Way out West at Eagle Fest - Part I

The gang at Ashol-Pan's on our first night

Once upon a time, eleven crazy Australians and one slightly more responsible American set off on a spectacular adventure, risking their lives on a domestic flight in Mongolia, soaring across country to the fantastical, much talked about, Golden Eagle Festival in the west.

As the tiny plane became airborne, tray tables dropped open and seats fell backward involuntarily as the group drifted into blissful comas after the previous night’s double birthday celebrations and late night karaoke…

Arriving in Bayan-Ulgii, we were greeted with the first of many drop toilets at the airport where we balanced on wooden planks and tried not to think about the decision we would have to make if we dropped our phones into the abyss below, or worse, fell in ourselves.

We were collected and stuffed into two Russian vans by our guide Daggy, a fierce Kazakh / Mongolian man who enjoyed mountaineering and sleeping in freezing cold vans that had to be revived each morning with a blow torch to get the juices flowing to the engine.

Daggy and Kokome, AKA world’s best жолооч (driver) whisked us off into the countryside in search of the famous Ashol-Pan, a 15 year old Mongolian eagle huntress, who has made an appearance on the cover of the National Geographic for championing a past Eagle Festival over the best men in the land, when she was just 13.

Ashol-Pan on the cover of the National Geographic, Mongolia

Across the steppe we chased Ashol-Pan and her father by van and by foot as they sat astride their trusty steeds, eagles on arm, and hunted wild rabbit and fox. Removal of the eagle’s helmet / eye cover and a sharp whistle sees an eagle launch after its target, sometimes circling overhead before honing in on its prey.

Ashol-Pan hunting with her father

The family set up a ger just for us and we had our first night of bonding, the twelve of us sleeping on the ground surrounding the dung fuelled stove, swaddled in our sleeping bags and most of our clothes so that we didn’t freeze during the night.

Over the week, my nightly routine grew into stuffing the clothes I wasn’t wearing into my sleeping bag cover to make a pillow, storing my torch up the sleeve of my shirt so that I could find it in the night and trying to yoga myself the right way so I fit in between people like a game of Tetris.

Ashol-Pan and her mother, with me

Testing out the local merchandise

After an early morning hike we played dress up with the family, trying on fox coats and hats, and posing with eagles.

As we started another stunningly scenic drive back to the city, I managed to convince Daggy that I was a girl from the country too, and I had driven motor bikes, tractors, mini buses AND ride on lawn mowers, so I thought I could take on the Russian van.

I was so honoured that Kokome trusted me behind the wheel of his van, particularly as we’d all had a shot of the finest Mongolian vodka I’ve tasted for morning tea…

Kokome in his awesome blue Russian van

With Kokome and Daggy guiding me and the rest of the crew screaming encouragement, I managed to get up to third gear on the windy dirt roads. The seat didn’t appear to be bolted to the floor, but it didn’t matter because the pedals and gears were so hard to push I practically had to stand on them anyway!

To some, it may seem trivial. To me, it was one of the highlights of my time in Mongolia.

Taking the reigns

After multiple stops to take a multitude of failed jump shot photos and selfies with camels, we arrived in Bayan-Ulgii at the new monastery and lookout, recently built to celebrate 75 years of friendship between the Kazakhs and the Chinese near the Western border.

To be continued..