The Eagle Festival Tour

Guests will be greeted upon arrival at the airport, before being transported to a convenient, centrally located hotel. A 4-5 hour city tour can be arranged depending on your arrival time, which includes Bogd Khan's Winter & Summer Palace, a series of beautiful traditional buildings in which the eighth Living Buddha and the last king lived.

You will also explore the Gandantegchinlen Monastery, which is the largest and most important monastery within Mongolia, before visiting the magnificent 82-foot high statue of Migjid Janraisig. You will finish the city tour atop Zaisan hill for a view of the whole Ulaanbaatar.

In the evening, your tour guide will give you a short briefing about the coming trip and answer all your questions, before taking you to a famous Mongolian restaurant for a first taste of Mongolian food.

After breakfast, you will transfer to the airport to fly to Olgii, the provincial town of Bayan-Olgii, the most western Aimag of Mongolia. Here, you will be welcomed by your guide and set out on a city tour that will get you excited for the upcoming events in the following days.

Unlike the rest of Mongolia, which is dominated by Khalkh Mongolians, about 90% of Bayan-Olgii's population are Kazakh, almost all of them Muslims. Olgii, the capital city of the Aimag, is a Muslim influenced ethnically Kazakh city. We will spend the afternoon strolling around in the Aimag Centre and visiting the museum that has some interesting displays, providing a good overview of Kazakh culture.

Days 3 and 4 of the tour will be spent taking in the majesty of the Golden Eagle Festival, which is 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. 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 incorporated into the event include an opening ceremony, impressive parade, cultural exhibitions, demonstrations, and handcraft followed by sporting activities and competitions 3 km out towards the mountains. 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.

Today you will drive out of Olgii to visit Kazakh families in their traditional Ger, which are bigger than Mongolian Gers and brightly decorated with handmade rugs.

Here, you will experience warm hospitality with a cup of tea, sharing your host’s delicious Kazakh dishes such as “Kaz”- salted and smoked horse meat - and “Bisbarmak” another traditional meal, while chatting and deepening your knowledge of rich Kazakh culture and customs. In the afternoon you will go trekking in the nearby mountain valley or riding on horseback together with hunters through the scenic landscape.

The time has come to leave and fly back to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia's capital. You can use your free afternoon to see as you fit; a good option is to go see the lovely cultural exhibitions and admire the contortionists while watching colorful and rhythmic Mongolian dances.

After enjoying a delicious breakfast, guests will make their individual departure from Ulaanbaatar and bid farewell to Mongolia.