5-8 Days Independent Eagle Hunting Festival Trip in Mongolia

For a smooth tour, you are highly recommended to hire an experienced driver in advance because it is easy to get lost driving on the vast grasslands without any reference. The Eagle Hunting Festival is held every year at the beginning of October when the weather in Mongolia starts to turn cold and you are advised to set off from Ulaanbaatar and take a four-wheel drive jeep all the way west to Ulgii, a small town on the Mongolia border with Russia and Kazakhstan.

After about 6 hours' ride, you will arrive at World cultural heritage Kharkhorin. After having lunch in a roadside restaurant, you may pay a visit to Erdenezou there. Then, continue driving for approximately 2-3 hours more, you will reach a campsite. You may stay overnight in a yurt like the locals herds do.

The campsite in the morning is very lively, as the hostess milks and cooks, and the children play around with the dogs. After breakfast, continue the journey to the west. It will take about 7-8 hours to arrive at today’s accommodation site, after passing through the crater and pass.

After about 9 hours' drive today, you will finally arrive at the destination of this journey, Ulgii. There are Kazakhs living here who still retain the old habits of life, fighting against the harsh winter, training falcons, and horse hunting. Every year on the first weekend of October, hunters in hundreds of miles, riding horses and bringing eagles, gather in Ulgii to compete in the annual Eagle Hunting Festival.

Have you ever watched the movie "The Eagle Huntress" directed by Otto Bell? It is about a young girl named Aisholpan participating in a falcon competition here and it is right this movie that made this place famous worldwide. Since there are more tourists here, more choices for dining and accommodation are provided by local.

The playing field of The Eagle Hunting Festival is set in the wilderness outside the town. The Kazakhs on the grasslands are experts in animal husbandry as well as professional hunters. Their traditional hunting weapons, except for hunting dogs, are mainly falcons. The start of the festival also marks the beginning of the annual hunting season.

► The schedule of the competition:

Round one: debut
It focuses on the appearance of the hunters and the matching of costumes. Each hunter carrying their eagle will ride a horse and circle the field.

Round two: call your eagle
The hunters are on horseback, holding a dead rabbit with a rope in his hand, and dragging it on the ground. At this time, someone releases the hunters' eagles from the top of a nearby mountain to see if it can pounce on the rabbit quickly. The fastest eagle is the winner.

Round three: increase the hunting difficulty
The hunters hold a stick bone with fresh meat, and the eagles flying from the top of the mountain are required to land on hunters' arm quickly and accurately. So as the round two, the fastest eagle is the winner.

It takes three days to return to Ulaanbaatar by car following the coming way. If you don't want to experience the bumpy journey again, you can fly back to Ulaanbaatar from Altai.