Bayan-Okjii Aimag is situated in the extreme west of Mongolia. It is very remote and isolated, with Mongolia’s highest summit, Khuiten Uul (4,353m above sea level) overlooking the borders with China and Russia. This spectacular peak is covered in giant glaciers, and is the place one is most likely to see the country’s rarest and most beautiful animal, the snow leopard. The mountain was not scaled until 1956, as it is not only the highest peak to climb but the hardest even to get near. It takes a 120km rough and potholed drive from Okjii and a 40km approach route. Climbing in the Altai range is in many ways more remote and lonely than in the Himalayas, needing the best equipment, lots of experience and a good guide.
Bayan-Olgii Aimag is home to the country’s second largest ethnic group, the Kazakh, as well as a number of other ethnic minorities. They are Sunni Muslims, with their own language and until the 1940s they used both the Latin alphabet and the Arabic script. In 1942 the Cyrillic script became compulsory in Mongolia, but Arabic writing has survived and is today making a return, especially as many books and newspapers are imported from Kazakhstan, much closer in distance and spirit than Ulaanbaatar. The Kazakhs are best known as people who use eagles with which to hunt. It is a tradition that has lasted for over 2,000 years, but became less known in the communist era. Since 1990 it has revived, and has been celebrated since 2001 by an Eagle Festival in October.
The hunters capture a fledgling eagle and spend months training it to ride on the arm of a horse-rider, to hunt and to return to the hunter when called. Only female eagles are used, as they are stronger and more aggressive.
Kazakhs are becoming known for their tuskiigiiz (embroidered wall hangings), which you can now buy in Ulaanbaatar shops, though they are much cheaper in Bayan-Oigii. These hand-embroidered rugs are often startlingly beautiful, and traditionally every woman would know how to make them. As new ones were made, the old were burned or used to cover firewood or animals, so old ones (many have the dates embroidered on them) have become quite rare.
When the Russian empire collapsed, the thread used to embroider the tuskiigiiz became unavailable. The Kazakh began using Chinese thread, which is quite lurid; some people like the brightness, but most prefer the wall hangings made between 1930 and 1990 with the old thread. Older, tattered tuskiigiiz are nowadays not thrown away, but cut up and made into tourist items like handbags and mobile phone covers. Kazakh women also make beautiful felt carpets and mats.
Filed under: About Ulgii
