Sailau and his family have started taking in a few tourists to show them what life is like for a nomadic herdsman and particularly those Kazakhs who still hunt with Golden eagles. The family are fantastic and very welcoming. We had our accommodation in the camper but those who would like to can stay in a ger. first job in the morning was milking the goats.

After chai in the ger, we went up to the mountain with Sailau, his son and the eagle. There was also another small group of tourists (4) who had come with Panoramic Journeys (Check them out on google!). The view from the top was great and we looked across and spotted a nice place to camp by the river.

We then watched Sailau training the eagle ready for the big eagle festival near Olgiy that was to take place at the weekend.

The group was then due to drive off to see the eagles nest, but we decided that we wanted to drive across the valley to our next camping spot. We were going to go back to the ger the following morning to say goodbye.

We needed a shower and we needed to wash clothes so we put a solar shower out, firstly on top of the engine and then in the sun. We also lit a fire with twigs from the river bank and dung that we collected around the campspot.

The spot was so nice that we said it would be nice to text the others that we had been with this morning to invite them for tea. We had only just agreed that we would do it when we heard a truck in the distance. They had the same idea! We drank tea and played boules … the Mongolians had not seen it before and loved it! We need to make sure Panoramic Journeys brings a set for next season … please Olly!

They stayed for a while and then we had our shower and started setting up the fishing gear. It was starting to get cold by the time fishing started but there was a bite almost every cast with great big grasshopper flies that Steve T had lent me. Unfortunately I owe him a couple as my line was not up to those huge lures!

Not sure what the fish was but think it was a greyling … I say was as we cooked it for tea … no wonder …. we are not getting fat!

The view across the river was nice and there were camels roaming around.

Looking back away from the river the view was also amazing!

It was starting to get really cold again and so we decided to wrap all the stones` from the camp fire in a blanket and put them in the camper as a sort of storage heater. It was lovely and the hot water bottle was filled from river water heated by dung … that’s got to be eco friendly!

The temperature that night dropped to -3.5 C outside, and in the camper -2.0 C.