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Witness / Attend in Bayan-Olgii
Golden Eagle Festival
Mongolia's westernmost province, a high Altai borderland where ethnic Kazakhs are the majority and the old art of hunting with golden eagles still lives. Its capital, Olgii, is the gateway to the eagle festivals and the Tavan Bogd peaks.
Scheduled and sanctioned by Mongolian Eagle Hunters' Association.
Why here
The Golden Eagle Festival is where Bayan-Olgii's Kazakh berkutchi bring their birds down from the mountains to compete. Held on the first weekend of October outside Olgii, it gathers up to eighty eagle hunters in fox-fur hats and embroidered coats to show how their golden eagles answer a call from the ridgeline, dropping to the fist in timed trials. Around the falconry come horseback games: kokpar, a tug-of-war over a goat carcass, and kyz kuar, where a rider chases a woman on horseback. A smaller festival at Sagsai runs in September. The tradition of eagle falconry was recognised by UNESCO in 2010, and this is the event that keeps it public and alive. The far-western setting, a long flight or drive from Ulaanbaatar, is part of why it still feels like a working gathering rather than a show.
Best months
The main festival is held on the first weekend of October, with the smaller Sagsai festival in September. Bayan-Olgii is reached by domestic flight from Ulaanbaatar to Olgii, and October is cold with the chance of early snow, so bring serious layers. Book well ahead: flights, guides and festival-week beds in Olgii are limited.
Getting there & around
Access is a domestic flight from Ulaanbaatar to Olgii, then a short drive to the festival ground; flights are limited and sell out around the festival, and delays are common. Nights are cold and accommodation is basic gers or small hotels. A local operator arranges flights, permits, festival entry and family stays with eagle hunters.
Skill levels: beginner
Schools & guides (2)
Altai Nomads Travel
GuideAn Olgii-based operator run out of the Jasyl Bak district of Bayan-Olgii, specializing in the Kazakh eagle-hunting country of the Altai. Its Golden Eagle Festival trip stays with eagle hunters' families in the days before the competition, then moves to a ger camp at the festival ground for the speed trials, costume judging and horseback games like kokpar. The team arranges the Ulaanbaatar to Olgii flights and handles festival entry.
Kazakh Tour
GuideA Kazakh-owned operator based in Olgii, the capital of Bayan-Olgii, in business since around 2000 and a bonded member of the Mongolian Tourism Association and the Bayan-Olgii Tourism Association. Founded and staffed by local eagle-hunting families, it places guests in ger and family stays for the Golden Eagle Festival and arranges the domestic flights and permits that make the remote far west reachable.