 This festival takes place from the 17th to 18th of September at Steppe Nomads tourist camp in Gun Galuut Nature Reserve in Bayandelger soum, Tuv province (which lies 130 km from Ulaanbaatar).
First day of the festival: Local nomads are divided into teams consisting of 2 men, 2 women and a child. They compete in and showing the traditional way of life. For instance: loading gers onto various nomadic modes of transportation, assembling gers in record time and placing furniture in the ger. Milk tea is made. The men flaunt their skills by grabbing a lasso pole from ground while riding their horses and next catching and taming horses. Kids compete at various games. In addition, tourists can compete to show off what they learnt during the festival. In the evening, local people compete during a traditional folklore concert. They show contortion, throat singing, drawling songs, short-songs, playing traditional Mongolian and western classic melodies, playing traditional musical instruments.
Second day of the festival- Now, the contest between couples dressed in traditional, matching clothes riding on color matched horses is held. This day is like a “mini naadam” festival including horse racing, wrestling and archery. In the evening, authentic Mongolian foods are offered. The traveler is can then see how those meals are cooked. Also, the bonfire party is part of this day event. Besides the festival itself, you can enjoy the nature reserve, which is an area of outstanding natural beauty, features marvelous mountains, steppe landscape, lakes and a river. The area is home to various endangered species. |