Mongolia – Not just BBQ – All The Places I Will Go

Mongolia, Anyone?

I can’t remember the exact details (it was over a year and a half before the trip) that I learned about the Mongolia trip as an option, all I knew was I wanted in.

I do like to go places that may not be something that comes immediate to mind when people think of taking a holiday. I want to experience everything this world has to offer and bringing back memories and experiences for others to get inspired.

The trip was centered around their Eagle Festival held every year with some photo opportunities with some of the eagle hunters themselves.

I found leading up to the trip I had to preface quite a few things on the trip. I am going to shoot (with a camera) the Eagle Hunters (think falconry), and no we aren’t hunting eagles. Yes, the eagles do the hunting and the festival is a celebration of their customs and through a series of events determines who is the most skilled eagle hunter.

It is honestly quite an interesting tradition, these hunters are a nomadic people, they use the eagles to help them hunt throughout the winter. They capture an eaglet in its nest, when its old enough to survive on its own but not old enough to fly away. This is rather a precarious activity to get to an eagles nest safely and secure an eagle. The relationship between the eagle hunter and the eagle is quite amazing to witness. The eagles, golden eagles, are like family. Quite magnificent birds, which live around 20-25 years in the wild, the hunters don’t keep the eagles for their entire life, they are returned to the wild after 10 years or so.

So where exactly is Mongolia? That was a question I received a bit, I mean beyond the BBQ and Ghengis Khan I don’t think Mongolia is really that known to people. Mongolia is north of China, south of Russia and east of Kazakhstan.

Months before my trip I became acquainted with the band called The Hu, which they blend their traditional throat singing, traditional instruments into a more modern rock vibe, and when I say became acquainted with, meaning I heard their music randomly. Honestly the music is quite good. Linking a music video below, there are subtitles in English for you. They were even touring through the US right before my trip and coming through my state, I figured what a great way to ramp up into visiting their wonderful country so I did get tickets but unfortunately the night of the concert my sister who was coming with the came down sick and wasn’t able to go. I’ve gone to a few concerts solo before, but its just not as fun so I skipped it that night as I wasn’t able to find someone to come along.

I did make up for it by watching the movie the Eagle Huntress, a documentary about a 13 year old girl who entered and won the Eagle Festival a few years back. Quite a good movie, give it a watch. Eagle Hunting is steeped in tradition and is not something a female would usually participate in so it was interesting to watch how it all came about.

Itinerary

Day 1: Ulaanbaatar
Day 2 – 4: Tov Region: Nomadic Camps
Day 5: Ulaanbaatar
Day 6 – 10: Ulgii: Eagle Festival
Day 11 – 12: Ulaanbaatar

What to Pack

This was a fun one to work out, we had 2 sections of our trip, with the second leg of the trip going to Ulgii. This is a regional flight which had weight restrictions on the flights, for both the checked luggage and the carry on. The carry on was only 11 bs and I think the checked bag was around 20 or so. This added an interesting twist for a photography trip. I would never check my camera equipment and to keep that to 11 lbs and under would be a fun little twist.

Always check the airlines flight restrictions, if we didn’t know this before heading there it would’ve lead to a few panicked moments.

Now it was going to be late September/early October when we were in Mongolia so the weather would be fallish and potentially a little chilly so I planned for layers and layers. We were warned that at the ger camps the towels were maybe a little smaller than what the average American is used to so you may want to grab a microfiber towel for yourself, they are great – they pack light, and are compact, and dry quickly. Also we were warned that the beds may be a little hard, so if you don’t sleep well on a hard bed you may want to bring a packable camping mattress.

To handle the weight restrictions, I worked on some configurations of my camera bag at home so I knew how I would make changes once I got to Mongolia. We were able to store some luggage at our hotel in Ulaanbaatar when we went to Ulgii so I brought a duffel bag for my checked bag to swap in just the essentials in for that leg of the trip.

General

Sunglasses
Money
Passports
Documents
Medication
Headphones
Chapstick
Handwarmers
Water bottle
Snacks
Gum
Toiletries
Brush
Vitamins
Advil
Shampoo
Thank you cards
Duffel Bag

Clothes

Pajamas
Base layers bottoms
Base layers tops
Tops
Pants
Mittens
Hiking shoes
Walking around shoes
Buff
Microfiber towel

What’s in my bag

Nikon D500
Nikon 50mm Lens
Tamron 18-400 Lens
Sony A7iii
Sony 20-105 Lens
All of the batteries (since we were in ger camps and I wasn;t sure how much access we would have to power to charge up)
2 Powerpacks to charge my phone on the go
Travel power strip
Universal travel plug
Flashlight
Headlamp
Hand/foot warmers
Bug wipes (not sure what nibbley flying creatures may be around this time of year)
Airblower and brush for cleaning (anticipate it being dusty)
iPad & sd card port; opted for the iPad vs bringing my laptop to save on weight
Plenty of Memory Cards
I packed this all away in my 18L Mindshift backpack