Eagle Festival Mongolia — Bayan-Ölgii
The Golden Eagle Festival at Ölgii in western Mongolia's Bayan-Ölgii province is the world's only gathering of Kazakh eagle hunters — berkutchi who train golden eagles for hunting foxes, wolves, and rabbits across the Mongolian and Kazakhstani steppe. The October festival brings 70–100 hunters with their eagles to a hillside amphitheatre, competing in eagle-calling accuracy, speed of descent, and traditional equestrian skills while wearing the embroidered Kazakh costumes and fox-fur hats that have been the dress of this tradition for centuries. The golden eagle's 2-metre wingspan fully spread against the blue Altai sky as it descends to the hunter's gloved arm, the horse and rider moving at full gallop to match the bird's descent, creates one of Central Asia's most visually complete human-wildlife cultural encounters.
About this spectacle
At the hillside amphitheatre outside Ölgii, 70–100 Kazakh eagle hunters — berkutchi — arrive on horseback wearing richly embroidered robes and fox-fur hats, each with a golden eagle perched on a heavily gloved arm. The competition unfolds across a wide open slope: hunters release their eagles from a ridge, then ride at full gallop to the calling point, arms outstretched, while the bird plunges through crisp October mountain air, its two-metre wingspan catching the light of the Altai sky. Judges score accuracy of eagle return, speed of descent, and horsemanship. Between eagle rounds, riders demonstrate traditional equestrian games. The air smells of horse and high-altitude cold; the crowd presses close at the base of the slope. At its best moment — eagle locked in descent, horse at full gallop, hunter's arm extended — the scene is exactly as the short description promises: one of Central Asia's most visually complete human-wildlife cultural encounters, unchanged in its essentials for centuries.
When to go
Oct
Getting there
Nearest airport: ULG. Nearest city: Ölgii.
Booking options
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