Have you ever wanted to live the life of a true nomad? According to this post on the Matador Trip Network, in Kyrgyzstan you can do just that.The Matador writers watched a golden eagle hunt (and ate the resulting bounty for dinner), swam in the lake of Issyk Kul, and dined on local specialties like roasted yak. (I wonder if yak tastes like chicken? Nah, probably more like beef or venison.)

They also got to witness a “dead goat polo” match firsthand. Yes, “dead goat polo” is exactly what it sounds like: polo played on horseback with a dead goat instead of a ball.

For the piece de resistance, the Matador team lived in a yurt near Song Kol Lake and hung out with a local family. This sounded like a really neat experience, as long as you don’t mind getting up close and personal with strangers-tourists sleep 6 to a yurt, and everyone shares the same traditional bed of animal skins.

Community Based Travel Kyrgyzstan is one of the more popular travel agencies in Kyrgyzstan, and their website indicated they can help you arrange all of the above activities and more, including horseback riding tours and caving tours.

However, you will need a US passport and a Kyrgyzstan visa for your trip. You can apply for a Kyrgyzstan visa before you leave the US or on arrival in the Bishkek airport, but it’s best to apply in advance.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 Kyrgyzstan visa application form

• 1 passport-sized photo of yourself

• Your US passport, which must be valid and have at least 1 empty page in the back.

By default, tourists are issued a single entry Kyrgyzstan tourist visa.  To apply for a multiple entry visa, you must also submit a visa support letter from the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Matador Trips points out that there are no direct flights into Kyrgyzstan. You will need to fly through Russia or Kazakhstan, so you may also need to apply for the appropriate travel visas. RushMyTravelVisa can review your itinerary, research your visa requirements and help you apply for all the necessary visas.  Contact us today!

Tags: Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan visa

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Country-Specific Visas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.