Golden Eagle Festival Tour

Tsagaan Salaa petroglyphs. Among the snow-capped peaks, freshwater lakes, and grassy valleys of Altai Tavan Bogd National Park, thousands of ancient petroglyphs cover the rocks of the Tsagaan-Salaa Valley. Located in the westernmost province of Mongolia, the 15-kilometer site is home to at least 10,000 figures pecked and engraved during the Neolithic Period and the Bronze Age.

Altai Tavan Bogd is near triple border with China & Russia. Its highest peak, the Khuiten peak is the highest point of Mongolia at 4374  meters above the sea level. This national park covers 6362 km2. The protected area offers a home for many species of  alpine animal, such as the wild sheep, Ibex, deer, beech marten, moose, snow cock, snow leopard and Golden eagle. Altai has three large lakes and 34 glaciers, in addition to several waterfalls. Of the 34 glaciers, the largest one is Potanin Glacier, and it covers 23 square kilometers.

The color of the water is really white because it takes starts right from the glacier from Altai Mountain and the mineral dust turns the water white. Sadly, it is not drinkable. The length of the river is 111km.

There are several waterfalls among the outstanding nature of the Turgen Mountains. One of them is Baga Turgen waterfall in Turgen gorge near the western shore of the picturesque Khoton and Khurgan Lakes. The glacier waterfall falls from 36 m cliff and divided into two waterfalls. The waterfall height is 23m. The waterfall’s isolated location along the country border area and rough roads helped its surroundings remain wild.

One of the popular tradition is Eagle hunting in western Mongolia, Bayan-Ulgii province.  Most of the population is Kazakh. But not all Kazakh is eagle hunters, There are approximately 400 registered Eagle hunters due to the Mongolian Eagle Hunters’ Association. The average age of the eagle hunters is 30 to 70 years while the oldest of them is 88 years. It is not unusual to see small boys handling their fathers’ eagles at the age of 6 and 7.

Tolbo Lake is a freshwater lake in Mongolia. The lake is located about 50 kilometres south of Bayan-Ulgii. The elevation is 2080 meters high above the sea level. The shoreline is treeless with few mosquitoes and a lot of people and families camp here every summer. Most of the people go there in mid July because the water at that time is the warmest. Also the Tolbo lake has become the place that most people go to camp or just to swim. The lake covers 185 square kilometers of land.

Tsambagarav Mountain National Park is situated along the border of Khovd Province. This Park has many snow-capped peaks and glaciers. It is houses of a number of wild animals on the southern slope there are small patches of larch which are coniferous trees. This Park is filled with beautiful valleys and gorges making it a very spectacular destination.