2011 Camel festival

Asia » Mongolia » Gobi Desert
March 11th 2011

Published: March 20th 2011

After the dramas of the travel in the Russian van for the Ice Festival, I was relieved to step into a relatively new Hyundai 4WD van for the trip to the Gobi. It was clean, spacious and actually had some suspension! However, never count your apples! Just before starting the return journey to UB, Gans, our tour leader, asked the question, "What is a good Mongolian car?". The answer? "A new one!" Wi... Read Full Entry

Photos are below

Photos: 88, Displayed: 21

The winning couple

Very excited by their victory

Second place

'Our' team came in second - so the silver was an improvement on the polo bronze for Jamin's camels.

Juniors

Even the tiny ones got interviewed following their win in the junior section of the fashion parade

What a hat!

Gorgeous little kid.

Weeping Camel family visit

We were very excited to meet some members of 'The Weeping Camel' (a Mongolian movie) family. They have now retired from camel herding.

Weeping Camel family visit

And the group shot.

The Flaming Cliffs

Mongolia's answer to Uluru - unfortunately we were there on a gray afternoon so the rock was not so bright as to be flaming!

Our camp

In the distance, you may see the ger camp we stayed in for a total of 3 nights, right near the Flaming cliffs.

Early morning

The rocks around the flaming cliffs DID look impressive with early morning light on them.

Goats

As well as being a camel herder, our host had plenty of goats.

The best in hand warmers

There were heaps of motorcycles in the Gobi and there was an assortment of hand warmer and seat covers on display - I liked this one.

Hand warmers in action

Just to show how they are used!

Jamin, our host

This was taken when he was not so happy, before he won a gold medal!

Having a ball

The local kids wrestled and played with balloons whilst waiting for the camels to race by

Here they come!

The first of the camels making their way to the finish line

1st and 2nd place getters

After 14 kilometres it was still this close!

Our camel - #75

Not making Jamin happy was our camel coming in the top 20 only!

2 yo race

The leaders in the 2yo camel race - again, a very close contest

A wayward one

This camel was not interested in racing straight over the finish line

The wayward one - again

...so he was led over the line!

Our relay team

Our team parading.

20th March 2011

Marg
non-member comment

End of Mongolia
You have kept me enthralled with your blog, have shown various grandkids some of them while visiting me. All you need to do now is to get a similar jod in Peru, Equador or Costa Rica and I will be in 7th heaven. Hope to see you back in Australia PS I saw some of the vultures circling while in Mongolia

30th March 2011

mharleyuk
mharleyuk

Great 'people' pictures
Merryn, Great pictures of people, particularly the guy carrying the polo mallets, and 'Jarmin' drinking from a bowl. Good 'National Geographic' type pictures and you've done well to capture them when it looks like they weren't aware. You use a long lens on them? Welcome back to Melbourne & the heat. Time to breathe a sigh of relief. Speak soon. Mart.

12th June 2011

The Travel Camel
Shane Dallas

Fantastic Camel Photos!
Thanks for such a great blog - the Camel Festival is definitely on my future travel plans.

Tot: 0.231s; Tpl: 0.01s; cc: 31; qc: 127; dbt: 0.1373s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.4mb

Do not copy images or text from this page without requesting and receiving permission. All rights are reserved by the author and photographer.

Contact Merryn (Merryn) - a lack of a response does not mean that you have permission to use material from this page.

2011 Camel festival

Copyright Notice: All Rights Reserved