Nomadism, the way of life of Mongolians for centuries, and we are known as the world’s last surviving nomadic culture throughout the world.

Mongolia has 3 million people and around 40% of Mongols are real traditional nomads who live in remoted yet beautiful landscapes, moving from pasture to pasture at least 4 times a year, in great partnership with their livestock and with nature.

Most of the travellers who explored Mongolia tells that “travelling through Mongolia is an eye-opening experience”. Yes, it’s true for many of us. Regarding geography, Mongolia has a diverse vast open landscape of 4 distinctive natural zones including the Gobi desert, the great plain steppes, snow-capped sumptuous mountain areas, and a mysterious yet beautiful dense forest zone.

Each of the nomadic families owns 5 species of animals including cattle, goats, sheep, horses, and camels [2 humped Bactrian’s camel] as their livestock, and has approximately 400 – 1000 livestock. Their everyday life is relevant for their livestock animals, rounding their animals to fertile pasture land, breeding baby animals, producing dairy products, producing raw products of cashmere, wool, and more…

Mongolian nomadic families live in a “ger”, a traditional portable dwelling suitable for their vagrancy lifestyle in many ways including its simplicity for dismantling, ease to build, environment friendliness, stability and safety and more…

Nomadic lifestyle varies in Mongolia depending on which part of Mongolia they live in. We would like to offer you to witness the life of Eagle trainers for hunting who residue in the western part of Mongolia, and Tsaatan tribe of reindeer herders who live in the northern part of Mongolia, and camel breeders who residue in the Gobi desert of Mongolia. Each of these families or ethnicities would show you different stories and different vibes.

You may have heard about sheepherders or cattle herders. But there is another fascinating culture of animal herding… A reindeer herding culture….

Reindeer herders or the Tsaatan, also known as Dukha people, is a small minority tribe residing in the Taiga region in northernmost Mongolia. They, the Tsaatan people live in the far northern region of Mongolia which is closer to the border with Russia, and they have strong Shamanist beliefs. There are approximately 450 reindeer herders [known as Dukha people or Tsaatan people] who live in Mongolia.

Reindeer herding has been part of the Tsaatan way of life for thousands of years and continues to be a principal custom within their community. The word “Tsaatan” is a Mongolian word that means ‘’people who have reindeer’’ so you can see how intertwined the practice of reindeer herding and the Tsaatan people are.
The Tsaatan migrate with the seasons, moving between the same Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring camps every year. Their reindeer provide milk and a source of transport and a special relationship seems to exist between them. Indeed, they are practically members of the family and as such are rarely used for meat. Unlike traditional Mongolian nomads, the Tsaatan live in orts, or teepees, not gers. These are much easier to transport, the wooden poles and beds being left behind at each camp and just the canvas and basic furnishings being packed onto their reindeer.

The Tsaatan continue to live a very traditional life, with hints of modernity creeping in. Much of their food is sourced from the land – wild rhubarb, berries, fish. Fresh bread is baked every morning in a pot on the central stove, reindeer milk tea is boiled daily. Tsaatan children go to school every September, in (relatively) nearby Tsagaannuur village from the age of 6, and return home for the long summer break in late May. Tsaatan marries out with their community, and the number of families has increased greatly over the last decade, from 16 families in 2006 to nearly 60 today throughout East and West Taiga.

Visiting the Tsaatan Reindeer Herders:

A journey into the Taiga is an incredible experience in itself, but staying with a Tsaatan family, deep in the heart of it, is truly special. Living in remote camps, reachable only on horseback for the majority of the year, a trip to stay with northern Mongolia’s reindeer herders takes planning and preparation.

The nearest airport to get there is in the town of Murun. To get to Tsagaan Nuur village [which is a village where the Tsaatan community belongs], you will have a 12-hour journey with few places to stop along the way, so stock up on food and, if you’re doing the driving yourself, extra fuel. And before you set out, be sure to get the required permit to visit the Tsagaan Nuur. Once you reach your destination, be less of a tourist and more of a traveller. You’re going to be interacting directly within their community for the duration of your stay, and there is no five-star hotel. Keep all of that in mind, at the end of the day, as long as you’re well mannered and mindful of the local traditions and culture, you’ll have an incredible time visiting the Tsaatan reindeer herders.
If you want to visit the Tsaatan reindeer herders with the added benefit of logistics taken care of and a local guide, check out the amazing once-in-a-lifetime tours with Way To Nomads.

The other important Mongolian holiday is Tsagaan Sar, literally the “White Month,” or New Year’s Day, which has been celebrated since the time of the Mongol Empire. Although Mongolia uses the Gregorian calendar, the lunar calendar is also used due to tradition and religious practice, and thus Tsagaan Sar usually falls in February or early March. As with most New Year celebrations, Tsagaan Sar focuses on happiness and an optimistic future, and the color white is considered an auspicious color in Mongolian tradition.

During the holiday and days preceding it, offerings are made to ancestral spirits or in honor of their memories. Blessings are made. Owing to Communist oppression of the holiday and a decline in religiosity, the holiday has changed considerably over the years.

Now, in addition to being a holiday that is both thanksgiving and a looking forward to a good year, it has become a holiday for visiting family and friends.  A central part of the celebration is food and buuz, devoured in great quantities, followed by liberal doses of vodka. The buuz serves another purpose: families often put a silver coin in one buuz, and according to tradition, whoever finds it will have prosperity in the coming year. At family gatherings in the countryside, the largest sheep in the flock, or in the city, the largest a family can buy, is cooked and eaten. It becomes, like the Thanksgiving turkey, a point of pride. The importance of food is marked in the preparations for the holiday, which often begin a month before the holiday.

During the Communist period, Tsagaan Sar came under attack. During the religious purges, the celebration of Tsagaan Sar was criticized, although during some years the criticism decreased. During World War II, herders received government approval to celebrate the holiday—perhaps because Josef Stalin, occupied with the Nazis, was too busy to notice or to care. In 1954 the holiday was declared a workday and the government again began a crackdown against it. Nonetheless, their efforts failed. While not willing to admit defeat, the government found a solution by making Tsagaan Sar “Collective Herders’ Day” in 1960. Not until 1988 did Tsagaan Sar receive official recognition as a national holiday.

Naadam Festival is the biggest and most attractive festival in Mongolia which is held on the 11^th, 12^th, and 13^th of July, annually. The Naadam literally means “game”, and it consists of three so-called manly sports, locally termed “eriin gurwan naadam” – wrestling, horse racing, and archery. The origins of Naadam date back to the Mongol empire period, even though, the festival commemorates the national revolution’s success and independence. All of the administrative units of Mongolia celebrate their Naadam festival on different dates, but the biggest one is officially hosted in Ulaanbaatar and attracts thousands of tourists and hundreds of journalists from all over the world.

In the course of the Naadam festival celebration, all of the participants and audiences wear their most colorful and fashionable traditional clothes. Besides, they spend the whole festival to enjoy and proud their culture and tradition. In 2010, the festival was registered to “Intangible Heritage List” of UNESCO

 

Traditional Wrestling

It is a folk wrestling style of Mongolia, unlike in other parts of the world.  There are no weight divisions, and time limits. Thus contestants could be the same weight or separated by a hundred of pounds The wrestlers known as “bokh”(durability). The objective is to force one’s opponent to lose his balance and fall or force him to touch the ground in some manner, and only the feet and palms of the hand may touch the ground . Although, kicking and punching are illegal, a wrestler may use his feet or legs to gain leverage or trip his opponent. The matches go on until someone falls or another parts of the body, other than legal parts touches the ground. Thus it is conceivable for the match to last for hours

Typically, Mongolian wrestlers wear a zodog, which is a tight-fitting jacket or open shirt. It basically looks like two sleeves with cloth running across the upper back and shoulders, attaching them. A rope ties the zodog to- gether in the front. The purpose of the zodog is to give the wrestlers something to grip on an otherwise bare upper body. The wrestlers also wear a shuudag, or the equivalent of trunks or briefs. The outfit is completed by the standard up-turned Mongolian boots. Before the match, the wrestler wears a conical hat, often with a ceremonial scarf of khadag attached to it. Owing to the wrestling garb, women have traditionally been excluded from participating. Before and after the matches, there are standard rituals that the wrestler must perform. He circles the field where the matches take place in a clockwise fashion and makes a libation of milk to the gods and local spirits. There is also a ceremonial dance called the “eagle,” or garuda, a bird from Buddhist mythology, that the wrestler performs after his coach chants words of praise for the wrestler. The tournaments are single elimination and vary in size, but the Naadam matches have had up to 1024 wrestlers in the match and lasts 9 or 10 rounds.

Traditional Archery

the final manly sport and is performed by men and women. Although the old techniques of Mongolian bow-making have been lost, and thus bows are not as powerful as those used in the time of Chinggis Khan, the composite bow, constructed from layers of horn and wood, is still used.  The bow itself usually is about four feet in length, although some extend to six feet when strung. Unstrung, the bow takes on more of a C or crescent shape. The archer shoots arrows normally constructed of pine, birch, or willow, with fletching made preferably from eagle or falcon feathers. Mongolian archery techniques are quite different from Western styles. The arrow is placed on the right side of the bow and is held in place by the thumb and forefinger, unlike in the West, where the arrow is held by the forefinger and middle finger. Whereas in the West, the string is pulled by the forefinger, middle finger, and ring finger, Mongolians pull the string with their thumbs with the aid of a thumb ring. This device is made from either polished stone or leather. When performed properly, the string slides off of the thumb with little friction.

Traditional Horse Racing

World longest and toughest horse racing is organized in Mongolia.  Horse racing in Mongolia is quite different from races elsewhere, as they range from five to thirty kilometers (3.1–19 miles). For the race, the horses are divided into five age categories: two-year-olds, four-year-olds, five-year-olds, over fives, and stallions. Most of the horses are geldings; mares never race. The categories of horse run different lengths of race courses. Although horse racing is one of the three manly sports, the jockeys are always children, boys and girls. The jockeys sit atop felt pads, rather than a normal saddle. Usually, these do not have stirrups. The choice in riding equipment focuses more on the comfort of the horse than of the rider. The jockeys also wear appropriate uniforms—colored shirts and hats. During the Naadam races, well over a thousand horses take part.

After some rituals of procession and song, the races take place through the steppe, rather than on a track; thus the riders must contend not only with the distance, but also with hills, rivers, and uneven ground. In addition, the horses run at full speed, approximately thirty-five kilometers (21.7 miles) per hour, the whole race. While speed is necessary, endurance is the prized feature of a horse. The length of the race demonstrates that the race is more about the horse than about the skill of its rider, and this is reflected in the awards. Indeed, as long as the horse crosses the finish line, the race is considered completed—the jockey need not be present. As a horse crosses the line, the judge sings a song praising it, anoints the head and flanks of the horse with airag, and gives the rider some cheese crumbles. The judge then sips some of the airag and passes it to the jockey. The winning horse receives the title of “Forehead of the Ten Thousand Race Horse.” Medals are awarded to the five runners-up, who also undergo the ritual that the winner undergoes. Oddly,  the person who finishes last also receives a medal and is honored as “Rich Belly” in word and song.

Hunting with eagles is a traditional form of falconry for thousands of years, practised by the Kazakh people in Bayan-Ulgii, the westernmost province of Mongolia. It’s a rite of passage for Kazakh boys in western Mongolia who learn the crafts as early as 13. Passed down through generations, the tradition has a strict set of rules and practices. The hunts happen during winter when teams of hunters chase their prey on horseback and release an eagle to make their kill. Hunting once provided furs and meat during harsh winters, but the tradition is battling a dwindling number of hunters.

The Golden Eagle

Golden eagle is one of the world’s fiercest, with a wingspan of 6.6 ft, razor-sharp talons and the ability to dive at the speed of an express train — up to 190 mph.” Hunters prefer females because they are larger and regarded as more aggressive. Females weigh up to seven kilograms, which is a third heavier than males. It takes a great deal of strength to hold one of these large birds in your arm. When horses are on the move the eagles unfurl their wings for balance.

Training Golden Eagle:

Training eagles takes a lot of time, (3-4 years), must be done by one person, and requires constant daily attention. When the eagle is almost an adult, the trainer shows it the hides and furs of the animals it must hunt so that it becomes used to the smell and characteristics of the prey. All of this is done with special commands. Training continues by dragging a fox fur behind a galloping horse. Not all eagles can be so trained, but those that do show intense loyalty. Although never tethered they always return after killing their prey. Skilled hunters even manage to get the bird to kill the prey while scarcely leaving a mark on its fur.

The Golden Eagle Festival

The Golden Eagle Festival have been celebrated since 1999 with the aim of promoting conservation of Golden eagle and preservation of the Kazakh’s traditional unique culture of hunting with birds.  The festival comprises various competitions, in course of competitions which the eagle must catch a piece of fox fur pulled behind a galloping horse, 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, besides traditional horse games and camel races. Prizes are awarded for speed, agility and accuracy, as well as for the best traditional Kazakh dress, and more. Dark, rocky mountainous terrain forms the backdrop to the event, which incorporate cultural exhibitions and demonstrations followed by sporting activities and

Mongolian cuisine is much influenced by the continental climate that dominates the region, and also a bit by the Russian and Chinese cultures. Meat and dairy form the staple diet of this nomadic cuisine with the use of vegetables are limited. The meat of horse, yak, beef, lamb, mutton and even camel is consumed as delicacies.

Below, we are introducing the most famous five traditional dishes that every traveller must try when they are in Mongolia;

1. Tsuivan – the most fav one by Mongolian men

What is it: Tsuivan, or noodle stew, is one of the most popular Mongolian dishes—adopted from abroad and perfected by Mongolians. It’s a very popular dish beloved in every family’s home and served in most local restaurants. This dish is prepared in many different ways. Some people make it using only flour and meat, but some add fresh vegetables. Here at the Three Camel Lodge’s Bulagtai restaurant, we serve this dish with fresh seasonal vegetables. 

What does it taste like: The meatiness of the stew blends in with the unhampered flavour of the vegetables to create a unique taste.

2. Khorkhog – The Mongolian BBQ

What is Khorkhog: is a barbecue dish in Mongolian cuisine. Khorkhog is made by cooking pieces of meat inside a container (metal milk jugs are a traditional and typical choice, although any container sturdy enough to hold the hot rocks will serve.) which also contains hot stones and water, and is often also heated from the outside. Khorkhog is usually made during festivals or during family events with many guests. Depending on the number of people, one whole sheep is used. For the stones, fist-sized hard stone with no roughness (abraded by water) from the riverbank is most suitable, because it can withstand the heat without cracking. The stones are heated by placing them on fire with dung or wood (dung is used for fuel by nomads) in between. Meat is cut into appropriate size and put in a container, then the red hot stones are placed in between, one layer of meat and one layer of hot stones. Add a little bit of water, seasoning, salt, and vegetables such as onion, garlic and potato then tightly close the container. To ensure that meat is done evenly, carefully shake the container. After cooking the container on fire open the lid very carefully. Enjoy the meat and hold the hot stones, it is a form of oriental medicine. The hot stone will refresh your nervous system and relieve fatigue.

What does it taste like: The smoky flavour of the meat complements the bland taste of the vegetables.

3. Khuushuur – Fried beef/mutton pie

What is Khuushuur: Mongolia’s version of a handheld meat pastry. It’s a circle of wheat flour dough folded in half around a filling of minced or ground mutton, sometimes beef, and pan- or deep-fried. The meat is seasoned with onion and salt; some cooks add garlic and pepper as well. It’s possible to get versions with a mix of potatoes, carrots and/or cabbage as well, but these are far less popular. (Vegetarians beware: the veg versions can taste strongly of mutton from the cooking oil.)

What does it taste like: Just like meat in fried dough! Seriously, it doesn’t vary much: better-quality meat or lower-quality cooking oil make some difference, but it’s a simple, straightforward dish. For westerners, there is sometimes more fat included with the meat than we’re used to.

4. Guriltai shul – The Mongolian soupy noodles

What is it:  This traditional dish is basically mutton soup or stock served with noodles and veggies. The authentic recipe calls for fatty meat, though loin meat can also be used. The sliced meat and vegetables are stir-fried in oil, then simmered in water and stocked with the noodles until fully cooked. Guriltai shul is especially popular as comfort food during the cold winter months. 

What does it taste like: The acidity of the soup, often prepared with curd made from yak’s milk, and the rawness of the mutton makes it a sinful appetizer!

5. Buuz – A bigger dumpling

What is it: Flour dough, filled with shredded beef or lamb, cooked with onion, garlic, and pepper, and then steamed. Buuz is a type of Mongolian steamed dumpling filled with meat. Buuz is filled with minced mutton or beef, which is flavoured with onion and/or garlic and salted. Occasionally, they are flavoured with sprouted fennel seeds and other seasonal herbs. Mashed potato, cabbage, or rice may be added as well.

What does it taste like: Quite similar to dumplings, however, more intense and a bit spicier.

For those who are real adventurers, we, the Way To Nomads team introducing the 5 biggest reasons to travel to Mongolia in this blog.

1. For the serenity, as the vast countryside will leave you speechless

Endless fairways of treeless green, patterned by the shadows of clouds; lakes for water hazards; pristine air; epic silence – there is a reason that Mongolians refer to their homeland as the land of the blue sky. Occasionally the scene is tweaked by a lonely ger (yurt) of white felt: the portable homes of Mongolia’s pastoralists dot the country’s vast landscape.

2. The World’s last surviving nomadic culture

A peaceful nomadic life, herding cattle, and wildlife as seasons change. A truly once-in-a-lifetime experience is to live alongside nomadic families, getting up with them in the morning to milk the cows, collect water and help cook the day’s meals. It’s a humbling and enlightening experience that takes you back to what life is really about.

3. Untouched by modern life

Except for the big capital, Mongolia is untouched by modern life and more importantly: undiscovered by mass tourism. This will soon change, as the country is increasingly popular and infrastructure is getting better quickly. This is the place to go, now. More pure, authentic experience is hard to find in a world where nowadays no place seems undiscovered.

4. Mongolia has a lot to offer to any type of travellers

The beautiful countryside of Mongolia has a lot to offer to all kinds of travellers starting from cultural and natural discovery tours to active adventure and special interest tours, which you can experience in any part of Mongolia.

5. Only in Mongolia

There are many endemic wild species in Mongolia such as the Gobi/Semi desert bear and the two-humped wild camel. Besides animals, there are also rare plants. The Gobi, which is classified as a semi-desert is only in Mongolia. It is a spacious, empty, life-supporting, but surprisingly beautiful area. In reality, it’s impossible to compare the Gobi with the semi-desert, so you had better come and see this for yourself.