So I left off my last Mongolia post at Erlich the eagle hunters’s home. This was the highlight of our trip. As I said before, we asked him dozens of questions about his eagle, their training, his past, and the community. The next day we were supposed to get a short demonstration of him calling his eagle off the barn wall and then head to a throat singer’s home on our way back to the city. But we were all so enthralled by the eagle that we decided as a group to spend the day out hunting with him and returning to the city late. This was a great decision. Most of the group rented horses for about $10 a day and Ashleena and I followed on foot, feeling we needed to stretch our legs. Erlich appeared from another world after donning his calfskin coat, hat made of fox front feet, and antique silver belt and saddle.

Ashleena and I took the steep way up the mountain and met them at the top where the hunting was getting started. Usually eagle hunting requires two people: the man and his eagle at the top of the mountain, and a helper below who stirs up the prey: rabbit or fox usually. As soon as the eagle sees something she is released. If she is successful she will guard and start eating the prey until the hunter reaches her. The golden eagles that they hunt with are always female because they are larger and more aggressive than the males. Erlich has obviously been through the photographer paces and he struck some striking poses as they searched for rabbit below.

Once they determined there were no rabbits on that slope, we continued on to the next. There was a photographer who had been traveling by himself with our group and he was already saddle sore so I took over his horse. While we were navigating up the loose rocky slope, a rabbit was spotted! “Hurry hurry” our guide urged us and the horses. We reached the top and Erlich quickly unhooded and released his eagle. Unfortunately the rabbit had already gone to ground and she mistook a rolling rock for the quarry. It was still an impressive show. While we waited for her to be recollected I followed Max and Katelin to a ridgeline where another eagle hunter had appeared. He was hard of hearing but very friendly, and after showing off his eagle for our cameras, he let us each take a turn holding her. It was an absolutely AMAZING experience. She weighed about 20 kilo, and was just magnificent. My adrenaline got going and I was giddy for the rest of the day.

After a little more waiting and oogling, it was time to wrap up the hunt. He was competing in the festival tomorrow, in fact, and did not want to tire out his eagle. The last feat was when Erlich went down into the valley while his helper, his 20 year old brother who he is training to eagle hunt, stayed at the top with the eagle. The hunter started calling her with echoing high pitched calls. Her hood was taken off and away she lept; out into the blue and then plummeting down to the bait being dragged behind his horse. It was magnificent.

On the way back to the house I again took the photographers horse. Once we were off the mountain and I could feel the horse eager to get going I turned around to my friends behind me and asked “Are you ready?” And then I let him go (expecting we would all have a nice canter across the flats). I underestimated that horse. He RAN. Katelin teaches horse riding and she is the only one that could keep up with us. Max later told me that I literally disappeared in a cloud of dust. That horse was AMAZING. I think he would have run himself into the ground if I let him. Up hills, across stream beds, over marshy tussocks. We galloped until the river, fast but under control. I felt like I flew (like an eagle…). This day was So Much Fun. That was the Mongolia I came for.

After our guide caught up and we crossed the river we stopped in at his friend’s ger for a cup of airag, the fermented mare’s milk. Then back to Erlich’s house for some lunch and grateful goodbyes. The van ride to Ölgii town was short, and we were surprised that instead of the hotel rooms we were promised by the tour company, we would be staying in the owner’s sister-in-law’s apartment with her 14 year old daughter. This was the beginning of the end of our relationship with the tour company. The next day after a couple of uncomfortable conversations we parted ways, which was just as well since we had gotten a ride to the festival and already booked two hotel rooms for the next night.

Now the Golden Eagle Festival. It is organized by a tour company (not the one we had used), and is a beautiful thing; there are about 70 eagle hunters in the region and this is the community’s chance to come together. 56 hunters were there this year ranging in age from 17 to 86. We arrived just in time for the opening procession (and traditional costume competition), and I was giddy watching them all ride in. It was a scene from a foreign world.

Most of the first day was each hunter leaving his eagle on the hill overlooking the grounds and calling her down, waving a piece of bait in his hand. The first few didn’t seem to get it; I think the blaring music and loudspeaker may have had something to do with it. The eagles just took off! I suspect they had a piece of emergency meat stashed on the other side of the hill, because the hunters always showed up with their eagles later. Once they started to do what they were supposed to, it was awesome, if tedious. We also watched the traditional archery for a bit.

The next day, the hunters had to call their eagles down from the mountain to catch a bait that they pulled behind their horses. This was even more exciting as they sometimes balked or bad to circle around before diving with their talons out. I did not get tired of watching it for hours.

Once that event finished everyone surrounded a curious “field” with a round stone bin on each end and a white circle in the middle. To our shock and amazement, it was to be a match of bashkashi, a crazy sport that is basically rugby but on horses, using a dead beheaded goat carcass as the “ball.” Seriously. The match begins by two riders sprinting to the circle where the goat is, jockeying around until one can lean down and pick it up, and then all the riders (I think 5 per team) start whipping their horses like mad to get in the scrum and try to wrench the goat from the other team. The guy with the goat ends up hanging on to his horse’s neck with the goat in his lap while a teammate tries to lead the horse to their “goal” where he can toss the goat in. It is brutal, and we saw a few horses and riders tumble on the ground and get stepped on. Even spectators have to be vigilant; multiple times the horse scrum would plow into the crowd. Apparently it is an old Mongolian war training game. What a cultural experience!

And that wrapped up the festival! It was wild fun and I loved it.

The next day we hired a jeep to drive us south to Khovd city, where we spent a free day and then flew back to UB today. Tomorrow I fly to Tokyo for the next stage if my trip.

To answer a couple of questions that have been left: Mongolia is supposedly one of the most difficult countries to travel in because it is so vast and the infrastructure sparse. However the people by and large welcome foreigners. They are so proud of their beautiful country and they want to show it. I have heard there is some anti-foreigner sentiment in UB, in response to the mining companies that pay off the government and make tons on money off them. Outside of the capital kids will wave and say hello and most people will smile.

Adaatsag Soum was one if my favorite places because of the feeling I got there. The weather was good enough that I could wander around the rocks by myself and I ended up finding this scrubby little tree, obviously old and regrown. I sat there with it, closed my eyes, and left a piece of myself there. It is a powerful, rugged feeling place. I read that it is/was considered sacred to the Mongolians as well, and small rock pile offerings are all over.

I plan to make one more post of “Where to go and how to prepare for Mongolia.” It may or may not happen so this is somewhat of a wrap-up. It has been a fascinating time here, although I’m pretty sure I will not feel the need to return. It has been full of unique experiences and lessons in patience. And now I am ready to leave. Onwards!