I by no means thought I might describe a camel as cuddly. Then once more, residing in New York Metropolis, there aren’t many alternatives to ponder camel textures. That is to not say I am fully unfamiliar: I’ve encountered many one-humped Dromedary camels in my previous travels to Egypt, Morocco, India, and even Australia. However assembly their two-humped Bactrian cousins in southern Mongolia, pressed towards the neck of a very shaggy specimen, their cuddliness feels up for reassessment.

I am on the Ten Thousand Camel Competition, an annual celebration of the fluffy golden-haired Bactrian camel, which is discovered nearly solely on the central Eurasian Steppe.

Mongolians from across the nation descended of their best deels (the normal nationwide garb) to take part and spectate in matches of camel polo, camel racing, ice archery, singing competitions, and sweetness pageants for each tediously groomed camels and their festively adorned herders. There are additionally a myriad of camel merchandise from miniature stuffed camels and gers (the normal houses of nomadic Mongolian herders) to camel wool blankets and camel milk merchandise. 

Bactrian camels make up solely a small fraction of the world camel inhabitants—round 6 % (or 2 million) as of at the moment. However within the early ’90s, the inhabitants and plight was far worse.

Previous to the peaceable democratic revolution of 1990 in Mongolia, all livestock have been managed and bought by the state. Through the transition to an open market underneath the brand new democracy, coupled with the low demand for camel merchandise like milk and wool, herders discovered their camels have been value extra for his or her meat. Many have been compelled to butcher their camels to make ends meet, plunging the inhabitants to a low level of 200,000 in Mongolia. The Ten Thousand Camel Competition was launched by the Wonderful Gobi Tourism Affiliation in 1997 as a approach to curb the quickly declining inhabitants by selling camel merchandise and experiences.

At present, the domesticated Bactrian camel in Mongolia is a hit story, greater than doubling in quantity to round 480,000. It’s a fair better feat given their sluggish gestation interval: camels are pregnant for 13 months on common, and can solely have one child each two years.

Tourism performed a significant function within the species’ revitalization. Many households across the nation have supplemented their residing by providing camel trekking to foreigners, and promoting the soft-underside wool for pillowy socks, gloves, hats, and blankets. 

“Earlier than we began the occasion, there was just one household within the southern Gobi organizing camel trekking,” Tumendelger Khumbaa, the founder and director of the pageant, instructed T+L. “Now we now have many. Some households can earn 40 to 50 million tugriks (round $11,500 to $14,500) every year. Mining is among the nice advantages and challenges we face in Mongolia. It attracts younger individuals to stay within the metropolis and work the mines. However they forgo their nomadic heritage to do it. Growing camel tourism has allowed households to proceed as they historically have, and to protect the nomad way of life.”

A collection of whooping calls pulled my consideration to a pair of marked fields on the fringe of the grounds. Right here, the opening matches of camel polo have begun. Males in numbered jerseys and white helmets thunder up and down the sphere on the backs of camels with ornamental leg wraps. Leaning over to swing picket mallets, they hammer a vibrant blue ball barely bigger than a softball up and down the pitch. It’s an exciting spectacle to witness, and I spent the subsequent hour watching them shuffle backwards and forwards, often managing to bury the ball into the opponent’s internet.

On the opposite facet of the polo fields, a 10-person crowd cascading from a collection of risers watched riders jockeying a line of camels throughout the previous couple of hundred toes of a multi-kilometer race. Drones buzz overhead, feeding the race stay onto a jumbotron TV on the heart of the grounds.

By mid-day the group grew to hundreds. Although its purpose is to extend worldwide tourism, by and enormous, that is an occasion by and for Mongolians. I’ve noticed solely two dozen foreigners within the sea of multi-colored deels. It feels refreshingly genuine; a window into the lives and traditions of the Gobi residents.

Past the camel adventures, the pageant is a cause for locals to assemble and rejoice winter traditions. One of many star occasions is ice archery, the place rivals draw arrows blunted with bulbous heads and hearth them roughly 150-feet throughout a frozen pitch of ice. The target is to land the projectile over a protecting snow financial institution and knock a set of 400-gram balls over a second financial institution. Every competitor is allowed 20 photographs complete, and matches final a number of hours. Champions obtain a medal on their hat, and are honored of their province.

“We need to begin an American group,” Munkhjargal Byambadorj, the vice chairman of the Mongolian Ice Archery Affiliation, instructed Journey + Leisure. “We began the affiliation in 2008, however ice archery first started over 2000 years in the past. We would like this sport to be on the Olympic Video games. That’s our dream.”

Subsequent to the archery fields, round a dozen ger are arrange for every of the provinces the place camels are herded. Inside, males go bottles of snuff in a one-palmed alternate to one another, and girls distribute copper bowls of the fermented camel’s milk generally known as Airag. After being ushered inside one by a person in a forest inexperienced, fur-trimmed deel, I’m instantly supplied a bowl of the bitter, tangy beverage. It’s an acquired style, however a must-try underneath the encouragement of the encircled crowd.

Again on the heart of the grounds, over 100 individuals have lined up astride their camels for the official welcoming ceremony, and the parade of camels. Teams from every province strut by strains of ready onlookers brandishing cell telephones to seize the spectacle. Camels coated in chestnut brown to almond coloured fur are adorned in anklets, saddles and bridles of each colour of the rainbow. Extra astounding are their riders. In sheepskin deel and elaborate silk patterned jackets, each is a maximalist fashionista’s dream. It’s a feast for the eyes and the digicam. 

In the back of the procession, a small crowd has gathered to gawk and pose for selfies with an enormous camel decked out with dozens of medals. Waving household to affix them for a photograph, they giggle whereas admiring the majestic creature. 

I can’t assist however nod in settlement. That’s one high-quality, fluffy camel.