04:17Beautiful Creatures: Mongolia camel riders take part in traditional festival
The traditional 'Thousand Camels' festival was held in the Gobi Desert near Bulgan Aimag in Mongolia on March 6 and 7. Participants played camel polo, and the event also featured various competitions, races and a parade of 'desert ships'.
The festival has been held annually in Mongolia since 1997 to protect and increase the population of two-humped camels, promote tourism in the country and improve local livelihoods through the sale of camel milk and wool products.
Footage taken on Monday shows animals and their owners taking part in the diverse programme of the event, including some of its most spectacular events: the camel parade, the race and the camel polo.
As festival participant Uugan noted, the key to winning at camel polo is first and foremost good training of the animal, not the rider.
"I want to say that to be successful in [camel] polo, you need the camel to be good and well-prepared. The most important thing is the camel," the man explained.
The festival also includes another competition called 'The Beautiful Couple', where riders put on their national costumes and ride on decorated camels. The competition is judged equally on both the costume of the rider and the appearance of the animal.
According to the organisers, the main objective of the festival is to draw people's attention to the problem of protecting the population of wild two-humped camels. The species is threatened with extinction and is listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature. As of today, this species can only be found in Mongolia and one of China's provinces.
04:17The traditional 'Thousand Camels' festival was held in the Gobi Desert near Bulgan Aimag in Mongolia on March 6 and 7. Participants played camel polo, and the event also featured various competitions, races and a parade of 'desert ships'.
The festival has been held annually in Mongolia since 1997 to protect and increase the population of two-humped camels, promote tourism in the country and improve local livelihoods through the sale of camel milk and wool products.
Footage taken on Monday shows animals and their owners taking part in the diverse programme of the event, including some of its most spectacular events: the camel parade, the race and the camel polo.
As festival participant Uugan noted, the key to winning at camel polo is first and foremost good training of the animal, not the rider.
"I want to say that to be successful in [camel] polo, you need the camel to be good and well-prepared. The most important thing is the camel," the man explained.
The festival also includes another competition called 'The Beautiful Couple', where riders put on their national costumes and ride on decorated camels. The competition is judged equally on both the costume of the rider and the appearance of the animal.
According to the organisers, the main objective of the festival is to draw people's attention to the problem of protecting the population of wild two-humped camels. The species is threatened with extinction and is listed in the International Union for Conservation of Nature. As of today, this species can only be found in Mongolia and one of China's provinces.