Mongolia: the Golden Eagle Festival and the Altai

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Ulaanbaatar

   Chinggis Khaan International Airport to your hotel in Ulaanbaatar

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Repas du soir
   • Nuit : Ulaanbaatar
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN), in a valley about 50 km south of the city, where a driver meets you for the hour or so into Ulaanbaatar. The capital sits at about 1,350 m along the Tuul River, a mix of Soviet-era blocks, glass towers, Buddhist temples and districts of gers on the hills around it. In early October the air is already sharp, so if you land early, wrap up and walk to Sukhbaatar Square, a few minutes from the hotel, with its seated statue of Chinggis Khaan in front of Government Palace. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing: what the festival days are like, how cold it gets in Olgii, what to pack in a soft bag for the flight west and what the family night involves. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Mongolian food, buuz dumplings, khuushuur and grilled meat, with vegetarian dishes on request.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Jour 2 : Gandan, the National Museum and throat singing

   Ulaanbaatar on foot and by van

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Ulaanbaatar
   Détail du jour 2

   We start at Gandan Monastery while the monks are at their morning prayers, when the halls fill with chanting and the smell of juniper. Gandan was one of the few monasteries allowed to stay open through the communist years, and its tall white temple holds a standing figure of Avalokiteshvara more than 20 m high, rebuilt in the 1990s. Walk the rows of prayer wheels in the courtyard with your guide before the tour groups arrive. After a sit-down lunch we go to the National Museum of Mongolia, a good primer for the week: its rooms run from Bronze Age deer stones to the Mongol Empire and the dress of every ethnic group, including the Kazakhs of the far west whose festival we are flying to see. The late afternoon is free. In the evening we go to a concert of Mongolian music and dance, with throat singing and the horse-head fiddle; dinner afterwards is your choice.

   Compris

   • Gandan Monastery at the morning prayers, with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in the city
   • The National Museum of Mongolia, with your guide
   • Evening concert of Mongolian music, dance and throat singing

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and dinner free

   Activité : About 2 to 3 km on foot, with steps at Gandan.

   

3. Jour 3 : Fly west to Olgii

   Ulaanbaatar to Olgii by air, then Olgii town

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Olgii
   Détail du jour 3

   After breakfast we drive to the airport for the flight west to Olgii, the capital of Bayan-Olgii province, a little over an hour in the air (about an hour and a quarter, confirmed with the airline) over the steppe, the lakes and the first ranges of the Altai. Your guide flies with you. Set your watch back an hour on landing: the far west runs one hour behind Ulaanbaatar. Olgii sits at about 1,700 m in a bowl of bare brown hills on the Khovd River, and it feels different at once: most people here are Kazakh, the signs are in Kazakh as well as Mongolian, and the main mosque's green dome stands over the low roofs. After lunch in town we visit the Bayan-Olgii aimag museum, with its Kazakh felt hangings, saddles, eagle hoods and a floor on the Altai's wildlife, then walk through the market, where hunters' fox-fur hats and embroidered wall hangings are sold beside sacks of flour. Dinner tonight is at a Kazakh restaurant, and the rest of the evening is free.

   Compris

   • Flight from Ulaanbaatar to Olgii (ULG), with checked baggage
   • Lunch in Olgii
   • The Bayan-Olgii aimag museum, with your guide
   • A walk through Olgii market and past the main mosque
   • Dinner at a Kazakh restaurant

   Temps libre : Evening free

   Activité : Flight times and days are confirmed with your final itinerary; if the schedule needs an early flight, this is the only start before 8 am.

4. Jour 4 : A night with an eagle-hunter family

   Olgii to the Sagsai valley in the Altai foothills

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Sagsai valley
   Détail du jour 4

   A slow morning in Olgii, then our 4x4s take us about an hour and a half west, the paved road soon giving way to tracks up the Khovd River valley towards Sagsai, a district known for its eagle hunters. We spend the afternoon and night with a Kazakh family whose men hunt with golden eagles in winter. Lunch is in their home: bread fried in the pan, salty milk tea, home-made butter and cheese, and meat if there is a feast. The eagle sits hooded on its perch outside, and the hunter shows how it is handled, fed and kept calm, with your guide translating. Help with the evening milking or bringing in the goats if you want to, then eat dinner with the family by the stove. The night is simple and we say so plainly: you sleep in the family's guest ger or house, on beds or thick mattresses, with a warm sleeping bag we supply. The toilet is outside and there is no shower.

   Compris

   • Drive to the Sagsai valley in our 4x4s
   • Lunch and dinner with a Kazakh eagle-hunter family
   • The hunter shows his eagle and how it is handled, with your guide translating
   • Overnight at the family's home, with a sleeping bag supplied

   Option plus facile : If a night without a shower is not for you, say so when you book: you return to the Olgii hotel after dinner with a driver and rejoin the group at the family in the morning.

   Option plus active : Ride out with one of the family on a local horse to bring the herd in at dusk.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free at the family's home

   Activité : Sleeping arrangements are shared by party or, for solo travellers, by gender; rooms of your own are not possible this night. Nights in the valley fall well below freezing.

5. Jour 5 : The eagle at dawn, then the Altai foothills

   Sagsai valley to the Altai foothills, then back to Olgii

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Olgii
   Détail du jour 5

   Wake to the stove being lit and breakfast with the family. In the morning light, before the wind gets up, the hunter takes his eagle to a slope near the house and calls it down to his arm, or drags a fox-skin lure for it to strike; this is training, not a hunt, which starts in winter when foxes have their thick coats. Then we say goodbye and drive up a side valley into the Altai foothills, where bare brown hills climb towards the snow ranges along the Chinese and Russian borders, and stop for a short walk to a viewpoint. Lunch is a hot picnic laid out by our crew. We are back in Olgii by mid-afternoon with time to wash, warm up and rest before the festival. This evening the group can go to the performance of Kazakh music and dance that is often held at the Olgii theatre on the festival's eve, if it runs this year.

   Compris

   • Breakfast with the family and a morning eagle-training session
   • A walk to a viewpoint in the Altai foothills
   • Hot picnic lunch
   • Dinner in Olgii

   Activités en option

   • Festival-eve performance of Kazakh music and dance at the Olgii theatre, if it runs (ticket price shown at booking)

   Option plus facile : Stay by the vehicles at the foothills stop instead of walking up to the viewpoint.

   Option plus active : A longer walk along the ridge above the viewpoint, about 5 km, with your guide.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Olgii

   Activité : Viewpoint walk about 2 km return on rough slopes.

6. Jour 6 : Golden Eagle Festival, day one

   Olgii to the festival ground and back

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Olgii
   Détail du jour 6

   Breakfast early, then the drive of about 15 km to the festival ground below the hills outside Olgii, where we arrive before the opening so the group can stand at the arena rail. The festival usually opens with a parade of eagle hunters on horseback, each in a fox-fur hat and long coat with an eagle on the arm, followed by the judging of costumes, saddles and hunting gear. Then come the eagle events: a bird released from the ridge above the ground flies down to its owner's call as he gallops across the plain, and the fastest to land on the arm scores best. Between rounds there are horse games and archery, and Kazakh families sell felt work and food from tents. Lunch is hot, from the food tents, and your guide explains each event as it happens. Stay until the last round in the late afternoon, or go back to the hotel at midday if the wind turns bitter. Dinner tonight is in Olgii.

   Compris

   • Golden Eagle Festival, day one: festival ticket included
   • The opening parade, costume judging and the first eagle-calling rounds
   • Hot lunch at the festival ground
   • Dinner in Olgii

   Option plus facile : A driver takes you back to the hotel at midday to warm up, and brings you back for the afternoon if you like.

   Temps libre : Evening free after dinner

   Activité : Several hours standing or walking on rough ground in wind and cold. A folding stool, a thermos and hand warmers help.

7. Jour 7 : Golden Eagle Festival, day two

   Olgii to the festival ground and back

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Olgii
   Détail du jour 7

   The second day is usually the one with the finals, so we go back after breakfast and watch from a different place: today your guide takes you up the slope towards the ridge where the eagles are released, so you see the birds launch and drop past you to the riders below. The second day usually brings the lure event, when an eagle stoops on a fox skin dragged behind a galloping horse, and the horse games the crowd waits for: kokpar, two riders wrestling over a goat skin, and tiyn teru, picking a coin off the ground at a gallop. There may be camel races and a girl-chase race too; the programme changes a little each year. Lunch is again hot at the ground. The prize-giving for the best eagle and hunter closes the festival in the late afternoon. We come back to Olgii for a warm shower and a last dinner in the west together.

   Compris

   • Golden Eagle Festival, day two: festival ticket included
   • The eagle-calling finals, watched from the release slope
   • Horse games: kokpar and tiyn teru
   • Hot lunch at the festival ground
   • The closing prize-giving
   • Dinner in Olgii

   Option plus facile : Watch from the arena rail instead of walking up the slope, or go back to the hotel at midday with a driver.

   Option plus active : Climb to the top of the release ridge with your guide for the view over the ground and the hills, about 150 m of ascent.

   Activité : The slope walk is about 1 km on loose ground. Same cold and wind as day 6.

8. Jour 8 : Fly back to Ulaanbaatar

   Olgii to Ulaanbaatar by air

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Ulaanbaatar
   Détail du jour 8

   A last breakfast in Olgii and a final walk through the market if the flight leaves late enough, then the short drive to the airstrip for the flight back east. Remember the hour you gain back on landing. A driver meets us at Chinggis Khaan International Airport for the drive into the city, and we check back into the same hotel where you left your luggage, with a hot shower and a proper bed after five nights in the west. Lunch is at a restaurant in town on the way in or after we land, depending on the flight. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free. The State Department Store and the shops around Sukhbaatar Square sell cashmere, felt slippers and other things to take home, and Ulaanbaatar has restaurants of every kind for dinner on your own. Your guide is happy to suggest a few.

   Compris

   • Flight from Olgii to Ulaanbaatar, with checked baggage
   • Lunch in Ulaanbaatar

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free in Ulaanbaatar

9. Jour 9 : The Chinggis Khaan statue and Terelj

   Ulaanbaatar to Tsonjin Boldog and Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, and back

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Ulaanbaatar
   Détail du jour 9

   We leave at 8:30 to clear the city traffic and drive about an hour and a half east to Tsonjin Boldog, where the stainless-steel Chinggis Khaan Equestrian Statue, about 40 m high, rises out of the steppe. We are there near opening, before the day-trippers, and walk up through the horse's body to the viewing platform on its head, looking out over the plain where, by legend, Chinggis found a golden whip. Then on into Gorkhi-Terelj National Park, a valley of granite outcrops and larch woods that are usually gold or just bare in early October. We stop at Turtle Rock and walk up a stony path to the Aryabal Meditation Temple for the view down the valley. Lunch is hot, at a camp in the park, and we are back in the city by late afternoon. Tonight we sit down to a farewell dinner together.

   Compris

   • Tsonjin Boldog: the Chinggis Khaan Equestrian Statue and the viewing platform on the horse's head
   • Gorkhi-Terelj National Park: Turtle Rock and the walk to the Aryabal Meditation Temple
   • Hot lunch in Terelj
   • Farewell dinner in Ulaanbaatar

   Option plus facile : Skip the climb to the Aryabal temple and wait at Turtle Rock or the lunch camp.

   Option plus active : An hour's horse ride in Terelj with a local horse handler in place of the temple walk.

   Activité : The Aryabal walk is about 2 km return with a steady climb and steps.

   

10. Jour 10 : Depart from Ulaanbaatar

    Your hotel in Ulaanbaatar to Chinggis Khaan International Airport

    • Environ 1 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 10

    Breakfast at the hotel, then the trip ends. Chinggis Khaan International Airport is about 50 km south of the city, an hour's drive and more at rush hour, and we time your transfer to your flight: plan to leave the hotel about three hours before an international departure. With a later flight the morning is yours. Walk to the Choijin Lama Temple Museum, a group of early 20th century temples now surrounded by office towers, or climb the steps of Zaisan Hill for a view over the whole city and the Tuul River below. If you would like the Gobi as well, our Gobi, Karakorum and Terelj trip can follow this one; ask us about the dates and extra nights in Ulaanbaatar between them. Your guide says goodbye at breakfast and checks that every transfer is booked.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Chinggis Khaan International Airport (UBN)

    Temps libre : Free until your airport transfer

    Activité : Any flight time works; the transfer is about an hour.

Faune et météo : Early October in the Altai is cold and dry. Days are usually around freezing to about 10 C in bright sun, nights fall well below freezing, the festival ground is windy and dusty, and snow is possible. The larches in Terelj are usually gold or just bare by the end of the trip.

• Ulaanbaatar2 nuits
• Olgii1 nuit
• Sagsai valley1 nuit
• Olgii3 nuits
• Ulaanbaatar2 nuits