The Golden Eagle Festival will be held on October 1st & 2nd in Bugat soum, Bayan-Ulgii province.

Mongolia has an astonishing 2000-year-old heritage of hunting with trained Golden Eagles. This practice has been passed down from generation to generation among the Kazakh nomads of the picturesque Altai Mountains. The exhilarating celebration comprises about 30-70 eagle hunters, or “Berkutchi,” and their magnificent eagles who demonstrate their hunting skills in many sports, beginning with chasing a fox skin. Furthermore, the celebration includes a number of traditional Kazakh activities, notably the famed Kokbar, in which nomadic men compete on horseback for a goatskin. The others are Tiyn Teru (a horseback race to collect a coin from the ground) and Kyz Kuar (“woman chase”). “a race between a man and a woman, with the woman beating the man” Each competition selects and awards winners. Locals during the festival sell food and traditional Kazakh crafts to festival-goers at the sites. Gers and tents, as well as transfers, are available for rent at the festival site or in Ulgii. Most Mongolian tour firms also offer good package tours. The Eagle Festival is held during the first weekend in October, run by the Mongolian Eagle Hunter’s Association. Dark, rocky mountainous terrain forms the backdrop to the festivities, which incorporate an opening ceremony, parade, cultural exhibitions, demonstrations and handcrafts in the centre of the town of Ölgii, followed by sporting activities and competitions 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) outside of town towards the mountains. Dressed in full eagle hunting regalia and mounted on groomed decorated horses, the entrants compete for the awards of Best Turned Out Eagle and Owner; Best Eagle at Hunting Prey and Best Eagle at Locating Its Owner from a Distance. Other sporting activities include horse racing, archery and the highly entertaining Bushkashi – goatskin tug of war on horseback. The Eagle Festival is featured in the 2016 documentary The Eagle Huntress https://mongolia-altai-adventure.com/tours-destinations/eagle-hunters-festival/  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Eagle_Festival