Arrive in Bayan-Ölgii and you realise you have crossed an invisible border. Mongolia's westernmost province is Kazakh in language, culture, and identity — home of the berkutchi, the golden eagle hunters.
The Rara Avis Team
The moment you arrive in Bayan-Ölgii, you realise you have crossed an invisible border into something entirely different. Mongolia's westernmost province, where more than 90 per cent of the population speaks Kazakh as their primary language, feels less like a region within the country and more like a distinct nation that Mongolia happens to contain. The call to prayer echoes from mosques across towns. The signs in shops and on buildings are written in Kazakh. Traditional clothing differs entirely from what you see further east, with distinctive embroidered caps and patterns woven through generations of Kazakh needlework.
The province is defined most powerfully by its eagle hunters, the berkutchi, who train golden eagles to hunt in the high mountain valleys. The practice begins with an eaglet taken from the nest, sometimes only days old, and continues through months of dangerous, patient work. The hunter teaches the bird to respond to his voice and whistle, to accept the leather glove, to return to his wrist. Once trained, an eagle can hunt for a single season before being released back into the wild. There is no romance in this tradition; it is pragmatic hunting born from centuries of necessity in harsh country.
To stay with an eagle-hunting family during winter is to inhabit this practice directly. You sit in their ger whilst the bird rests on a perch in the corner, its head turning with unsettling intelligence to follow your movements. You rise before dawn and ride out across frozen terrain, waiting at vantage points for prey to move. Kazakh hospitality is extraordinary; families will feed you abundantly, insist you take the warmest place by the fire.
Each October, eagle hunters converge on Ölgii town for the Golden Eagle Festival, a spectacle unlike anything else in the country. Men arrive on horseback after days' journey from remote valleys. Over several days, competitions unfold: eagles launched from horseback or hilltops, judged on speed and accuracy. The festival honours an actual living tradition rather than performing one for visitors.
Rara Avis arranges winter expeditions with eagle-hunting families, journeys to the October festival, and longer expeditions through the Altai Mountains. We handle all logistics and cultural coordination, allowing you to focus entirely on the experience.