Enjoying our videos? Become a Patron and support our production!
/ thewayoverland
Our ventures around Lake Issyk-Kul continue as we head up another valley to check out the Jeti-Oguz Canyon. The pictures of the red rock formations (otherwise known as the five bulls) is what initially drew us to this area, which of course were beautiful, though we found ourselves spending more time following tracks which lead us to an epic snow filled valley and amazing camp spot.
Although the temp was quite brisk we decided to stay and enjoy the day here watching the local world of animals pass us by.
Heading back down to the lake we kept heading eastward in search of the “Eagle Hunter”. After asking around at various establishments and local guides we were told that in the village of Bokonbayevo (Бөкөнбаев) there’s a man who runs a guest house there who could help us out. Arriving at his home he invited us in to have some tea and bread with his family while we waited for the ‘Eagle Man’ to arrive.
Eagle hunting is an ancient tradition dating back thousands of years on the Eurasian Steppe. Throughout the centuries the tradition has become less practiced though it can still be found in Kyrgyzstan, along with other countries such as Kazakhstan, Mongolia and China. Eagle hunting, known as bürkütchü in Kyrgyz, uses a golden eagle (berkut) to hunt animals to feed their families.
A tradition which is passed down from generation to generation, and is a life-long commitment, the bürkütchü novice first has to catch an eagle. The most common method is by taking an egg from its nest, though this can be extremely dangerous for the risk is that the eagle will return to the nest during the theft. Usually they try to take female birds as they grow bigger and are considered to be more aggressive.
Training the eagle takes 3 to 4 years until both the eagle and the bürkütchü are ready to hunt together successfully. First they train the eagle with fox skin for a few months before stepping it up to live rabbits. Not only does this provide the food for the eagle, it will also feed the family.
We followed the bürkütchü, Nursultan, in his taxi to a practicing field nearby where he demonstrated his eagles skills. First he started off with the fox skin and as Lightning had not been fed yet, they progressed to a live rabbit. It was amazing to see the precision and swiftness of the eagle as it flew straight down to attack its prey.
Part of this tradition also includes archery, which Nursultan set up a target to demonstrate and let us have a turn at. I think I caught both him and Mark a little off guard by hitting the target quite accurately more than once!
Once we finished up here we kept driving for another 30mins or so around the lake and found a beautiful and protected spot to camp for the night. It was hard to believe the diversity we had experienced in just 24 hours; snow, pasturing animals, eagle hunting, and camping on the shoreline of Lake Issyk-Kul.
Kyrgyzstan was certainly living up to our expectations and some!
Thanks for watching!
Jolie and Mark
Check out our website - www.thewayoverland.com
Facebook - thewayoverland
Instagram - thewayoverland
5 ноя 2020
