 | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 1 / 12 |  | | Sarsembek, 73 year old falconer, with his golden eagle at Zalanash in the Alatau Moungtain range, Kazakhstan. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 2 / 12 |  | | Sarsembek, Kazakh herdsman and eagle trainer, on horseback on the steppe below the Alatau Mountains, Kazakhstan. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 3 / 12 |  | | Sarsembek with his eagle on horseback, Zalanash. | |
| | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 4 / 12 |  | | Alik Turlibayev, Kazakh hunter with his eagle “Tien Giri”, Caryn Canyon, Kazakhstan. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 5 / 12 |  | | Alik with “Tien Giri”. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 6 / 12 |  | | The talons of a golden eagle are powerful enough to kill a wolf. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 7 / 12 |  | | Alik prepares to launch Tien Giri into flight, Caryn Canyon. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 8 / 12 |  | | Sarsembek out hunting with his eagle, surveys the rolling grass valleys above Zalanash. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 9 / 12 |  | | Sarsembek gallops in pursuit of a fox with his eagle ready to take flight from the moving horse. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 10 / 12 |  | | Sarsembek relaxes at home with a cup of tea. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 11 / 12 |  | Sarsembek with Maigul, his daughter-in-law and grand children holding a photo of his parents who fled the Stalinist purges to China after he was born.
He was raised in China where he learned the art of falconry before returning to Kazakhstan. | | | | Reportage Photography · Bird Men of the Altai | 12 / 12 |  | | In Kazakh tradition man and eagle form a unique bond. | | | | | | | | | | | | Documentary
Bird Men of the Altai | Falconry, the partial domestication of raptors to hunt prey useful to man, appears to have had its beginnings several thousand years ago in the mountainous Altai region where China borders Kazakhstan.
The Kazakh eagle trainers in these pictures were among the few who continued the tradition in spite of Communism’s attempt to snuff it out, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union I sought them out during a three month trip to Central Asia.
Unique relationships between man and beast take many forms: the mahout and the elephant, the cormorant fishermen of China, and the eagle trainers of Central Asia. Golden eagles are taken when young from their nests, or as young adults trapped in nets on the steppe with bait. The bonding process is then achieved by methods of feeding. They are then used to hunt foxes, and even wolves, for the animals’ skins for making fur coats and hats in sub-zero winters. | | | | But by tradition these magnificent winged creatures are more than mere tools, and the complex language the falconers have devised to communicate and guide the bird through a repertoire of aerobatics is a highly developed skill perfected over centuries. | | For the owners it is also of spiritual significance, the art of falconry a kind of meditation. It is a means of experiencing life, of connecting with nature, and it’s about trust and letting go. | | Falconers will not keep a bird longer than ten years, but will then release it back to the wild allowing the spirit of the bird to find its natural death in freedom. | | | | | | | | |
