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Overview
Mongolia offers a rare glimpse into an ancient nomadic culture that has changed little over the centuries. For more than 2000 years, the Kazakhs have procedure and trained the massive Golden eagles to assist both in subsistence hunting and to capture foxes and wolves that threaten their livestock herds. Eagles are captured from their nest at an early age – always females, who are more active hunters and larger in size – and intensively trained for as long as a year. After several years with the hunting family, the eagles are then released back into the wild. West Mongolia is a spectacular region of permanently snow-capped mountains, glaciers, torrential rivers, salt-water and fresh water lakes and a variety of animals and plants. The Golden Eagle festival is an annual traditional festival held during the first week weekend in October.
Detailed Itinerary
Upon arrival at the airport, you will be welcomed by our team. We will take you to your comfortable and conveniently located hotel. Ulaanbaatar is a modern city that is rapidly growing, with a population of over 1.3 million people. Depending on what time you arrive, we can arrange for a tour of the city.
The city sightseeing tour includes a visit to the newly constructed Genghis Khan Museum, which happens to be the largest museum of the country. The museum houses a vast collection of over 8,300 artifacts that relate to the great Khans of the Mongol Empire and the history of Mongolia from the Xiongnu era to the end of the 20th century. A substantial portion of these collected artifacts is displayed in nine exhibition halls.
One of the must-visit attractions in the city is Bogd Khan's Winter and Summer Palace. It is a series of stunning traditional buildings where the eighth Living Buddha and the last king lived. The palace has now been transformed into a museum where visitors can see fascinating artefacts and costumes associated with the last king, as well as a collection of stuffed animals.
We will stop at the Gandantegchinlen Monastery.
It is the largest and most important monastery of Mongolia. We will scroll through the different monasteries and see the magnificent statue of Migjid Janraisig, an 82-foot-high statue gilded in gold and covered with silk cloths.
We'll finish the city trip with a view of Ulaanbaatar from Zaisan Hill. The city sightseeing tour takes about 4 – 5 hours.
Activities:
Visit Genghis khan museum
Visit Bogd Khan winter and summer palace
Visit Gandan monastery
Visit Zaisan hill
Hotel: 3 Star Hotel
Meal: Lunch & Dinner
This journey will take you to a place that only a few people have visited. Mongolia's western regions are a linguistic mash-up of Muslim and Mongolian customs. We will be flying to Olgii, the capital of Bayan Olgii province, today. Unlike the rest of Mongolia, which is ruled by Khalkh Mongolians, Bayan-Olgii has a Kazakh majority, almost all of whom are Muslims. Olgii also has its own small mosque.
Activities:
Flight for 2 hours.
Visit Olgii town
Hotel: Hotel
Meal: Breakfast, lunch and Dinner
The Golden eagle festival has been the largest gathering of eagle hunters and their eagles in the world. Eagle hunters celebrate their heritage and compete to catch small animals such as foxes and hares with specially trained golden eagles, showing off the skills of both the birds and their trainers. (Nowadays hunting live animals is not practiced during festivals anymore, instead eagles chase fox skin dragged by its owner on horseback.). Prizes are awarded for speed, agility and accuracy. Festivities which incorporate an opening ceremony, impressive parade, cultural exhibitions, demonstrations and handcraft followed by sporting activities and competitions take place 3 km out towards the mountains. Dressed in full eagle hunting outfits and mounted on groomed decorated horses, the hunters compete for the different awards of best-looking eagle and owner, best eagle locating its owner from distance etc…Other sporting activities include camel racing, archery, “Kiz Kuar” century old woman chasing game, “Tinge Lu” the competition where horse riders snatch coins from ground and the highly entertaining traditional game “Kokbar”- goatskin tug war on horseback.
In the evening a traditional Kazakh folklore concert is held in Olgii theatre.
Activities:
Eagle festival activities
Hotel: Hotel
Meal: Breakfast, lunch and Dinner
The Golden eagle festival has been the largest gathering of eagle hunters and their eagles in the world. Eagle hunters celebrate their heritage and compete to catch small animals such as foxes and hares with specially trained golden eagles, showing off the skills of both the birds and their trainers. (Nowadays hunting live animals is not practiced during festivals anymore, instead eagles chase fox skin dragged by its owner on horseback.). Prizes are awarded for speed, agility and accuracy. Festivities which incorporate an opening ceremony, impressive parade, cultural exhibitions, demonstrations and handcraft followed by sporting activities and competitions take place 3 km out towards the mountains. Dressed in full eagle hunting outfits and mounted on groomed decorated horses, the hunters compete for the different awards of best-looking eagle and owner, best eagle locating its owner from distance etc…Other sporting activities include camel racing, archery, “Kiz Kuar” century old woman chasing game, “Tinge Lu” the competition where horse riders snatch coins from ground and the highly entertaining traditional game “Kokbar”- goatskin tug war on horseback.
In the evening a traditional Kazakh folklore concert is held in Olgii theatre.
Activities:
Eagle festival activities
Hotel: Hotel
Meal: Breakfast, lunch and Dinner
Today we will visit Kazakh families in their traditional Ger bigger than Mongolian Gers and brightly decorated with hand-made rugs. We will enjoy a cup of tea, share with our hosts delicious Kazakh dishes such as Kuz “salted and smoked horse meat” Bisbarmak while chatting and deepening our knowledge of rich Kazakh culture and custom. Afternoon we will go trekking in a nearby mountain valley and riding on horseback together with hunters through the scenic landscape.
Activities:
Visit eagle hunting family
Horse riding with eagle hunters
Hotel: Hotel
Meal: Breakfast, lunch and Dinner
The time has come to leave and fly back to Ulaanbaatar. You can use your free afternoon to see as you fit.
Activities:
Visit further Ulaanbaatar
Hotel: Hotel
Meal: Breakfast, lunch and Dinner
Transfer to the airport.
Meal: Breakfast
Gallery
Inclusions
- Hotel in Ulaanbaatar
- City touring
- Local transportation
- Local flight
- Airport transfers
- Accommodation
- All meals except the first breakfast
- Tour guide
- National park entrance fees
- Festival entrance ticket
Exclusions
- Medical, trip insurance and
- evacuation costs
- Alcoholic and soft drinks
- Local flight limited to 10kg.
- Excess luggage fee (3 AUD per kilo)
- Visa cost
- Items of personal nature.
Notes
The tour is calculated with mid-range accommodation options. In Ulaanbaatar good 3 star hotel and in the countryside the best available accommodations.
The tour can be arranged at slightly lower prices when we opt for home stay and tented camping.
All prices are indicative and starting from prices. Final price will be available based on availability and dates of travel.