OP-ED: Be _Very Careful_ with Blue Wolf Travel of Mongolia …
(photographed with an infra-red camera and with slow shutter speed)
[ This is a long and detailed account of my personal travel experience with this company. If you don’t have the time to read the blog in it’s entirety, then the headline is: Mongolia is a beautiful country and I would encourage people to visit. But please chose your travel/tour company wisely. Based on my experience, I would never travel with or use Blue Wolf Travel again. ]
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The following is based on my experience (*) using Blue Wolf Travel (www.bluewolftravel.com & www.mongol-altai.com) during my travels to Ulgii for the 2013 Golden Eagle Festival. Although Blue Wolf Travel (“BW”) is listed in The Lonely Planet guide for Mongolia, I wanted to do my own independent research before deciding on which travel agency to use. In particular, I wanted my tourist dollars to remain in Mongolia and thus I placed particular priority on local agents. Furthermore, I wanted an agency that had deep local connections because I wanted to do a homestay/gerstay with a local family. Finally, for maximum flexibility, I needed an agency that could provide my husband and I with a dedicated car, driver and guide-translator for the seven nights that we would be spending in the region. Hours of Google-searches revealed no red-flags about this company. In addition, I found out that BW sponsors the Sagsai Eagle Festival (a rival festival to the Ulgii event). On paper, it would appear that BW ticked all the boxes: it is locally based with great connections to the local Eagle Hunter community. In addition, my initial contact with the company was equally promising. The owner and manager (Canat) advised that BW has organized many photography tours before and that BW was perfectly placed to help us. With the above in mind, I felt reasonably confident that I could trust BW and thus began working with BW to organize the October 2013 trip. Everything that I’d discussed with Canat was summarized and confirmed in email. Sadly, words are wind with Blue Wolf.
Although all of my requirements were confirmed in writing as well as re-confirmed with Canat face-to-face at our initial ‘greet and meet’ at the BW office, very little of what was agreed (and paid for in full and in advance) was actually delivered. (For details on the specifics, see read the Appendix of this OP-ED.) As annoying, frustrating and disappointing as my experience with BW was, the real motivation for writing this OP-ED is to advise potential clients that under certain circumstances, I believe that travelling with BW can actually be quite dangerous. This opinion is based on what happened to a fellow traveller we met as we’d shared our horror stories about Blue Wolf Travel over coffee at the airport.
Our fellow traveller (“FT”) is an independent soul and likes to travel solo. In addition to attending the Ulgii Eagle Festival, she made arrangements with BW to spend a few days on horseback (accompanied by a guide-translator) to explore the mountainous regions of western Mongolia. Unfortunately, the person that BW assigned to her could neither translate nor guide. (We actually had this person as our guide-translator for the first 1.5 days. She is a very lovely young lady but she was absolutely useless as a translator. From what little that we could understand when speaking with her, it sounded like she worked in the local market and was roped in to fill this role at the last minute!) The alarming thing was that this young guide-translator (“YGT”) was not trained for mountain expeditions and yet was tasked to take FT to the base area in Tuvan Bogh for a multi-day exploration. After travelling some distance (by car) towards the overnight ger in the Tuvan Bogh and in face of declining daylight, falling snow and below-zero wind chill factor, FT became concerned about the overall situation and asked her driver to stop an approaching car travelling in the opposite direction to inquire about their current location and the remaining distance to the overnight ger. The guide in the other car advised FT that the base camp was already full to capacity and that there was simply no room for her (or for her support crew). But, as there was nowhere else to go and as it would be too dangerous to proceed forward (or return back to Ulgii) because it was getting dark and cold, the guide offered FT a place with her group. (Unfortunately, FT’s support team had to sleep in the car!!!). In short, a disaster was averted because of the kindness and hospitality of this group
The next day, YGT told the other guide that she was taking FT to a lake nestled in the mountain regions and offered to take the other guide’s group along as well. FT actually questioned this because she thought that this was doubtful as visibility was very poor. Nonetheless, YGT convinced the other guide that she knew the way and was going nonetheless. In short, YGT proceeded to get everyone lost! Later, she admitted to FT that she had never been to the lake except once before (but that was in the summer and in perfect conditions).
When FT returned to Ulgii, she spoke to Canat about YGT. Specifically, FT mentioned that YGT made very bad decisions on the trip which actually compromised FT’s safety. And that YGT is neither experienced enough nor matured enough and therefore should not have been entrusted to take any traveller up to Tuvan Bogh — especially in winter conditions. According to FT, Canat made some general excuses for YGT but, more importantly, he took no responsibility for this. In short, it seemed to FT that Canat thought that it was perfectly acceptable to send a single female traveller up a mountain in winter with a guide who could not speak English and who knew nothing about the history or culture of the area and who didn’t know what to do in an emergency!
In short, my friend FT paid a premium (she had to carry the full costs of hiring the guide, car & driver) to enable her to have an authentic experience in western Mongolia. She had hoped to be able to converse with the locals, learn about their lives and culture, and share in the history of the beautiful country side. This was made impossible as the YGT could barely speak English — and when she did, she did it poorly (i.e. mistranslation resulting in embarrassment and chagrin).
My experience with BW suggest that what happened to our friend was not an isolated case. In my opinion, BW was as equally careless with our arrangements as they were with hers. The difference was that although we were greatly inconvenienced, our friend was actually put at risk. First, she was assigned someone who was untrained and inexperienced and both were placed in a high-risk situation. As such, there was a failure in duty-of-care by BW to both the traveller and to the guide. Second, BW failed to ensure that they both had a guaranteed place to shelter at night.
If you are travelling to Ulgii to see just the Eagle Festival and are quite content to stay at one of the BW gers set inside their industrial park behind the BW office, then you should be OK to use them. However, if you need something extra — i.e. have a private car, driver, translator-guide, gerstay, etc., then you do need to exercise caution. Even with the simplest arrangements, BW still managed to muck it up for us. For the full details on our issues, please see the Appendix below.
Given that BW is one of the largest travel operators in the region and the options are quite limited, you may find that you have little choice but to use them. If this is the case, then please see the below as I’ve outlined some tips/suggestions on how best to navigate BW.
The above aside, I hope that this OP-ED does not deter you from travelling to western Mongolia. Blue Wolf malarky aside, I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the country (please check out my travel blog about the Golden Eagle Festival and travel tips for Mongolia). And, I simply love my host family as they were truly wonderful. If anything, I encourage you to visit this region with it’s remarkable landscape, history and people. But, if you do visit, then please ensure that you have a good partner — don’t let a careless and amateur organisation ruin such a lovely experience.
Happy and safe travels!
Tram
(feedback@le-mckernan.com)
(*) Notice: each person will need to make up his/her own informed decision about the merits of this OP-ED blog. As such, if the reader is researching any of the named party(ies) mentioned in this blog, then it is advisable that the reader continues his/her research to form a more robust finding. This blog is purely an OPINION which is based on a personal experience which may or may not be applicable to others.
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Whoops! That didn’t go according to plan . . .
Background information:
The plan agreed with Blue Wolf Travel (“BW”) was that they would provide the logistics to enable us to do a private photography tour of the region. This entailed having a dedicated driver, car and English-speaking guide-translator with us the entire time. In addition, we would spend seven nights in a private ger with an Eagle Hunter and his family and that this would be a full board (i.e. all meals included). This was organized as a private tour so that we would have maximum flexibility. It was important to us to be able to catch sunrises and sunsets in places of outstanding natural beauty and for that, we needed a driver and guide who were willing to wake up before the crack of dawn. In addition, I wanted to have two full days dedicated to photographing the Eagle Hunters in a variety of settings (a total of eight hunters were booked to be our models for the two days). This was to be a private event as we didn’t want to other photographers getting in our frames or determine the direction of the photo sessions. All of this was agreed in email and the costs were paid for in advance and in full.
With the exception of Oct 5th and Oct 6th (during the Eagle Festival whereby BW had little logistical involvement), nothing really went according to plan!
The Details:
- Sadly, our private photography tour was NOT a private photography tour! Tim, a photographer from the UK who was travelling independently, was evicted from his ger as it turned out that it was double-booked. As such, he lost a day getting bounced around from ger to ger to ger. BW finally sent him to our host family and he had to share a room with the family. Unfortunately, Tim didn’t have his own driver, car, translator-guide, or cook. Thus and by default, he joined our tour. Whilst we enjoyed Tim’s company, we’d paid a premium to travel independently. We could have saved a lot of money by joining a photography group but this was not what we wanted.
- We wanted to get “under the skin” of the place and have as close to an authentic experience as possible. As such, it was important that we have an English-speaking guide so that she/he could help us connect with the host family. Unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict, our English-speaking translator wasn’t available until the middle of the second day. As such, BW assigned someone else in the interim period. Sadly, this temporary translator could barely speak English. And this made the first day and a half a very awkward and logistically challenging experience.
- Based on my experience and in my opinion, BW was highly disorganised. In total, we lost two days faffing around because BW could not connect the dots and handle simple arrangements.
- First, we lost 1/2 of Day One waiting for our driver. Although we paid for the full day, BW sent our driver off to run errands on BW’s behalf !!! Thus, we really didn’t set off to explore the region until well into the afternoon.
- Second, during the initial meet-n-greet meeting with Canat, we agreed on an itinerary for what remained of Day 1 and Day 2. Since our first (temporary) translator didn’t speak English, Canat agreed to convey the plans to both the driver and the guide-translator so that they would know where to take us. I want to say that something got lost in translation, but how is that possible if Canat and the both the driver & guide speak the same language? I can only infer that the problems that followed were due to bad communication or incompetence. On Day 2, we were supposed to catch the sunrise over a lake in one of the national parks. But neither the driver nor the guide knew of this! So, we missed our sunrise photo opportunity. When we asked the translator to call BW and speak to Canat, she didn’t comprehend the request. “What is canat?” “Canat?”. Finally, she clicked that Canat was the manager of BW. So, she called the office and someone from the office told her that we wanted to see a lake. So, her solution was to take us to the lake 500m from our ger. It was a pleasant but non-descriptive lake. Like Day 1, the morning of Day 2 was wasted.
- Third, the afternoon of Day 2 was a washout as well. Canat had agreed to meet up with us that afternoon to take us to see some amazing petroglyphs in the region. He was a no-show. Our new translator-guide (someone who could actually speak English!) arrived whilst we waited for Canat and she suggested that we see a stone monolith nearby instead. We were keen to salvage what remained of that day so we agreed. Unbeknownst to us, Canat called the driver and told him to take us to the lake that we were supposed to go in the morning. The driver therefore ignored the instructions from the translator-guide and drove towards the lake instead; the lake was 90 kilometres away. We were halfway towards the lake when we discovered this. So, we requested a change in direction because we knew the lighting would be poor by the time we reached the lake. But to get to the monolith required backtracking as well as going thru a deserted valley. Twice during the journey, the driver had to stop and check the car. This wasn’t very reassuring. When we realized that we had no spare water, no spare blankets, no mobile phone reception and more importantly, no one from the office knew that we were heading to the monolith instead of the lake, we became concerned about getting stranded in the middle of absolutely nowhere. As such, we had to err on the side of safety and cancel the trip to the monolith and headed back to base.
- Fourth, Day 7 was originally planned as a rest-day. But since Day2 was a complete washout, we decided to re-try visiting the lake in the morning and then go check out the petroglyphs with Canat in the afternoon. There were many petroglyphs in the area but Canat offered to take us to see the best ones. We should not have been surprised when Canat decided to pull another no-show. Our guide tried her best to remedy the situation by getting directions from the office on where the petroglyphs were. But, the directions were vague and thus, our guide had to ask random strangers along the way. In the end, we saw a few petroglyphs but these were the ones we managed to stumble across and they were not particularly interesting (i.e. not ones that can be photographed as these were just scratches on rocks).
- Fifth, we booked eight Eagle Hunters for our private photo sessions. But, BW only managed to secure seven. Even though BW had months to plan for this, it appeared that the Eagle Hunters were organized only at the last minute. In addition, in my many emails with Canat prior to the trip, I was clear that I wanted to book the hunters for the full day as I wanted to capture them in a variety of settings. It was only at the initial meet-n-greet meeting that Canat advised me that the hunters were available to us for only a few hours each day. As such, we had to rethink our plans about when/where to do the photography sessions.
- Sixth, he changed prices suddenly. I was given a quote of USD 20 for each eagle hunter (to be our model for the day) which I agreed to. Then, the prices later increased because he ‘forgot‘ to include the price for the horses (at an additional USD 15 per horse). Upon reflection, I’m surprised that Canat didn’t charge me extra for the eagles! This increase was absurd and unjustified because the Eagle Hunters always hunt with horses and these hunters would be riding their own horses! But, as this price increase came in rather close to the departure date and I didn’t want to jeopardise the plans, I consented to the new price.
- Finally, we arranged for full-board (i.e. all meals included) during the seven nights we spent with the family. BW provided a cook — but, this cook was there for only 5 nights. When the cook left early, we were told to not worry because she prepared food for us. Words are wind with BW because on Day 7, we had no breakfast and our lunch (during the road trip to the lake-petroglyphs) was 1 small bag of potato chips each.
In summary, I would NOT recommend using Blue Wolf Travel. But as the choices are limited, you may find that BW is unavoidable. If you do have to use BW as your travel organizer, then below are my suggestions:
- Confirm everything in email. This way, it would be easier for you to press for a refund if you need to dispute the services rendered (or not rendered).
- Insist on a face-to-face meeting with the Office Manager when you arrive into Ulgii. Have your translator and driver present so that they are aware of the what’s been agreed and what’s on the actual itinerary. This should help mitigate crossed wires.
- Based on my experience, Canat does not like dealing with client’s problems. Every time we try to meet with him, he suddenly becomes ‘unavailable’. Three times we booked a meeting with Canat (via his office staff) and yet each time he is called away to a meeting in another village and this village had no mobile phone reception. I know this to be a cover story because it does not add up. The first time when he failed to show up for a meeting (not related to the petroglyphs outing), his office told me that he had an important meeting with the Eagle Festival organizers. This is dubious to me because the day prior at the meet-n-greet, Canat told me himself that he’s not involved in the Ulgii Eagle Festival at all as this is organized by the government and some other tour operator (Nomadic Expeditions). The second time he failed to show up to a pre-arranged meeting, his office was unable to reach him and didn’t know his schedule and therefore could not advise when he was due back. I then made arrangements to meet with Canat on the morning of my flight out of Ulgii. When I arrived, I was told that he was unavailable as he was still asleep (his house is next door to the BW office). When I’d advised them that I was willing to wait for him (this was a bluff as I actually had a flight to catch), the cover story suddenly changed. The office suddenly remembered that Canat was now actually in another village in a meeting but that he would instead come and meet me at the airport. Needless to say, he was a no-show at the airport. From what I could gather from other travellers who also had problems with BW, the best way to catch Canat is to ambush him in his office. I made the fatal mistake of trying to arrange a meeting with him.
- Hold BW accountable. I am. I’m in the process of getting a partial refund from them. Although I have secured an agreement for a refund amount, words are wind with BW …. Time will tell.
- UPDATE OCT 26th: despite the fact that I’ve secured an agreement on the refund amount, Blue Wolf Travels is now _ignoring_ my emails requesting status updates on the $ transfer. No surprises, then! It appears that this is classic BW again — ignore your customers and hope that they will give up and fly away!
- UPDATE NOV 1st: BW has sent the money to me via Western Union. Although they have my full address, they’ve somehow managed to send the money to Singapore instead of Hong Kong! As such, money is currently NOT collectable! (Did I not say that BW is disorganised and uncoordinated?)
- UPDATE NOV 5th: Refund has arrived. But sadly, I got a terrible foreign exchange rate from Western Union so I didn’t get the amount expected. But, happily, the refund issue is now considered closed.
BTW — it looks like I’m not alone in my disappointment and frustration with BW.
from TripAdvisor . . .
Poor service, unreliable and changing prices ??? (Sounds similar!!!)
another review from TripAdvisor . . . .
Yet another bad review on Blue Wolf Travel Mongolia . . .
page 2 — another bad tour review of Blue Wolf Travel Mongolia
Travel Blog — Mongolia
‘Oh, bugger‘ was my first thought as I went flying thru the air. ‘Ouch‘ was my second thought as I landed on the painted rocks which served to demarcate the boundary separating the spectators and the players. Buzkashi is a horsegame typically compared to polo — but the former is played with a ball whereas the latter is played with a headless goat carcass. The other difference is that polo is typically considered a gentleman’s game whereas buzhashi is a seriously rowdy, highly competitive and very fierce spectacle. Nonetheless, I thought I was relatively safe as I was seated in a place of honour. I was on the front bench alongside some senior and distinguished Eagle Hunters. Surely these boys won’t want to run over their grandfathers, or so I thought … Not so as these boys take buzhashi very seriously and the locals know this. So, as a wall of four galloping horses headed towards the benches, the ‘grandfathers’ were swift and nimble and avoided the horses. I, on the other hand, went flying thru the air as the horses (and riders) ignored the painted rocks.
As I dusted myself off, my third thought was on whether or not I’d managed to get ‘that perfect shot’ of the thundering horses coming towards me. But, before I could check the images from my camera, I noticed that I was suddenly surrounded by the locals. “OK? OK?” they all asked with their eyes and kind gestures. “I’m OK.” I smiled and gave them the ‘thumbs up’ and tried to assured them that all was fine but they still seemed genuinely concerned. “OK? OK? Sit, sit.” And then, more people came up to check that I was unhurt. It was then that I realised that there was some secret or unspoken code of hospitality at stake. The locals were appalled that a visitor was potentially injured. I tried to assuage their concerns by resuming normalcy and taking more photos of the game. (Note: nothing stops buzhashi.) But the crowds remained. And then the penny dropped — the locals were now forming a human shield around me against future harm.
I was so charmed by their generosity that the game no longer became important to me. Instead, I started to take photographs on my iPhone of the kids protecting me. I used the Hipstamatic application on the phone to create interesting images and the kids were thrilled to see their portraits. And, before I knew it, the game finished. In the end, I didn’t get that ‘perfect’ shot. Nonetheless, I had something better — I had the warmest memory of the kindness and concerns shown by ordinary Mongolians towards me during the game. It was an endearing and unforgettable moment.
The bitter and biting cold was another unforgettable memory of Mongolia. We did our research beforehand and packed for all seasons. During the day and under the blazing sun, it was warm and bright (sunblock and hat mandatory). But, on a clear and star-filled night, it was brutally cold. On the first night, I had my woollen stockings plus two layers of thermals whilst tucked inside an Arctic sleeping bag and under a thick wool blanket (loaned to us by the family we were staying with). During the autumn and winter, the family moved into their mud-brick winter house; during the summer, they use their ger (a Mongolian yurt) as they move their herds to summer pasture. We were sleeping in their summer ger — and it provided little warmth. Every night, the host lit a dung fire in the ger’s central stove, but, the dung fire burned too quickly. Within 30 minutes, the ger was cold again as the biting winds found every holes and gaps in the thin walls. On the second night, I added more thermals but I still found it uncomfortably and incredibly cold. It was so cold that it was difficult to fall asleep. In fact, it was so cold that the decision to remain inside the sleeping bag and shiver/suffer the cold (and pray that I’ll eventually fall asleep) was better than to unzip the bag and expose myself to even more horrible coldness in order to put on more layers. Each night thereafter I added more layers until I looked like the Michelin man. It was only on the seventh and final night in the ger that I finally had a warm and comfortable sleep — at that point, I had: 1 woollen stocking, three pairs of wool/cotton socks, three thermal pants, three thermal shirts plus a double-thickness cotton shirt plus 1 cotton rugby shirt whilst tucked inside a sleeping bag under a wool blanket and a sheepskin coat (also on loan from the family) used as another blanket. And this was in early October! I cannot imagine the cold during the deepest and darkest winter.
‘the leaky ger’ — see video tour (external link to YouTube)
‘the leaky ger’ at night
Manaa, our host, is a champion eagle hunter with a beautiful wife and 11 grown children. Most of his fledglings have either moved to the village and/or are boarded at school. Even so, the house is rarely quiet. Mongolian hospitality is a never-ending pot of milk tea and a continual stream of neighbours and visitors. During the weekend, the school kids return and the house teems with life. In addition to the kids, the house is home to two golden eagles. The elder eagle has been in Manaa’s care for 5 years and is quite docile. The other bird is newly acquired and still very wild. As such, it is kept in the kitchen so that it would acclimatise to the sounds, smell and sight of humans.
our host with his trained eagle
a wild eagle in the kitchen
The eagle hunters only use female birds as they are significantly larger than male birds. Furthermore, they only use eagles that have already been trained to hunt by their mother. The hunters then train the birds to hunt for them. The first step is to teach the young eagle (typically at age 1) to accept food (a poor bunny in this case) from the eagle hunter. Once the bird accepts the eagle hunter as it’s ‘master’, then the eagle is taken outside and tethered to a rope and taught to catch a lure and then fly back to it’s master. We were told (via our translator) that Manaa has trained 6 eagles successfully in his career and that it would take approximately 20 days to train a smart eagle. Once an eagle is trained and successfully captures an animal, the eagle hunter would reward it by giving it the warm liver of fox/rabbit/marmot. A good hunting eagle is typically kept for ten years before it is released back into the wild so that it could breed. At the start of the breeding season on the eagle’s 11th year, it is taken to the top of the highest nearby peak and released. We were told that it is extremely rare for a released bird to return back to it’s master’s home. But if it does return, then it is taken further afield and released again.
We were in western Mongolia specifically to see the two-days Golden Eagle Festival. This is a public-private enterprise between the local government and a tour group (Nomadic Expedition) to showcase and to preserve a local tradition as well as give an economic injection into a sleepy part of Mongolia. We wanted our tourist dollar to stay in Mongolia and therefore opted to travel independently. We used a local agent (Blue Wolf Travels LTD — which we would NOT recommend) to book our private gerstay, our translator/guide, and our driver. The plan was to arrive before the crowd and spend two days exploring the region first. Then, we would attend the festival followed by two days of horse riding & hunting with the eagle hunters. And our seventh and last day in western Mongolia would be a rest day. Very little went according to plan because Blue Wolf was hugely disorganised. In fact, the only days that went perfectly were days that Blue Wolf was not involved in the logistics. (I would recommend avoiding Blue Wolf — please see the specifics in my review of the company.)
Blue Wolf malarky aside, we thoroughly enjoyed visiting western Mongolia. We loved staying with Manaa and his family. We ate with the family and shared their communal plates. Like the locals, we dropped into other people’s houses to say hello and were supplied with endless milk tea (full fat and salty). The evening entertainment was based on songs and storytelling. Despite their hard lives, Manaa and the others know how to live to the fullest. On the last night of the Eagle Festival, Manaa and his neighbours celebrated the local village’s festival successes until 5:30 AM. The celebration only ended because it clashed with the start of his morning chores. His animals needed care so he exited from the party and took the birds out for their morning exercise and then he tended to the cows, yaks, horses and goats.
Manaa’s sons kill a goat for dinner
a typical dinner scene: mutton and potatoes in the communal plate (center of the table), endless cups of tea, and Mongolian vodka.
Travel to western Mongolia required a robust constitution. Prior to our arrival, I’d spend weeks trying to hunt down the elusive typhoid vaccine. The global manufacture’s recall resulted in a very tight supply and I was told by numerous medical centres and hospitals in Hong Kong that the vaccine could not be purchased in HK for love or money. Many false leads later but thanks to a tip from the HK government, I found a Christian medical clinic that had the vaccine in stock. And, it was needed!
In western Mongolia, one did one’s ablutions in the open fields. In addition, the primary source of fuel for cooking was animal dung. And, whilst there was a washing basin the kitchen, the water was from a nearby well. Furthermore, the cook (from Blue Wolf) didn’t always wash her hands after filling the stove with the quick-burning dried dung. And so we were incredibly grateful that we were fully vaccinated up for all types of bugs and ailments before we arrived.
What we didn’t anticipated were the bruised elbows and sore back from bouncing along the rocky steppe and dirt paths. There is ‘off roading’ and then there is ‘Mongolian off roading’. We crossed boulders-ridden riverbeds, climbed steep mountain sides, and tracked across stoney and sandy desert paths in an old Soviet jeep. Coming from a super-condensced city, it was a joy to be able to stretch one’s eyes towards the horizon. But, the joy was quickly replaced when we realised that getting from point A to point B required hours of travel.
See video — note: this is an external link to YouTube
Mongolia was truly and dramatically vast. Thankfully, Bruce downloaded some old Soviet maps and overlayed these maps onto Goggle Earth and he uploaded these files onto his GPS device. Thus, we were able to see our progress in real-time in Mongolia. Once we were travelling some distance to see a stone monolith. A quarter of the way there, the driver stopped the car (twice) to inspect something. At this point, we checked Bruce’s GPS device and realised that we were in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Furthermore, we were in the Mongolian desert and had no spare water (and no spare blankets in case we got stuck there at night). And, we were so remote that there was no mobile phone reception. And to make matters worse, due to a Blue Wolf screw-up, we had a change in the itinerary which meant that no one knew our true destination. So, if the car broke down in the middle of Nowhere Mongolia, we would truly be 100% buggered. At this point, Bruce made the right decision and cancelled our outing to see the stone monolith.
Unfortunately, this curtailed roadtrip was not an isolated incident as the local agent was completely ‘canat’ (a newly invented adjective!). Thankfully, we had a very good driver and translator/guide which helped mitigate our losses. But despite losing time going to the wrong places, etc. we could not stop enjoying the endless natural beauty and stunning landscapes.
The absolute highlight of the trip was the Golden Eagle Festival. At approximately 10 AM, it started off with a parade of the Eagle Hunters (my guestimate was that approximately 30 Eagle Hunters participated in the 2013 festival). The first two hours of the festival was vicious — every Westerner (and his dog) had multiple cameras, smartphones, video cameras, binoculars, etc. And so before the official eagle competition started, the photographers (myself included) jostled and competed amongst ourselves for ‘the photo opportunity’. It was an ‘Eagle Hunter paparazzi’ on an epic scale. Thankfully, the photo mania calmed once everyone realised that the festival spanned two days, there was plenty of space to spread out, and by stepping on top of each other, no one was going to get a good photograph.
Day 1 was to test the eagle’s response to it’s master’s voice. One by one, the eagle hunters called out to their eagles. The eagles were released from a high peak and they were timed. The quickest one to perch onto it’s master’s arm was the winner. On Day 2, the test was on the eagle’s ability to catch a moving bait (dead fox/rabbit dragged behind a horse). Again, the eagles were timed and judged on speed and effectiveness on landing the bait. The eagle competition ended by midday on Day 2. That afternoon was an opportunity for the local boys to demonstrate their horse riding skills as well as compete against neighbouring villages in robust games of buzhashi.
Bizarrely, some of the eagles determined that photographers were more desirable than the dead foxes/rabbits. Two photographers were “attacked” — and one was actually hunted by the eagles twice! (Bad eagle karma?) Thankfully, neither the photographers nor the birds were injured.
photographer used his tripod to defend himself from an eagle
the bait …
the horseman luring the eagle with the rabbit bait
picking up a small parcel on the ground whilst on a moving horse
show-off !
Ouch! Player is knocked off this horse during a game of buzhashi
Despite the bitter cold at night, the harsh travelling condition and the many frustrations and disappointment with our local travel agent, we thoroughly enjoyed visiting Mongolia and would highly recommend the Golden Eagle Festival in Olgii/Ulgii. If possible, we would recommend avoiding the the tourist gers and hotels. The best way to get “under the skin” of a place is to do a homestay or a gerstay with a local family. Our recommendations are posted below.
If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at feedback@le-mckernan.com. Happy travels!
BTW — the first image below is the image I’d managed to take before getting knocked over. The second image shows one of my “human shields” trying to get my attention to warn me about the approaching horses. It still tickles me pink when I reflect on the kindness and care of the locals!
before …
after …
For additional photographs, please check out this link.
Travel Tips:
For anyone interested in travelling to Western Mongolia, our suggestions are:
- Pack well and pack wisely. Mongolia certainly has the extremes in temperature and in condition. And, don’t assume that your host will have sufficient supplies.
- If possible, pack light — especially if you are flying into western Mongolia. Aero Mongolia is fastidious about charging extra for excessive baggage weight (including carry-ons)! This is a cash cow for them and they will ( rightly ) milk it for all that they can. As a workaround:
- You could stuff your coat pockets with your heavy carry-on items when you check in (they don’t make you weigh-in your coat). Once you have your boarding pass, you can then put the heavy stuff from your coat pocket back into your carry-on bag.
- Some people are posting their sleeping bags, etc. to/from Mongolia via DHL, FedEx, etc. to avoid paying the stiff excessive baggage fee.
- Mongolia is becoming an ever popular travel destination and we know firsthand of two incidents in which people were ‘bumped’ from their gers due to double-booking. During the eagle festival, demand easily outstrips supply. This is where you need to work closely with your local agent and confirm (and then double/triple confirm) the arrangements.
- Work only with reputable agents or one that comes recommended. We met another traveller who booked her arrangements by email with a local agent and only had his mobile number as a contact. When he failed to pick up her messages, she had no other way to get in touch with him. She then had to book herself into a dinky hotel at an exorbitant rate.
- The Lonely Planet publishes a comprehensive ‘what to pack’ list. In addition to their list, I would also suggest:
- Lots of baby wipes or deodorant paper. Unless you are staying in a hotel or in a tourist ger, bathing (especially in the colder months) would be difficult.
- For the sake of a comfortable bottom, bring along the toilet paper that you normally use at home.
- For the ladies, I cannot recommend enough either http://www.freshette.com or GoGirl. You can typically find these in any camping or outdoorsy shops.
- Plastic bags! I know that they are environmentally evil, but, a few spare plastic bags are a godsend under the right circumstances such as: to serve as a garbage bag, a puke bag (it happens!) or just to separate the clean from the not-so-clean clothes, etc. (If you are staying in a rural area, then bring your garbage into town at the end of your trip and dispose of this responsibly.)
- Pain medication (for sore backs), hand/feet warmers (the type skiers put inside their gloves and shoes), and a few extra pairs of socks.
- If you are doing a homestay/gerstay, then small gifts of hospitality will give you a lot of mileage. For example, my jars of honey and packets of dried mangoes were very, very well received. I also knew (from past travels in Central Asia) that sharing cakes with the family would be a big win so I brought along a Dutch loaf cake (made with dried fruits, nuts and spices). This was quickly devoured by all.
- A Polaroid-type camera. Ours was a SERIOUSLY (!) MEGA-HUGE hit. It really helps build rapport. And you’ll have a friend for life if you give them a Polaroid portrait. But if you bring this type of camera, then you need to ensure that you pack 1.5x more cartridges than you think you would need. Also, pack these in your carry-on in an easily accessible place. At the security checks at the airport, do not let them X-RAY the film. The guards will tell you that the X-RAYS are safe — don’t believe them! These should be hand-searched.
- Almost every ger (even the most remote ones) now have solar panels. In theory, you can recharge your batteries when in deepest Mongolia. However, please be mindful that you shouldn’t hog all the electricity — the host needs to charge his batteries as well for evening light.
- I hate to bring this up … but, you will be seen as an incredibly wealthy foreigner when you visit Mongolia. And news of your presence will spread around the area and the temptation to pilfer from wealthy foreigners may be too strong to resist. As such, always, always lock your stuff in your bags. At day as well as at night. It breaks my heart to write this (because our host family was so lovely and kind to us) but, one night at around 4:20AM, someone came into our private ger (we forgot to set the door latch) and was about to go thru our bags. I thought it was Bruce so I’d asked him if everything was OK and the figure looked up, pointed his torch/flashlight at me and then left the ger very quickly.
- Traffic in Ulaanbaatar (aka UB) was unspeakable! As such, bring comfortable walking shoes. On our first day there, we walked 12 kilometres. The second day, it was 17 kilometres. Walking was the simply the best way for us to explore the city. In addition and more importantly, give yourself PLENTY of time to get to the airport. I’ve _never_ missed a flight in my entire life because I am always careful about giving myself sufficient time to travel there. That said, traffic in UB gave me the fright that we might miss our flight. It wasn’t simply the volume of cars on the road. The issue is that the drivers in UB ignored traffic rules and were incredibly selfish. The drivers there were perfectly happy to create gridlock for others if it meant that they could cut queues. Heading towards the airport, we were on a dual carriageway with one lane for each direction. Despite the fact that the road could only accommodate two lanes, the drivers on “our” side of the road were perfectly happy to create three passing lanes — a passing lane, a passing lane of the passing lane, and a passing lane on the hard shoulder! And this happened whilst there was construction happening in real-time on the road we were travelling on. No one showed anyone any consideration and as such, the road literally grounded to a halt. Unbelievable gridlock!!!
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For more information why I would NOT recommend Blue Wolf Travel, please see my opinion piece of this agency.
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