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Kyrgyzstan

Having once dominated Ala-Too Square, Lenin turned his back on the mountains in 2003 and now lurks behind the National Historical Museum.

Passing a group of students at a local school.

Driving across the country side.

After driving for hours leaving Bishkek, across the vast landscape of Kyrgyzstan, our bus turned down an off the way highway and then onto a dirt road. At the end of this road was one of the travel adventures of a life time. The sight of a Golden Eagle being held by the Kyrgyz Nomad Eagle Hunter who trains their deadly predators in the this fast open area and mountains. A window into the past and a demonstration, of natures raw power. I felt at that instant I had hit the jackpot of a life time to see this magnificent animal in the wild. I was over whelmed with emotion. I thought I would have to travel to Mongolia to experience this.

Our translator Artem is translating for us what our friend is telling us about the Eagle and training involved.

A small cap is placed on the head of the Eagle so as it cannot see where it is and its surroundings at the moment.

Our hunter friend has sent his son with the eagle to the top of the ridge we see in the distance.

The eagle is set free to fly and locate the potential kill in the distance.

With a smile and his face seeing the eagle in flight starts to run pulling the fox skin behind him for the eagle to set eye on the prey below.

Our friend with a smile on his face and a dead fox skin trailing on a rope behind him as he sprints along the road. With a whistle, the Golden Eagle loose from the hill top in the distance, and within moments the eagle has gained on the carcass skin and is tearing it to pieces, powerful talons ripping into soft fur while the huge wings flap effortlessly in the wind.

The Golden Eagle swoops down and lands on the fox skin, not a live animal this time, stopping the potential animal in its tracks.

It tightly holds the animals skin for around 45 seconds until the Eagle cannot feel any heart beat. The animal is dead. This time the fox skin.

The trainer feeds the eagle a reward so that it thinks it has killed the animal.

Traditionally, the eagles were captured and trained as an integral part of nomadic life. With their huge wingspans – some reaching well over two meters in length – the golden eagle is adept at not only hunting down prey such as rabbits and foxes but can in rare circumstances even be relied on to defend against wolves.

Placing the hood on the Eagle to keep it from having sight.

The custom was once widespread across the region, but now it’s confined to a select few locales in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Kyrgyzstan where the locals still practice the art of capturing and training these animals.

The bonds between man and eagle on the slopes of the steppe have been passed down from generation to generation over the centuries, and the Kyrgyz are some of the best in Central Asia at training these giant birds to hunt.

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