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ALTAI EAGLE FESTIVAL 2009,19-20,SEPTEMBER
Since 2003, Blue Wolf Travel has worked with local counter parts to organize a yearly festival of western Mongolia culture.
In western Mongolia, deep within the Altai mountain range, an ancient tradition of hunting with Golden Eagles is still alive. The Kazakhs of Mongolia train their eagles to hunt for rabbits and foxes. Once a year, hunters from all over Bayan-Olgii province gather to celebrate this traditional skill and compete against each other challenges that show off the abilities of both birds and their trainers.
In 2007 the festival attracted over 200 visitors and brought over $ 60,000 to the local economy.The festival highlights local culture through performances,handcrafts,concerts,horse and camel games and eaglehuntingA practice this is slowly disappearing from Kazakh culture ,eaglehunting is practiced by approximately 450 kazakhs in Mongolia.The festival highlights this culture legacy in a series of competitions designed to showcase the practice and provide a venue for eaglehunters to meet each other.
There was a mounted archery competition, which was farcical, really. If that's the standard today I don't think we need to fear the Mongol Hordes going on a rampage any time soon.
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