Elko, Nevada and Bozeman, Montana: The 20th annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering held each year in Elko, Nevada saw and heard some new twists on song and poetry this year from a group of five Mongolian tradtional performers. The haunting sounds of "horse-headed fiddle" and throat singing mixed with the more familiar twang of the guitar and fiddle and the dropped g's and drawl of Cowboy Poetry.

The Mongolians impressed not only with their music but with their colorful national dress, their culinary skills and their epic poetry.  They also caught on fast to traditional American Cowboy fun like dancing and drinking. 

The January 24-31, 2004 event was the culmination of 5 longs years of work begun by Linda Svendsen of Boojum Expeditions and Charlie Seeman, Western Folklife Center Executive Director.  Linda, a regular at the Gathering, hatched a plan with Charlie and others to do a survey trip to Mongolia in 2001 to meet prospective Mongolian cowboys.  That led to the Western Folklife Center finding grant money to bring the performers this year to Elko.

Making the link between cowboys around the world is an important part of the Elko celebration, which in its 20 years has invited cowboys from various other countries to participate and share their love of horses, livestock and wide open spaces. 

PRAISE TO ELKO    NPR Morning Edition from Elko    PHOTOS      
Streaming Audio from Elko             WESTERN FOLKLIFE CENTER
Send E-mail to: info@boojum.com 
Snail Mail : 14543 Kelly Canyon Road Bozeman, MT 59715 USA

 

We specialize in Mongolia travel but we also offer adventure travel to Patagonia, Uruguay, Tibet. Horseback riding was our original interest when we pioneered travel adventures to China and Inner Mongolia and Tibet. We now offer tours and travel packages of all kinds in Mongolia (formerly Outer Mongolia) including camel riding, trekking, photography, fishing, horseback riding, culture, visiting Naadam, the Gobi, Lake Hovsgol (Lake Khovsgol) and the nomadic herders of Mongolia. In Ulan Bator we have our own offices though we are not really a travel agent, but an outfitter of travel and adventure in Mongolia. If want a riding vacation; whether a horseback riding vacation, a camel riding vacation or a jeep riding vacation, we'll be glad to create a travel adventure across Mongolia for you.

In Patagonia and Uruguay remember you can combine two adventures and do both horseback riding trips in just two weeks of travel. A Patagonia horseback riding vacation or a Uruguay horseback riding vacation is just the thing for beginners or experienced equestrian travelers. An equestrain vacation, horseback riding in Patagonia, Agentina or Uruguay or Mongolia or Tibet is a great way to have a guided adventure.
Mongolia travel can also include rafting, trekking or a combination of rafting, trekking, horseback riding and culture. Mongolia travel means visiting the Gobi, Lake Khovsgol, Buddhist monasteries, or even fishing. The fishing in Mongolia and Patagonia is very good. In Mongolia the fishing is for taimen. In Patagonia, the fishing is for trout. Being an outfitter, we don't call our adventure horseback riding or other mongolia tours "tours" per se. We think that Monglia tour sounds like it lacks adventure. A Mongolia tour can include paleontology, horseback riding, a river trip or rafting, trekking or culture. Whatever you call it, a Mongolia tour or Mongolia travel, we will be sure to make your Mongolia tour feel like a private tour.

Those of you who have endured reading the awful prose just preceding are probably wondering what kind of idiot wrote it. We must confess to both a capacity for better prose and an ulterior motive in writing so badly. Search engines look for correlations between your keywords like Mongolia travel, horseback riding, mongolia tour, Patagonia, Uruguay, Tibet, Gobi.. (see there I go again) and the frequency with which they appear on your page. In this everchanging cyber world, we need to keep up, I guess. Have a good riding vacation or adventure and come for Mongolia travel.