Eagle hunting in Western Mongolia with Lyn Alves

Photography has been an interest of mine since the time I was given a Box Brownie for my 9th Birthday. I have a passion for travel first and foremost with photography coming in a close second. Combine the two together and I am in my ‘happy place’. Being a gypsy at heart, travelling along the road less travelled, and documenting unique landscapes, people cultures, and customs is a pleasure and a privilege. My fascination with cultures from around the world, I’m sure, stemmed from the National Geographic Magazines that I devoured as a youngster. Being transported to other worlds, mysterious worlds, exotic worlds, worlds I wanted to visit.

Having travelled to 65+ countries, one that has drawn me back for a second time is Mongolia. I was there 3 years ago where I travelled through the Gobi Desert experiencing the lifestyle of the nomadic goat, sheep and camel herders, to the Gobi Steppes where I stayed with a nomadic Horse herder and family. Along the way, the opportunity to observe the famous Naadam Festival at Erdene Zuu Monastery, Kharkhorin, struck a chord with me, the history, the people, the land, and the struggles were all so real. The Mongolian culture is a rich melting pot of Buddhist beliefs and shamanism with an infusion of nomadic values and traditions. I knew then, I wanted more. When the opportunity to travel to Western Mongolia on a photography tour that encompassed the Eagle Hunters, the wildlife and incredible landscapes came up, I was there.

The Eagle Hunters of Western Mongolia are Kazakhs who are the largest ethnic minority group in Mongolia. Amid arid, yet strikingly beautiful landscapes, vast deserts surrounded by snowcapped mountains, to stunning lakes, the eagle hunters have formed a way of life that has been shaped by history, geography, and political change. It was an absolute honour to be able to absorb their lifestyle and to view the extraordinary bond with the eagle, which represents to them, the wind, the open space, the isolation and the freedom found at the edge of the world. The skill and knowledge required for capturing, training and hunting with an eagle are long-standing cultural traditions, a tradition that gets passed down through the generations – it’s a sense of identity for the Kazakhs, You could feel this, the bond, the identity, the traditions – it was perceptible. To be invited into their Gers, welcomed so warmly as complete strangers, was such a privilege and a memory to be treasured.

In 2001 UNESCO added Kazakh Eagle Hunting to the “List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity” as an example of living human heritage. And I got to experience it… I have no words.

I am already planning a return trip to Mongolia, to stay with the Reindeer Peoples. There is something about the isolation, the landscape, the freedom and the beauty of the Mongolian people that has simply stolen a piece of my heart.