The tour will bring you to the Mankhan soum, Khovd aimag, located in the middle of the majestic mountains of Western Altai, together with the Head shaman of the Mongolian Shaman, and you will not just meet the shaman, but to travel together and talk with shaman more about this rituals, culture and participate their practice as your wishes. Through this tour you will closely see the main rituals which shamans practice, to worship and honor sky and to connect man and nature, such as “Ovoh rituals”, “Fire rituals “”Tree rituals” and possible to meet the “Ongod”, spiritual ancestors. Beside that you will travel to natural historical places, like Gurvan Tsenkheriin Agui (Three Tsenkher Cave), Nukhen Utug (petroglyphs), Rashaant Fall, Khar Us lake, and Tooroin Tsagaan Els etc., 

You will get the main understanding about shamanism as well as have great experience about the Mongolian culture and nomadic life. One of the highlighting parts would be the melody of the Altai harp, which will refresh your mind in the middle of Altai mountains. 

General understanding about the SHAMANIC RITUALS: The ancient practice of the nomadic Mongols, who formed the unique civilization of Central Asia, is shamanism. Yet, Shamanism is not a form of religion, it worships the eternal blue sky, nature and the ancestors. According to historical sources, shamanism has been the main religion of Mongolia until the end of the Royal Lineage (Altan urag). The shamanism is practiced by main three people: the ancestral spirit; the “Ulaach”, person who communicate with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness such as trance and invite them to their body; the “Tushee”, person who assisting to the shaman (like right hand person). The male shaman is called “Zairan” and the female is called “Udgan”. 

Who is Shaman: A Shaman is a unique person with a delicate sense, who possesses a great deal of energy that is invisible to the ordinary person’s eye, who has learned the talents and skills to deal with it, and who inherits, preserves, develops, and inherits the transmitting and exchanging the living energy at the human’s aura level. 

Ovoh Rituals: Ovoo ritual is one of the shamanic rituals, ritual of mountain and water. This ritual is a process of awakening and enlightening the minds of people about nature and their relationship with it, and then pleasing the lord of the mountains and water to introduce them to the spirit world.

Fire Rituals: In shamanic rituals, fire is considered a symbol of holiness. Mongolians describe fire as a symbol of flourish, symbol of to grow. That’s why fire has long been revered and treated as an honorary member of the family. 

The Shaman is the person who decides the day and place to perform the Fire rituals a year in advance, and on that day Large Fire is lit and the ceremony starts with reverence. Those who participate in the rituals, receive/are charged by a lot of good/positive/warm energy. 

Tree Rituals: Trees are the largest representatives of woody plants on earth and are considered to be the closest relationship with humans. Man has always respected the earth because he walks on it and lives on it. Because the trees are connected to earth by its root, the shaman communicates with the master of the earth through this root. Then also considered the female tree as “Mother of Life” and male tree called “Straggler” and rituals are to worship and honor them. 

Khovd province is located in the Altai Mountains of the Great Altai Mountain ranges, where there are large mountains such as Munkhkhairkhan, Khukhserkh, Baatar Khairkhan, Tsambagarav and Myangan Ugalzat, and the Gobi steppe covers about 20% of the aimag’s territory. It’s located 1580 km to the west from Ulaanbaatar city and it’s established in 1931. Historically known not only in Mongolia but also in Asia as the Kingdom of the Left Hand, the western region is home to a central and multi-ethnic homeland.

Gurvan Tsenkheriin Agui (Gurvan Tsenkher Cave): prehistoric cave painting and it is one of the Mongolian 9 wonders and biggest cave and it has two halls. The big hall wall height is 15 m, roof height 20 m reveals the cave has a round roof. The drawings date back to the 40.000 ago upper Paleolithic period, depicting animals such as stags, buffalo, oxen, ibex, lions, Argali sheep, antelopes, camels, elephants, ostriches, and mammoth). This site was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List on August 1, 1996 in the Cultural category.