When we told people we were going to the Nomad Games they often thought we were talking about a meetup of digital nomads... But no, this is a celebration of true nomadic culture that is still part of everyday life in many parts of Central Asia!
The World Nomad Games are way too hard to describe in words and a few photos but I will at least give you a little introduction.
The World Nomad Games are something like the Olympic games of Central Asia. This year was the third event after 2014 and 2016. Hundreds of competitors from many different countries meet up in Kyrgyzstan to find the best in their discipline. The whole thing takes place at a beautiful lake in the Issyk-kul Region of Kyrgyzstan.
There are many sport and cultural events taking place during the week of the games.
The Nomad Games takes place in two main venues.
The first is the Kyrchyn Ethno Village, a huge yurt camp (over 1000 yurts) in a picturesque valley, it is the setting for the eagle hunting and archery competitions. There are also several stages with traditional performances, markets selling all kinds of local goods, people dressed in traditional clothing and more horses and eagles than you can shake a stick at!
The second part of the games is the hippodrome where all the different horse competitions take place. This is where the most legendary sport of the World Nomad Games - Kok Boru takes place! Basically, it's polo played with a headless goat carcass and it can get quite brutal. It's a pretty big sport here in the Stans and it's a huge point of national pride. But there are also teams from countries like France and the USA who aren't quite so good but are competing to give it a shot and learn from the pros.
Overall this week in Kyrgyzstan was a very eventful and interesting experience for us! We learned so much of the culture and local traditions of central Asia. Definitely, a region to come back to one day!
Here is our full article about the games if you are interested to learn a bit more about nomad culture: https://www.travelsofabookpacker.com/blog/world-nomad-games-kyrgyzstan
