AN Eagle festival, a popular event among Kazakhs, will be held in the Dundad zuun tourist camp in Terelj on February 2. For the last five years, the festival has been organized at Bugat, Bayan-Ulgii aimag, and this is the first time it is moving to a place near the capital city.

Around 600 Kazak hunters with eagles usually take part in the festival but only 22 of them have come to Ulaanbaatar. The small number is explained by the fact that they are from soums in the Altai Mountain region. It takes four days of traveling to cover the 1,700 km. 

The oldest among them is Sh.Dundei, 80 years old and a fourth-generation hunter. The youngest is 18-year-old M.Asylbek. He already has four years’ experience and has featured in a Japanese movie called Eagle.

This unique hunting festival, common to Kazakh areas in Central Asia, dates back 6,000 years. Mostly golden eagles are trained for hunting where their sharp eyesight and strong claws are of great use. They have to be taken from the nest when they are small, if they are to be trained. The female golden eagle is bigger and stronger than the male. Eagles generally fly  around 2,500-3,000 meters above the ground.

The UB Post

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