July 25 (Friday) – Eagle Hunters and Milking Mares

Another long drive today…about an hour and a half.  This one took us along the Khovd River…,

through a beautiful gorge…,

and eventually into a flat plateau with the village of Uujim…not much there. 

We drove through the village to a site with a stone man.  The guide said the stone carving was about 6,000 years old; however, in Googling for more information it seems like they are around 1,000 to 1,500 years old.  There are around 500 stone men scattered around Mongolia.

Then we backtracked to visit the ger of an Eagle Hunter and his family.

The inside of the ger was very colorful.

The lady of the house had appetizers set out for us…fried bread with yak butter, dried cheese, dried curd and some wrapped candies.  We were also offered fermented mare’s milk.

The couple had two adorable children. 

Lunch was some fried vegetables and noodles for the vegetarians and a large plate of noodles with veggies and dried meat for the others.

  While making a run to the nearby bathroom...

Jessica and Mary saw this amazing dust devil.

After lunch we headed out to watch them milk the mares to make the fermented milk.  Apparently, the nomads drink little water, probably because it is hard to find.  So the substitute is this milk.

The mares and their foals were tied on a short robe to a long, staked rope.  When getting ready to milk the mare the foal is allowed to suckle (only a bit) to get the milk started, then the woman milked the mare.  After milking about 8 or 9 mares she only had about a gallon of milk. 

After the milking the eagle hunter headed back to the ger where he changed into his hunter costume.  He had won several championships at the annual Eagle Hunter Festival (photos from his championship days).

The coat is of wolfskin, and the striped hat is made from the hide of the legs of foxes. 

And his eagle is a golden eagle.

After we got a lot of photos of him, Liam donned the gear, mounted the horse, and posed with the eagle on his arm.

then Paul…

and then Jessica.  The garb for a woman eagle hunter isn’t nearly as flamboyant as that of the men. Our thinking is that only the men do eagle hunting but they put something together for the women tourists who want to join in the fun.  

Mary didn’t try it…no interest in trying to get onto the horse.  But we got a group photo with our hunter and his eagle. 

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    Video of us as eagle hunters
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Then it was the drive back into town.

We were all pretty full so opted to not go out for dinner tonight.  But it was a wonderful day.