Horse milk… an Asian country’s way to attract tourists

Kyrgyzstan is seeking to attract more tourists by promoting horse milk known as komis.

Residents of the Central Asian country, which was formerly part of the former Soviet Union, say that they drink this milk, bathe with it, and assert that it is beneficial for their health.

The move comes at a time when interest in fermented drinks and probiotics is growing in many countries of the world.

Horse milk is the national project in Kyrgyzstan, in a sign that shows the importance of this drink in the country’s culture, so that the country’s capital is called Bishkek, which is derived from the paddle used to stir the milk.
Kyrgyzstan is implementing a campaign to promote through films and special festivals, encouraging the country’s tourists to experience the nomadic lifestyle, by sleeping in tents on lush mountain pastures near herds of horses that provide milk.

Tourists can also have fresh local milk, known as ‘samal’, in the tents.

The process of milking a female horse is more difficult than milking a cow, and the process requires the person to hug the thigh of this animal in order to start the process of extracting milk from its body.

The process continues between mid-May and mid-July each year, with the appearance of an asterisk in the country’s sky, marking the end of the season.