The story
Crane Festival in Binder/Khentii
Crane Festival brings herders, researchers and eco-club students together each June on the shores of Tsagaan Lake in Binder soum, Khentii Province, to celebrate and protect the endangered white-naped crane. Now in its second decade, the gathering pairs conservation education with Mongolia's traditional Three Manly Games and demonstrations of nomadic daily life, drawing attention to the fragile wetlands of eastern Mongolia.
Khentii Province, in northeastern Mongolia, is a landscape of rolling grassland cut by rivers and dotted with lakes, historically significant as the homeland of Chinggis Khaan and, in more recent decades, recognized for its wetlands as critical habitat for migratory birds.