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Riders and a loaded camel lead a long line of livestock across a wide windswept valley, with a snow-capped Altai peak behind

Photo story · Bayan-Ölgii, western Mongolia

Walking with Syerikbol: A Kazakh Family’s Winter Migration in Western Mongolia

Nearly a thousand animals, about 20 kilometres a day, from a winter camp to wider pasture closer to the high Altai. A short photo story, and how you can join the migration.

Story and photographs by Yerlan Shakhabai · Sayat Travel

The family

Syerikbol’s family

Syerikbol, a Kazakh herder in a long dark coat and fur-lined hood, holds a wooden staff in falling snow in front of his family's flock while two family members walk on with the animals
Syerikbol with the family’s flock.

Syerikbol is a Kazakh herder in the Altai Mountains of western Mongolia. He lives with his wife, their younger son, their daughter-in-law and their young grandchildren, and together they care for nearly a thousand animals: camels, horses, yaks, cattle, goats and sheep.

They spend the winter in a sheltered camp near Mushkhara Mountain in Ulaankhus. In February, when the grass there runs low, the family begins its winter migration to the next pasture, closer to the high Altai.

Syerikbol's family, adults and young children, sit together inside their winter house beneath red patterned carpets hung on the walls
Syerikbol’s family at home in the winter house.
Smoke from the winter house chimney.
A herder in a hooded coat with an orange sash coils a long rope beside a white truck
Coiling rope for the loads.

The day before they leave, everyone works. Lambs are checked, food is prepared, and the household is wrapped in patterned cloth and tied onto the camels.

A loaded camel and a herder with a staff walk past a concrete shelter in low morning light, goats crowding in front
A loaded camel leaves the winter camp with the goats.

The migration

The winter migration: about 20 km a day

The family leaves before sunrise and reaches the next camp before sunset. After a long winter the animals are weak, so Syerikbol does not push them. The herd covers about 20 kilometres a day, and if the weather allows, the migration takes three to five days, depending on how the animals are doing.

Riders guide a long winding line of sheep and goats across a snowy slope during the winter migration in Western Mongolia
Riders guide the herd in one long line across the snow.

The route crosses frozen rivers and lakes. On the ice the camels walk in single file, and in deep snow the herd moves in one long column, each animal stepping in the tracks of the one in front.

A long single file of Bactrian camels walks along the shore of a frozen lake whose ice is deep, clear blue
Camels in single file above a frozen lake.
Horses in blankets walk in a long line along a frozen river channel, with a herder on foot nearby
Horses follow a frozen river.
From the drone: one column through deep snow.
Syerikbol's family, including a small child, sit in a UAZ jeep with bales of hay tied on the roof
The family’s UAZ, hay for the animals on the roof.
A herder in a long coat with an orange sash works on the front of the UAZ while a smiling child watches through the windscreen
A quick repair on the way, with a smiling passenger.
A herder in a long coat walks beside the flock and a saddled horse on stony ground below a snowy mountain
On foot beside the flock.

The weather

When the valley turns white

Winter in the Altai is hard. Some days the wind lifts the snow until land and sky are the same grey. The family keeps the animals close and keeps them moving.

A herder leads loaded yaks and a flock through a blizzard, the animals half hidden in blowing snow
Loaded yaks push on through the blizzard.
A row of horses barely visible through blowing snow
Horses in the drift.
A herder waves a bright orange cloth to guide goats through the snow
A bright cloth shows the goats the way.
Two yaks white with frost stand loaded with bundles beside a stone shelter
Yaks white with frost.

Where we sleep

A ger beside the family

Each evening our team sets up camp near the family. Guests choose: share a room with a local host family, or sleep in a private ger that we carry with us and put up beside the family’s camp, with tents nearby for a toilet and washing.

Putting up the ger.
Ready for the night.
Two white guest gers with orange doors stand in the snow beside the family's stone livestock shelters, with vehicles parked nearby and children playing
Our two gers beside the family’s camp.

What we eat

Warm food after cold days

An expedition chef travels with us and cooks generous, hot meals: breakfast before the early start and a filling dinner at camp. Guests who stay with a host family also share their table.

Syerikbol's family and expedition guests sit around a folding table inside a white tent, sharing bowls of hot food
Family and guests share a hot meal in the tent.
A long breakfast table with flasks, bread and jams set up in the snow beside a UAZ van
Breakfast outside, beside the van.
A table of meat with potatoes and carrots, fresh salad and sweets
Dinner from the chef.

Arrival

The new pasture

At the end of the migration the valleys open out. The new pasture is wider, with more space for the animals to spread out and find food. The herd is brought in under the last warm light of the day, and the family’s new season begins.

A rider on a dark horse brings sheep and goats into camp in warm low sunlight, beside a parked UAZ jeep
In before sunset.
A large herd of sheep, horses and camels spreads across a pale valley below a bare hillside
Room to spread out: horses, sheep, goats and camels on open ground.

Photographs show Syerikbol’s family and, in some frames, neighbouring families from the same valleys making the same migration.

Beyond the migration

Eagle hunter portraits and a mini eagle festival

Once the family has settled on the new pasture, we arrange photography sessions you would not find by chance. Local Kazakh eagle hunters join us with their golden eagles for portraits in the soft morning and evening light. Then we hold a Mini Eagle Festival on the Sagsai pasture, bringing together eagle hunters from the province so you can photograph and film the hunters, their eagles and their skills.

A Kazakh eagle hunter in a fox-fur hat and coat holds a golden eagle on his arm against a blue sky
A portrait session with an eagle hunter.
Two guests stand in snow in front of three mounted eagle hunters holding golden eagles
Guests with mounted eagle hunters.
Two photographers kneel to photograph a child in a fur coat and hat seated on a carpet inside a log house
A portrait session indoors.

The expedition

Join the migration: how the expedition works

Our Eagle Hunters Migration Photography Expedition is a 10-day photography expedition, about 150 km of travel through the Altai Mountains, designed by Yerlan Shakhabai of Sayat Travel. The dates follow the family’s own migration, so every expedition is a little different.

The journey

Ölgiistart ~60 km drive Winter campmeet the family migration · ~20 km a day4 days planned New pastureeagle hunter portraits SagsaiMini Eagle Festival Ölgiifinish About 150 km of travel in the Altai · schematic, not to scale
  1. Ölgii to the family. We start in Ölgii and drive about 60 km into the mountains to the family’s winter camp.
  2. The preparation day at the winter camp, with the family and their animals.
  3. The migration, planned over four days at about 20 km a day (the family may adjust this to the weather and the animals), leaving before sunrise and arriving before sunset.
  4. Eagle hunter portraits once the family has settled on the new pasture.
  5. Mini Eagle Festival on the Sagsai pasture.
  6. Back to Ölgii for a final night in a hotel with a hot shower.
Length
10 days, about 150 km
Season
February, dates set by the family
Start and finish
Ulaanbaatar, with flights to and from Ölgii
Migration
4 days planned, about 20 km a day
Sleeping
Host family room or private ger; hotel in Ölgii
Transport
Soviet UAZ 4×4 van or Land Cruiser
Meals
Expedition chef, hot meals on the trail
Team
Local English-speaking guide (Yerlan for larger groups), local assistant, drivers, chef
Group size
2–10 travellers
Price
From USD 3,200 per person

Choose how you travel and sleep

The trip can be shaped around your group. A shared Soviet UAZ van fits more people at a lower cost; a Land Cruiser is warmer and more comfortable, with fewer people per vehicle. At night, share a room with a host family or have your own private ger set up near the family’s camp.

A grey Soviet UAZ van and a white Toyota Land Cruiser parked side by side on clear blue lake ice
The UAZ van and the Land Cruiser, parked on lake ice.

Your host

Yerlan Shakhabai, host of the expedition, smiling in a cap with a camera at his side, beside a river with mountains behind

Yerlan Shakhabai of Sayat Travel designed this expedition and works directly with the nomadic family, coordinates the vehicles and camps, and plans each day so you are in the right place for the light without getting in the way of the herd. For larger groups, Yerlan can also guide the expedition himself. A travel photographer, videographer and storyteller, he has led migration expeditions with the eagle hunter families of western Mongolia for more than a decade.

Ask about the next migration

Tell us your preferred dates, group size and what you most want to photograph, and we’ll plan the expedition around the family’s timing.

Enquire about the expedition
See the full 10-day itinerary
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