains that this is the finishing line of the first horse race. A bitingly cold wind and drizzle of rain / snow, make me wish I’d brought my long padded winter coat and waterproof trousers.

Waiting for the horse race

As for the horse race, there is no set course as such, they just ride across the steppe from the start ‘line’ to the finish line, a stretch of approximately two kilometres.

The start of the race is somewhere behind that hill on the left

The finish 'line' is the car with a flag

Heading for the flag car

Horse racing is deeply rooted in Mongolian culture, and these 3-4-year-old Mongolian horses are smaller and stockier with plenty of stamina and resilience.

They are ridden by young boys between the ages of seven and thirteen, without the use of saddles or stirrups. These youngsters have been riding since they could walk!

Despite the cold, we stay until the last rider crosses the finish line.

Eagle Masters

From the hillside, we head for the main ‘arena’, where eagle masters are gathering for registration.

The camp and 'arena' seen from the hillside

Eagle Masters gathering

The people we see here today are not Mongolian, they are Kazakhs who migrated from their own country, mostly in the 19th century during the time of the Russian Empire. Now there are around 400,000 Kazakhs in this area of Mongolia, the majority of whom are nomads. They are culturally, linguistically, and religiously distinct from Mongolians.

The Eagle Masters are not all male, females are getting their foot inside the door of the tradition as well. Some of you may have seen the documentary Eagle Huntress, following a 13-year-old girl in her quest to become the first female champion. You can see a preview of the film here.

As well as a young boy with a kestrel.

The Opening Ceremony

Tulga (second from the left) and other officials open the Nomad Games

All the Eagle Masters gather together and ride around the perimeter of the arena, showing off their eagles (tethered to their wrists) to the spectators as they go.

Lunch

Lunch is taken in the main dining ger, with one big table for a mixed group of Americans, Germans, and Australians, and two smaller ones for those of us on private tours. One of the nomad ladies brings out dish after dish and places them on the tables. Just as we think we are completely full, another plate arrives bulging with food. There may be lots of food, but there are not enough cutlery, tea cups, or even chairs for everyone.

There is soup and bread, potato balls, rice, and vegetables. Next, we get sweet and sour chicken, and some indistinguishable meat, plus a stuffed aubergine.

For dessert, there are individually wrapped candy bars.

Altai Ger Camp

After lunch, we go to check in to the ger camp. The camp consists of a line of around 30 or so traditional nomad gers, one main restaurant ger, and two small latrines where a hole has been dug in the ground, a stool with a toilet seat placed over it, and a tent erected around it. They are situated a little distance from the accommodation, which necessitates a trek across a couple of small streams and some seriously uneven ground to reach them. I have also noticed that a queue has formed outside both of them after lunch.

You can see both the latrine tents in this image

Locals have tried to use small stones to create bridges over the streams to make it easier to reach the latrines

You can see the mound of earth outside the tent where the hole has been dug.

We are allocated a ger about halfway down the line.

All the gers are traditional nomad tents, erected just for this festival. The ‘floor’ consists of bare earth with a few rugs placed on top, and in the centre of the ger is a fireplace for heating.

Two military style beds with metal frames with a wire mesh suspended from it, means that the bed sinks down considerably in the middle – I liken it to sleeping in a metal hammock.

As we are settling in, someone arrives with a porta-potty - basically, a bucket with a seat and a lid, which is more than adequate and incredibly welcome as I've been worried about the trek to the loo in the night.

Pink potty on the left

Eagle Masters Competition – Eagle Hunting

Kazakh Eagle Hunting has been included on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. During the competition, Eagle Hunters will have an assistant who rides to the top of a nearby hill, holding the eagle, whose head is covered with a leather hood. When the Master is ready, he will wave a piece of meat in the air and / or drag it on the ground while calling the eagle. The assistant will remove the hood and encourage the bird to fly to her master (they are nearly always female birds, as these are better hunters).

Assistants on the hill with the eagles

The Eagle Master with a rabbit's leg, calling his bird

He will also drag it on the ground to try and entice the eagle

Or swing it in the air

Some of the masters are successful in attracting their eagle, such as this chap

The next chap is not so successful, as his eagle is refusing to obey orders today.

With his assistant holding the eagle, ready to climb to the hill

Despite all the encouragement and a juicy piece of meat, the eagle stays on the hill

This one lands beautifully on the outstretched arm of the Master

I am not sure if points are deducted for the eagle landing on the ground instead

The tradition of Eagle Hunters, known as berkutchi, is passed down through generations, and there are still some 250-300 Eagle Hunters in this area. These days the practice is mostly carried out in order to preserve their heritage, and of course to compete in competitions such as this. There are a number of Eagle Festivals in different villages around here from early September through to the end of October.

Field Archery (AKA Sadak)

Competitors do not aim for a circular target board as they might in the West, instead, they shoot at a target on the ground.

Tenge Ilu

In this game, competitors have to pick a stick from the ground while riding at speed across the arena.

Missed it!

This chap is more successful

Spectators

Horse Archery

As if hitting a target with a bow and arrow is not difficult enough on its own, here they have to do so while riding a moving horse. The target here is the more traditional vertical board

It’s not as easy as it looks, and not all the arrows hit the target.

This guy's arrow goes straight into the ground, much to the amusement of the spectators

As the activities finish for the day, we retire to our ger where the fire is lit. We are delighted that the Festival is not only about eagles but also so many other traditional nomad games. I never expected that.

Dinner

We gather with other tourists in the main ger for dinner. First some soup arrives, then enough dishes to feed at leas half a dozen people. I feel bad leaving so much; I hope it doesn’t go to waste.

Soup with dumplings

So much food!

After dinner, a few of the locals provide some traditional Kazakh entertainment, some of which I find vaguely similar to the shrill singing we have previously heard in China.

Throat singing

I am totally bewitched by this gentleman singing and playing the dombra, a traditional Kazakh instrument. The guttural voice and high-pitched whistle give a sensation of more than one pitch at a time. Throat singing is similar to overtone singing and was traditionally used for lullabies, to lure wild animals, and to summon shamanic spirits. The singing has completely seduced me, and I don’t mind admitting that I have played this short video clip (excuse the visual quality – it was shot on my phone in a very dark ger) time and time and time again.

Not long after we retire to our own ger, a couple of men come and light the fire for us. They are very sweet, full of smiles, and shake our hands as they leave (having just handled the dung they use as fuel).

Dressed in all my clothes – thermal long-johns, jeans, thermal vest, jumper, fleece, hat, gloves, and a pair of fabulous cashmere socks (a thoughtful gift from Daari, our guide in Central Mongolia), I climb under two thick quilts in the bed.

My cashmere socks

The room is cosy, with the red glow of the fire and a flicker on the ceiling being the only light. There is no electricity here.

The fire is super efficient in heating up the inside of the ger, considering it is -2 °C outside. It soon becomes apparent that it is too efficient, however. The temperature gets hotter and hotter, and hotter, and one by one each of my thick layers of clothing comes off. Within an hour, the temperature inside the ger is 30 °C. Despite the heat and the unconventional sleeping position in the hammock-style bed, I still manage to get to doze off, and later drifting into a deep sleep.

Goodnight from Altai in the far west of Mongolia. Thank you to Undiscovered Destinations and their local team for arranging this incredible adventure.