2. Mongolia

Olgii (Ulgii)

Kazakh eagle hunters, Western Mongolia
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Kazakh eagle trainer with his eagle, Western Mongolia
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Kazakh eagle trainer with his eagle, Western Mongolia

Western Mongoliasteppesherderrivergolden eagleeagle huntertrainermountainsfox fur hatfrosty grassestraditional attire

  • Glowing eyes, goat herd per-dawn (way better larger)<br /> <br /> I was staying with a family of herders in one of their gers on on the steppes, and every night the herds (cashmere goats and cattle mostly) would come in from grazing and lie down in a circle next to the gers. You would hear them breathing and making little sounds all night, which was very cool. When I went out early one morning and took a shot with my on camera flash, all of their eyes reflected the light.
  • Portrait of an eagle trainer on his horse, Western Mongolia
  • Elder eagle hunter by a stream with his golden eagle at sunrise, Western Mongolia near the border with Kazakhstan.
  • Kazakh eagle trainer with his eagle, Western Mongolia
  • Kazakh hunter with his golden eagle (best larger)<br /> <br /> The hunters take female eagles from the nest when they are ready to fly and train them to hunt and return to their owners. They keep the eagles for about 6 years until they are sexually mature and then release them to the wild so they can breed. This hunter is a famous hunter whose eagle placed 2nd today in the competition. He is around 75 years old and one of the oldest still eagle hunting.<br /> <br /> 05/10/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Portrait of a Kazakh eagle hunter, his golden eagle and his horse (best larger)<br /> <br /> The Kazakh hunters use the eagle to hunt fox and rabbits for their furs, which they wear, and to supplement their meagre diet in the winter. The people of the steppes of Western Mongolia are primarily herdsmen of goats, sheep, yaks, bactrian camels and horses and their diet is very high in meat and fermented milk, with some noodles, but few vegetables.<br /> <br /> 12/10/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Luring the eagle (best largest)<br /> <br /> I have a small window of internet access to post a photo taken earlier today.<br /> <br /> Kazak eagle handler luring a golden eagle to his arm with a piece of meat during competition at the Eagle Festival, Olgii, Mongolia near the border with Kazakstan. The photography was both exciting and challenging. The eagles were released from a few hundred feet up the hill in the background and the winner of the competition was the rider that had his (or her) eagle home the fastest to his arm and stay perched there as the rider galloped his horse up to the judges. The photography challenge was to catch the moments when the eagle landed in this fast action sport. The fastest eagles found their owners in around 8 seconds from the time they were released. Today we had gale force winds making it challenging for bird, horse, rider and photographer! One eagle went after a small dog that fortunately escaped after making a brief contact with the eagle!<br /> <br /> I had an 80-400 mm lens on my D800 mounted on a monopod. The camera was set to continual focus at a shutter priority of 1/1600 sec and an ISO of 800, f6.3 (the ISO and f stop were changed with the conditions for different riders and light conditions). I was changing the zoom continuously from 400 mm to around 140 mm as the horse ran towards me and as the eagle approached the rider. I kept the focus on the horse, as its movement was more predictable than that of the eagle.<br /> <br /> 04/10/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Portrait of a young girl, Olgii, Mongolia<br /> <br /> I shot this portrait this morning before we set out on a 200 km drive on dirt roads through the mountains to Khovd, Mongolia. No idea exactly where I am, but Linda would have loved the dirt roads. This girl was the daughter of the owners of a small hotel where I stayed in Olgii. <br /> <br /> Luckily the small hotel where I am staying in Khovd has Wi-Fi, but the hotel is desperately run down and in need of repair. The temperature at night is below freezing and I've discovered that this is a Soviet-style town with heating for the entire town coming from a centralized source that does not turn the heat on until Oct. 13!! So everywhere is freezing cold inside, including the one tap in my bathroom with the sink that doesn't drain and the toilet that runs constantly. Oh, the joys of remote travel!<br /> <br /> 06/10/14 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Kazakh eagle trainer with his eagle, Western Mongolia
  • Portrait of an eagle trainer on his horse, Western Mongolia
  • Elder eagle hunter by a stream with his golden eagle at sunrise, Western Mongolia near the border with Kazakhstan.
  • Portrait of a Kazakh eagle hunter on a frosty sunrise (best larger)<br /> <br /> Taken near a herder's ger out on the Mongolian steppes near the border with Kazakhstan.<br /> <br /> For a cool shot of glowing eyes at nigiht, and other pics of the eagle hunters, seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/aWdUw6">http://goo.gl/aWdUw6</a><br /> <br /> 20/03/15 <a href="http://www.allenfotwild.com">http://www.allenfotwild.com</a>
  • Portrait of a Kazakh eagle trainer with his golden eagle, Western Mongolia<br /> <br /> (the father of the little girl)
  • Elder eagle trainer by a stream with his golden eagle at sunrise, Western Mongolia
  • Two Kazakh tribesmen with their golden eagles at sunrise, Western Mongolia
  • Group of Kazakh eagle hunters riding across the steppes at sunrise, Western
  • Kazakh eagle hunter with this golden eagle by a small river at sunrise, Western Mongolia
  • Rosy-cheeked girl<br /> <br /> This little girl is the daughter of a Kazakh eagle hunter seen in another photo posted today. She was very shy so I spent some time hanging around with her until she was comfortable posing for me in front of the embroidered hangings that line her parent's ger.<br /> <br /> Photos of her dad and other eagle hunters can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/EBG7kM">http://goo.gl/EBG7kM</a><br /> <br /> 24/03/15 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Galloping with eagles<br /> <br /> Kazakh eagle hunters galloping at full speed with their eagles held high, Western Mongolia<br /> <br /> Other photos of the eagle hunters can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/H81GOL">http://goo.gl/H81GOL</a><br /> <br /> 27/03/15 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
  • Kazakh eagle hunter holding his golden eagle, Western Mongolia
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