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During the Middle Ages in Central Asia, kings and lords hunted with the birds and special places were reserved in their castles for them. The hunters were respected people among those who worked for the king, because the people who were nominated as hunters and caretakers of the birds were aristocrats and merchants or warriors with wealthy backgrounds.
According to some historical accounts, Chingis Khan’s son Joshi had three thousand eagle hunters in his time.
Nowadays, the Kazakhs of Mongolia continue their ancestors’ golden eagle hunting tradition during the cold months. One of the last Kazakhz Mongolian Eagle hunters still hunts golden eagles. The cool season is the best time for both the eagles as well as for the hunters; the ideal period to retrieve the most colorful and valuable fur skins.
The female eagle is the toughest—females are more aggressive and heavier than males and are almost always used for hunting.
There are many ways to get an eagle, but the most common three ways are: to get an eagle from the nest when it is a baby and just before they are ready to fly far, to take proper mature eagles, or to take eagles from the wild. Mature eagles inherit the hunting skills from their mothers. They can be very good hunting birds but need patience and effort to be trained. To catch mature birds, hunters use nets and animals alive or dead.
An eagle can be as valuable as a horse; in ancient times, the Golden Eagle Hunters of Mongolia offered to trade a horse for a good eagle. Mongolian golden eagle hunting is one of the most unique features of Kazakh life. The hunter is called a kusbegi. The experience of training wild birds was developed by Kazakh kusbegi over many centuries and the secrets were passed from the father to the son and kept highly guarded within the family.
The Kazakhs call male eagles sarsha and female eagles uiabasar. When a female eagle reaches four years old she will be ready for making nests and a family. Male and female eagles mate for life. Each couple has two or three nests which they often change. An eagle has sharp vision which can find prey from up to 10km away.
During March and April, the female lays one to three eggs (she sits on them for about 45 days) and it will take four months for her chicks to be ready to fly. The first flight will be with the support of the mother. Golden eagles can live up to 80 years, weigh between four and five kilograms, and can fly 150km/h at six to seven kilometers high.
The Mongolian Eagle Hunters name their eagles based on age: until 1 year – balapan, 2-years – kantubit, 3-years – tyrnekl, 4-years – tastulek, 5-years – muzbalak, 6-years – koktubit, 7-years – kana, 8-years – zhana, 9-years – maytubit, 10-years – barkyn, 11-years – barshyn, 12-years – shogel.
The eagle is also a superstitious bird for the Kazakhs Tribe. Keeping an eagle head and talons in the house, sweeping the room with an eagle feather, hanging talons and the beak on a newborn baby’s cradle, bringing the eagle close to women who are about to give birth, and setting an eagle on the head of a person who has mental problems are all superstitions that Kazakhs adhere to. They are all signified as a cure, luck, and protection against evil and harm.
Eagle training isn’t an easy job. After an eagle is brought home, the training will start. Training mature eagles is much more difficult and takes a lot of time and patience, as opposed to training an eagle caught young. The Golden Eagle Hunters of Mongolia use many techniques to train an eagle and to help to make the eagle less aggressive, even keeping the eagle awake for extended periods of time in order to break the eagle, much as a wild horse is broken in. The caught bird gradually grows more accustomed to its owner. It can take feed (bits of uncooked meat) only from the hands of the owner so as to build trust between the owner and the eagle.
After the bird gets used to the hunter and his horse and dog, the hunter begins to train it to hunt for stuffed foxes. Only after all of these things does the real hunting begin. Specially trained eagles hunt for small animals: rabbits, foxes, partridges, and black hazel grouses.
Specially prepared equipment for hunting birds includes: a coverlet to wrap the eagle, a hood, a couch and a leash. Additionally, a baldak – a special wooden prop for the hunter’s arm – is used on horseback and a shyrga – a skin of hare or fox stuffed with straw. The hunter drags the shyrga along the steppe with a long rope and teaches the eagle to attack prey. Kusbegi, the hunter, must have inexhaustible patience and persistence. Hunting with an eagle is done five to six months of the year. Especially cold seasons are the best time, from October until March, and the rest of time the eagle has to be isolated and well fed.
The reason they don’t hunt during warmer months is because of the weather conditions and because animal furs are not thick enough to be taken. Also during this season, the eagle molts loose feathers and new feathers grow. The eagle will lose damaged feathers from hunting and will have new feathers, ready for the next hunting season.
In 1941 the eagle hunting culture of Bayan-Olgiy province was declared by UNESCO to be a world heritage practice.
Today you will catch a flight from UB to Ulgii that will take about 3 hours and you will meet your tour crew; English speaking tour guide, cook and driver with tour supplies.
Once we get to know each other a bit, we will start driving about 1 hour to the Kazakh eagle hunter’s family, who now lives in his winter shelter, a beautiful area surrounded by colorful mountains far and wide. You would not want to miss the opportunity for photos..
Our eagle hunter lives with his family and with the animals in his winter shelter.
After tea break with the eagle hunter’s family, it’s time to get to know what surrounds us. Our guide will ask the hunter to show us his modest palace and magnificent bird. Explain everything about eagle hunting, how he became an eagle hunter. Everyone in the family has a duty. Men are busy with shepherding; women and children are busy with daily choices like milking the animals and preparing grass and food, making traditional embroidery.
There will be a lot of interesting things about local traditional life to see. Tonight with the family we will have a special unique meal of the Kazakhs called Besbarmakh, in English, ‘five fingers’ because you eat it with your hand. Boiled meat with vegetables. This tradition goes deep and it is the well-being of the family for centuries.
Every guest that visits a Kazakh family has to be served this meal.
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After breakfast, we prepare our gear and follow the eagle hunter, who will be on horseback (eagle hunters will ride a horse with his eagle on his arm and will shepherd his animals like goats and sheep towards a nearby mountain). We watch him hunting and training with his eagle and then visit his eagle hunter friends.
The vehicle will be loaded with our gear (including lunch in lunch boxes) and the driver will help us to transfer.
Neighbors live within a radius of 5km. Will take 4-5 hours in total.
Breakfast and Dinner hot meals will be at the hunter’s house.
Today is the first day of SAYAT. After breakfast, we get ready and meet our other 4 eagle hunters, whom we will be following over the next few days.
Our hunters will be on the horses with eagles on their right hands and dressed in big coats made by fox and other animal skins.
The plan will be to ride towards the mountains, where chances are higher to catch an animal. The hunting strategy will be based on the place and wind direction. It will be a full day of hunting and training the eagles.
The strategy and hunter’s position will be informed a little earlier to our photographers, so they can take position for good photography.
Today’s journey will be 4-5 hours. We can picnic for lunch at any time.
The next camp will be 15km away from the first place and here you will have your own Ger (nomad-felt tents) with a heater, bed and sleeping bags with spare blankets.
There also will be space for dining and your gear..
Today we are continuing our Sayat journey; we are heading to the nearby mountains and we will ride up hills pursuing prey. Any photographers will try to stay close to them in the right position and help to spot the prey.
Today we do a full day of hunting and working with the eagles. This will be a good opportunity for young hunters to learn more from the veterans.
Today’s journey will take 4-5 hrs.
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Today we continue our Sayat journey. We change location and our next location will be about 15km further, with the support of camels and our vehicle we will pack and transfer everything.
Hunters will lead loaded camels with a small Ger and grass.
Our gers will be ready by the time we reach our camp. However,the eagle hunters will assemble their small Khos yurt in much the same way as ancient times.( ‘Khos yourt’ small size of the yourt or Ger, is used for temporary accommodation while nomads migrate from one place to another)
Today’s journey will be 4-5 hours. We can picnic for lunch at any time.
The camp will be 15km away from the first place and here you will have your own Ger (nomad-felt tents) with a heater, bed and sleeping bags, blankets same as before.
There also will be space for dining and gear.
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Hunting on nearby mountains, training, working with eagles and at the same time the eagle training techniques.
Today we do a full day of hunting and working with the eagles and learning more in depth about their special hunting techniques. This will be a good opportunity for young hunters to learn more from the veterans.
Today’s journey will take 4-5 hrs.
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Today we let our guests have a free opportunity to work with eagle hunters for photography.
After lunch, our team will disassemble the camp and the hunters will ride back with their eagles.
We will drive back to Ulgii and transfer to a hotel with wi-fi and hot showers. After you settle in at the hotel, your guide will take you for a short city tour, visit a local museum and bazaar (black market).
Dinner will be at one of the best restaurants in town, with Kazakh traditional musician’s performing while we eat.
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Catch your flight back to UB or other regional destinations.
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We believe in old-fashioned values and being yourself, so we will only tell the truth about who we are. Our travel agency " Sayat Travel" is an eco-friendly and professional small team built on the service foundations of reliability and honesty, and delivering authentic unforgettable experiences for our guests.
We believe that our guests should receive the most convenient and tailored tour plan suited for them, and we strive to ensure all concerns and discomforts are minimized. We guarantee our tourists an individual approach and quality service at every step.
We believe in old-fashioned values and being yourself, so we will only tell the truth about who we are. Our travel agency " Sayat Travel" is an eco-friendly and professional small team built on the service foundations of reliability and honesty, and delivering authentic unforgettable experiences for our guests.
We believe that our guests should receive the most convenient and tailored tour plan suited for them, and we strive to ensure all concerns and discomforts are minimized. We guarantee our tourists an individual approach and quality service at every step.
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