So I boarded a flight to Hovd and was met at the airport by Tilek's younger brother Eljas. Eljas speaks nearly perfect English, and will probably be studying in America soon. From the airport it was 30km to Hovd Soum, his village. When I arrived Hovd Soum was over 99% Kazakh, the other fraction of a percent being made up of me and one peace corps volunteer. I was happy to learn that because the Soum wasn't even mentioned in Lonely Planet, it was likely to stay that way. The next day Tilek, who had quit his job in UB, returned to his home.
One of the first orders of business was visiting an eagle hunter. Traditional Kazakh nomads use golden eagles to hunt game such as rabbits, small dear, foxes and wolves. The eagles are flown only in winter however, and the one I held was too fat and lazy to hunt well. I was given a suit jacket to wear in case the eagle decided to climb off the glove and onto my arm. I later learned that if the eagle had gotten pissed at me, the jacket wouldn't have helped. The bird could have ripped the bicep right of my arm in a matter of seconds, and bad tempered eagles have actually killed human children. Though the eagle wasn't flying, it still needs to eat large quatities of meat to stay healthy. To keep natures cycle intact, we grabbed a shotgun and headed into the brush. After blasting a rabbit and removing the shot, we returned to the bird to watch (and listen) to it rip the bunny to pieces.
A couple days later, it was time for a peace corps picnic back in the main town. It was really like any other picnic, with a couple exceptions. The first was that instead of seagulls harassing us, we had falcons. Dozens of falcons and hawks circled our food, diving to the ground as I threw them pieces of leftover meat. Later in the afternoon, Tilek whistled over a fellow Kazakh, who let us take turns riding his camel, while he worked on a jar of pickles and a can beer we gave him.
On the evening of my second last night, Tilek and I headed into steppe to visit his sister and her husband at there summer campsite (they move their Gers and animals with the seasons). The next morning we jumped on a couple horses and started looking for a gun. This took some time however, because everywhere we stopped we were invited inside for traditional milk tea which would be rude to refuse. After pushing my lactose tolerance to the max, we were locked and loaded. We headed out to the mountains in search of game, but ended up just shooting at targets we set up.
Overall my experiences of Mongolia in general and the Kazakhs in particular have been some of the best in my life. There nomadic lifestyle, hospitality, food, and vodka culture is incredible. If I ever see Sasha Baron Cohen (Borat) in person, I am going to repay my Kazakh friends by shooting him. With all the practice I have had with firearms lately, its doubtful I would miss.
One of the first orders of business was visiting an eagle hunter. Traditional Kazakh nomads use golden eagles to hunt game such as rabbits, small dear, foxes and wolves. The eagles are flown only in winter however, and the one I held was too fat and lazy to hunt well. I was given a suit jacket to wear in case the eagle decided to climb off the glove and onto my arm. I later learned that if the eagle had gotten pissed at me, the jacket wouldn't have helped. The bird could have ripped the bicep right of my arm in a matter of seconds, and bad tempered eagles have actually killed human children. Though the eagle wasn't flying, it still needs to eat large quatities of meat to stay healthy. To keep natures cycle intact, we grabbed a shotgun and headed into the brush. After blasting a rabbit and removing the shot, we returned to the bird to watch (and listen) to it rip the bunny to pieces.
A couple days later, it was time for a peace corps picnic back in the main town. It was really like any other picnic, with a couple exceptions. The first was that instead of seagulls harassing us, we had falcons. Dozens of falcons and hawks circled our food, diving to the ground as I threw them pieces of leftover meat. Later in the afternoon, Tilek whistled over a fellow Kazakh, who let us take turns riding his camel, while he worked on a jar of pickles and a can beer we gave him.
On the evening of my second last night, Tilek and I headed into steppe to visit his sister and her husband at there summer campsite (they move their Gers and animals with the seasons). The next morning we jumped on a couple horses and started looking for a gun. This took some time however, because everywhere we stopped we were invited inside for traditional milk tea which would be rude to refuse. After pushing my lactose tolerance to the max, we were locked and loaded. We headed out to the mountains in search of game, but ended up just shooting at targets we set up.
Overall my experiences of Mongolia in general and the Kazakhs in particular have been some of the best in my life. There nomadic lifestyle, hospitality, food, and vodka culture is incredible. If I ever see Sasha Baron Cohen (Borat) in person, I am going to repay my Kazakh friends by shooting him. With all the practice I have had with firearms lately, its doubtful I would miss.
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