Eagle Hunters Festival, Mongolia
The Kazakhs of the Altai mountain range in western Mongolia are the only people that hunt with golden eagles. The Golden Eagle Festival is an annual gathering held just outside Bayan Ulgii, the area capital. It attracts around 70 hunters and their eagles each year, to compete over the first weekend in October. Contests challenge the skills and bonds developed between hunter and eagle. Other events take place such as horse racing, archery and Bushkashi, which is a goat/sheepskin tug of war on horseback. Pictures show the hunters wearing their traditional costumes, complete with fur coats and hats made of marmot, fox or wolf skins, which have been caught by their eagles. Later pictures show a hardy lifestyle that has gone unchanged for centuries. As nomads, Kazakh eagle hunters live in ger tents which they move three times a year, along with the family's livestock of goats, yaks, horses and sheep. The Kazakh hunters could use rifles but they have preserved the eagle-hunting tradition, partly due to their geographical isolation, but also because it is seen as the highest form of art and dedication.
Scroll down for full size images or click an image and use the left or right arrows. Click to zoom and use scroll bars to move left, right, up and down.
