Adygzhy Sambuu from Adyr-Kezhig village became a double champion of the 16^th reindeer herders’ festival which just took place in Todzha kozhuun. He was able to saddle and load a reindeer faster than anybody else, and was first in the main competition – reindeer races.

The first stage of the “Nine treasures” project ended

During the past two months, I had the good fortune to meet and to get to know a huge number of people, different in age and in character, in their profession and in their relationship to life in general. All of them had one thing in common – their participation in the special project “Nine Treasures”, which started on January 13 of this year.

Lama Suldum Bashky (Tsultim tenzin) has been elected as the Supreme lama (Kamby-Lama) of Tuva at the congress of Tuvan clergy on Friday, as the Buddhist site of the republic announced. The previous Kamby-lama Dzhambel Lodoy (Apysh-ool Sat) had been in that position since 2005. Three candidates were proposed at the elections – Dzhambel Lodoy, Bolat-ool Mergen,the head of temple “Aldyn Khuree” in Chadan, and lama Suldum Bashky. As the site notes, after the announcement of the candidates, Lodoy and Mergen retracted their candidacy in favor of Bashky, explaining that this will be the correct decision, because Bashky is one of the eldest and most respected lamas of the republic.

The participants in the first Russian-Mongolian expedition for the study of groupings of irbis (snow leopard), which took place from February 20 to March 7 on the Tsagan-Shibetu ridge (western Tuva), made the first photos of this rare predator in the republic, as announced by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) of Russia.

During the field research the members of the expedition, which included specialists from the “Uvsu-Nur depression” nature reserve (Russia), from the administration of especially protected natural territories of the Ubsu-Nuur lake basin (Mongolia), and from the Institute of Biology of Mongolian Academy of Sciences, searched practically the entire Russian part of the Tsagan-Shibetu ridge, discovered 14 tracks of snow leopard and collected fecal specimens of irbis for clarification of their numbers by DNA analysis.

More than 120 noteworthy objects have already been entered into the “Nine Treasures” contest (Tos Ertine). The claims have been entered by schoolchildren, students, regional experts, as well as organizations. The greatest activity has been shown by district professional centers, which have been sending whole volumes with descriptions of the brightest noteworthy objects of the kozhuuns of Tuva. Today, the head of the Office of the chairman of the government, Artur Mongal, announced it in a direct broadcast on the TV channel “Tyva”.

Lieutenant of justice, Shenne Mongush, an investigator from the department of investigations of the Kyzyl district internal affairs office won the title “Beauty of Tuvan Police 2010” in the competition of 11 representatives of the beautiful half of the police workers. The title of the first Vice-miss went to police Captain Elena Braum, and the second is Lieutenant Valeria Salchak. The first beauty received a trip to Olympics in Sochi.

The tomb of great Genghis Khan, which has provoked many search expeditions over many centuries, is to be found in Tuva. This sensational hypothesis was offered at the Round Table meetings with participants of the First international tourism exhibition by the head of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool. The Premier supposed that the place of burial could be at Chagytai lake. “That is not a Tuvan name, and we know that one of Genghis Khan’s sons was named Chagytai.”. The head of the republic also noted that according to one of well known legendary sources, the protection of the place of the Khan’s burial was assigned to one thousand soldier-guards of the Uriankhit tribe, who, for that reason, were excused from regular military service.

During the past month, wolf hunts killed 56 of the grey predators in Tuva. Total number of wolves killed this year is 91. During the entire last year, 193 of the grey predators’ pelts were handed in. The head of the hunting and fishing commission, Alexander Novikov reported these facts to Premier of Tuva, Sholban Kara-ool, at an administrative meeting involving the representatives of the districts.

In Tuva, as part of the project “Moya Pobeda” (My victory) all the monuments to the soldiers of the 1941-1945 war will be renovated and restored. Together with the local administrations, the community will participate: associations of enthusiasts, school regional knowledge clubs, and other community organizations.

Monday was the first day after an almost two month period of -40 grade freeze, that the temperature rose to -25 degrees.

The elders say: “It is always like this after Shagaa.” In Lunar calendar, Shagaa is the start of the spring-summer season. Interestingly, this Lunar New Year fell on the same date with Maslenica, which is also a symbol of parting with winter. Regardless of the -40 degree freeze, the holiday activities yesterday on Museum Square of Kyzyl attracted great crowds.