During March, the Ministry of Environment and Green Development is organising an interesting series of events entitled ‘The Nomadic Winter 2017’. The series opened with an ‘Eagle Festival’ at the Chinggis Khaani Khuree camp on 5th of March. The camp, is located not far from Ulaanbaatar. More than 2000 came to the remarkable event, including people from every corner of Mongolia and many foreign countries. Each year this event is becoming more and more popular.

A star of the ‘Eagle Festival’ was Aisholpan, a 13-year-old Kazakh girl from Bayan-Ulgii. She is the heroine of the internationally recognised documentary, "The Eagle Huntress", which is executive-produced and narrated by "Star Wars" star Daisy Ridley. It premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and competed in the Oscars.

Every year, just as the winter hunting season is getting underway, ethnic Kazakh golden eagle hunters gather from all over Bayan-Ulgii province (western Mongolia) to celebrate their age-old tradition. Like traditional practices elsewhere in the world, hunting with eagles is on the verge of extinction, but in Mongolia the tradition is alive and well.