Discover Ölgii

In the shadow of Mongolia’s highest mountains lives a culture found nowhere else on earth. The Kazakhs of Bayan-Ölgii Province—93 percent of the region’s population—have preserved their nomadic traditions for over 200 years since their ancestors migrated from Kazakhstan to escape Russian expansion. Most remarkably, they’ve maintained the ancient art of hunting with golden eagles, a practice spanning over 4,000 years that UNESCO has recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Today, roughly 250 active berkutchi (eagle hunters) live in these mountains—representing 80 percent of the world’s remaining practitioners. The tradition passes from father to son, and increasingly from mother to daughter since young Aisholpan shattered convention by becoming the first female champion at the Golden Eagle Festival, as documented in the acclaimed 2016 film ‘The Eagle Huntress.’ Each autumn, hunters capture young female eagles from cliff-side nests, bonding with them over years of patient training before hunting together across the frozen steppe for foxes and hares. After seven to ten years of partnership, the eagles are released back to the wild to breed.