Hunting with eagles in Kyrgyzstan

Tomara

Hunting with eagles and falcons has long been part of the Kyrgyz nomadic culture.  On our way up Djety Oguz Gorge, we met up with an eagle trainer who showed us the remarkable skills of his Golden Eagle, Tomara, (a national prize winner in hunting in Kyrgyzstan) and his equally remarkable relationship with his magnificent bird.

eagle hunter with Tomara

Eagle hunters either breed or capture their birds, always females which are larger and quicker than the males.  They start training them just before they are ready to fly, teaching them to fly, hunt, and bring their prey back to their trainer.  A bird will have loyalty to only one person and will know that person intimately, including recognizing his heart beat and blood flow through their very sensitive feet as they perch on a trainer's arm.

Don and a hooded Tomara

Golden Eagles live to be 50 or 60 years old.  They live with their trainers and hunt for them until they are about 20 or 25.  Then, they are freed, well prepared to hunt and survive on their own in the wild. The trainers free them high in the mountains where they know other eagles live.  The female will soon find a male eagle, with whom she will mate for life, and produce her own young.

eagle in flight aiming for her prey

When we met the trainer, he had his eagle in the trunk of his car, hooded and ready to fly.

eagle in her car

She knew she was about to take off on an adventure, so started yelping well before her trainer opened his trunk and had her hop onto his well-protected arm.  Such an incredibly beautiful animal.

The trainer showed us his bird, what she could do.  He nuzzled with her and let us hold her. Then, he brought out a black rabbit and plopped it on the ground under a bush.  He walked the eagle high up on the mountainside, still hooded, and pulled off her hood before releasing her.  By that time, the rabbit had decided it would be smart to get out of there, so came running towards our group.  We were no help.  The eagle swooped right by us and nailed the poor little creature in a matter of seconds.  She knew exactly where to go. Eagles can see about 4 miles, so this was an easy hit, only about 1/4 mile from her release to the rabbit.

After hunting and eating their prey, eagles need to clean their beaks, so find a rock where they can scrape their beaks from side to side, cleaning off excess fur and food.  In this case, the hunter holds a small rock so his eagle can clean herself up.

eagle cleaning beak after hunting

eagle and hunter ready to perform

Adventures from Bishkek to Karakol

Tian Shan Mountains looming above Karakol

Tian Shan Mountains en route to Karakol

The drive from Bishkek to Karakol, at the eastern end of Lake Issyk-kul, a saltwater lake that is 50 miles wide and 90 miles long, weaves along a valley between two spectacular ranges of the Tian Shan Mountains.  With a couple of stops, it's about a 6 hour drive and well worth every minute on the road.

dust rising from crashing rocks

Today, it took a little longer because the mountainside in one gorge had dumped a load of rocks and debris onto the road.  High up on the rockslide, four men were working, roped to what we hoped were more solid rocks, trying to dislodge a huge boulder precariously positioned to crash onto the highway.  We watched for about an hour as they spewed rocks and boulders onto the road from their perch, something we could never do in Colorado as we were about 15 feet from where the boulders were landing.

flying rocks

workers dislodging rocks on slide

Once they were satisfied that the mountainside was safe enough (though not very safe), the men disconnected themselves from their ropes and climbed to a safe point to watch two large tractors scoop the debris off to the side of the road, letting the backed up vehicles pour through.  Within an hour of the first rock fall, traffic was moving again, a testament, perhaps, to the speed with which one can work without rules and safety concerns.  But, at any time, an errant boulder could have taken out at least 50 gawkers, including us.

Because much of Kyrgyzstan is rural and remote, there are few restaurants.  About 20 years ago, a Swiss non-profit started teaching Kyrgyz families, newly unemployed after the fall of the Soviet Union, to provide services to tourists.  Families turned their homes into small restaurants and hostels, even hotels, immaculately clean and "Swiss-like".  They cook local foods and provide sit-down, flush toilets in their homes as well as feather beds and comforters in their guest rooms.

We enjoyed lunch today in a yurt in the back yard of a family in the village of Bokombaevo, on the south side of Lake Issyk-kul.  From there, we headed on to Karakol, a town of about 50,000 people that used to be a military post guarding the nearby border with China. Today, it does not have much of an economy other than tourism and even that is very limited.  There is a ski area here, a few guest houses, the large Sunday animal market, and not much else to keep the people employed.

lunch in a family's yurt

In the 1920's, the Soviets sent Russians to live in Karakol, again to protect the border and to turn the locals into Russian advocates.  They built tiny houses, painted white with blue trimmed windows.  It is very cold here in the winter and the Russians had a hard time heating their houses.  Hence their small size and small windows.

Tomorrow, we'll visit the market in the early morning before heading to Djoty Oguz Gorge for a picnic, a hike up a beautiful valley, and a demonstration of eagle hunting.

Hiking in Ala Archa National Park near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

Ala Archa National Park just outside Bishkek

Trekking is a growing tourist attraction in Kyrgyzstan, and no wonder.  The Tian Shan Mountains cover 93% of the country, towering above the landscape with their jagged peaks 15,000 to 25,000 feet high.  The river valleys are steep and gorgeous, filled with gold, red and orange poplars and birch trees at this time of year.

one of Ala Archa's river valleys, from the trail

We hiked a trail Don and I had taken last year, up a steep mountainside above a deep valley.  Glaciers and snowfields top the surrounding peaks and narrow (right now) streams, milky white from glacier melt, flow down the valleys.  You can see, though, that the spring runoff turns them into wild torrents that further shear off the banks of the rivers, cutting the valleys ever deeper.

view of the peaks from Ala Archa entrance

During the Soviet era, Ala Archa was off limits to most of the people.  Only government officials could visit the park, where they had fishing, hunting and other leisure activities to themselves, unbothered by the masses they controlled so completely.  Upon independence, Ala Archa was declared a national park, open to everyone.  So, today, people can come to picnic, trek or climb the rugged mountains, and the area is a major attraction for visitors to Bishkek.  We passed trekkers as we came down the trail, burdened with heavy packs for a week-long hike up the valleys and over the passes of this spectacular wild area.

Kyrgyzstan's politics and economics

Manas (Kyrgyzstan's new legendary figure) in front of the National Museum

Of the 5 "Stans", Kyrgyzstan is the only one with any claim to being democratic.  Since its independence in 1991, Kyrgyzstan has had 3 elected presidents.  The first 2 so enraged their countrymen that the citizens rose up in peaceful revolt and ousted them both.  Between presidents 2 and 3, a woman was interim president and seems to have impressed the people with her commitment to democracy and honesty.

Lenin was moved to the back of the Museum

Elections are relatively clean, but complicated, since there are over 100 parties vying for Parliamentary seats.  A party must reach a threshold of 7% of the vote to gain any seats in Parliament, which means that about 50% of the votes in any election go for naught because too many parties can't reach the 7% threshold.  Right now, there are 5 parties in Parliament, 3 in the governing coalition.  It is the party leader, rather than a party's ideology, that is key to election success.

The economy rests on shaky legs.  One third of GDP comes from remittances from Kyrgyz working abroad, mostly in Russia.  Because of Russia's recession, remittances dropped 25% last year, causing huge economic problems for Kyrgyzstan.

monument to protesters who ousted 2 elected presidents

A Canadian company operates a gold mine, another important contributor to GDP, but gold prices, also, have declined sharply.  That leaves agriculture as the most important sector, but, since only 7% of the land is arable, that cannot contribute enough to the economy to make up for lost remittances and income from gold sales.  As a result, Kyrgyzstan is the second poorest country of all the former Soviet republics.  GDP per capita averages $2400 per year.

During the latter part of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan hosted a large U.S. military presence, providing important cash to the economy.  When the war wound down last year, the base closed, leaving thousands of Kyrgyz without jobs and hitting the economy hard.  The U.S. has beefed up aid to country, but the current president abrogated the foreign aid agreement for some reason, making it difficult for the U.S. to continue its aid missions.  Nonetheless, aid continues to be about $50 million per year, primarily for health care, fighting TB, improving reading education and supporting the American University of Central Asia, located in Bishkek.

changing of the guard in the central square

The U.S. also provides training and support for improving agriculture, including the development of more efficient irrigation (drip systems) and greenhouses.  There is a law enforcement component, of course, primarily fighting drugs and helping train border security guards to guard against the smuggling of nuclear materials.

While Kyrgyzstan is mostly Muslim, it is less fundamentalist than the rest of the region.  Religion was heavily suppressed during the 75 years of Soviet control.  But, today Islam is becoming a stronger force in society, though extremist ideology hasn't taken hold.  Many children attend madrassas to supplement their inferior public school education and this is a source of concern.

The media is almost completely controlled by Russia, which has an effective propaganda machine that is very anti-West right now.  President Atambaev was fairly pro-Western when he first took office, but Russia has pulled him back towards the "motherland".  The country has joined Russia's European Economic Union.

Kyrgyz baby at the changing of the guard

The Russian-dominated media focuses on anti-U.S. propaganda rather than investigative reporting. Virtually all the news people get here is from Russian TV.  Consequently, the U.S. is not trusted.

One important economic activity is re-exporting Chinese goods.  The exportation of these goods has become more expensive in the region because China is not a member of the European Economic Union, so faces high tariffs.  This, too, has cut into Kyrgyzstan's economy.

China is a big force in the Kyrgyz economy, with trade and infrastructure projects.  Key to this are pipelines to carry oil and gas from Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to China.  They are building railroads to connect China to Europe.  One Chinese goal is to integrate Western China more closely into the larger Chinese economy, partly by these transportation links which will cross the Uigher areas of Western China.  Consequently, China is a much bigger economic presence here than Russia.

Kyrgyzstan also exports hydro-power to China, but this is seasonal.  Uzbekistan needs Kyrgyzstan's water for its large cotton production industry, so does not want Kyrgyzstan to dam its rivers.

The U.S. has started a new Silk Road initiative by supporting a pipeline through Kyrgyzstan bringing Turkmenistan's natural gas to India via Pakistan and Tajikistan.  U.S./Kyrgyz relations have cooled since the U.S. base here closed.  Part of this is due to human rights concerns the U.S. has which infuriates the Kyrgyz president.  Both countries want to get relations back on track, however.

tourists arrived at the square in this carriage

There are only 25 embassies in Bishkek, including 5 European embassies.  The U.S. is building a new embassy compound to house its 270 employees (70 Americans and 200 Kyrgyzstan citizens).  Right now, the embassy building is small and employees are crammed 2 to a tiny cubicle, barely able to move about.

Denver to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and more

Bishkek's Russian opera house

We started in Denver Tuesday morning, flew to Washington, Frankfurt, Istanbul and, finally, Bishkek, arriving at 5:10 a.m. Thursday morning.  Long trip.  But we arrived just before the sun rose, lighting up the Tian Shan Mountains surrounding Bishkek, with their striking 18,000 foot peaks topped by snow and glaciers.

the Parliament Bulding shows its Russian architectural roots

After a nap, our first visit was to the U.S. Embassy to meet with a top official there.  This is turnover season at embassies around the world as foreign service officers move from place to place, after their 3 year stints in one assignment, headed to their next posting.  Bishkek is considered a hardship post, primarily because of its isolation, cold winters, difficulty in getting consumer goods, lack of educational opportunities for the embassy staff's children, earthquake danger, poor housing quality (no earthquake standards, in particular) and poor health care facilities.  But, if you're someone who loves history and the outdoors, this is a haven fo

r hikers and, as part of the ancient Silk Road, history buffs.

As does the White House, office of the President

Bishkek is about 2500 feet in elevation, settled below the towering Pamir Mountains.  About 1.5 million people of Kyrgyzstan's 5.5 million population live here.  The rest live mostly in rural areas scattered throughout the 93% of Kyrgyzstan that is mountains and in the Kyrgyzstan portion of the Fergana Valley, its primary agricultural area.  Osh, another key Silk Road city, lies in that valley, near the border with Uzbekistan.  We will be headed there in a couple of days to visit its famous bazaar and UNESCO World Heritage Site, Suleiman's Mountain, before crossing into Uzbekistan.

A Kyrgyz grandmother with her grandchildren

Most of Kyrgyzstan's population is Kyrgyz, with about 10% being Russian.  In the area around Osh, in the southwestern part of the country, there are more Tajiks and Uzbeks.  The far southwestern province is primarily Tajik and the site of much ethnic violence.  Except for that area, the country is quite peaceful and more or less democratic.

Tajiks are Persians and speak a Persian language.   The rest of the Stans are dominated by Turkic-speaking people.  Turkey sees itself as the "fatherland" of the Turkic-speakers, which is probably why Turkish Airlines is the only international airline that serves the entire area.

Russian influence is, of course, pervasive, since Kyrgyzstan was formerly part of the Soviet Union.

A Kyrgyz family enjoys a pedal cart together

Most people still look to Russia as their most important influence (more on that in my next blog), the place to get a good education and the source of their historic and political identity.  Russia dominated Central Asia long before the Soviet days, as this was all part of the Russian Empire under the Czars.

This evening, we had a visit with our guide from our trip last year, a proud Russian, with her baby and husband.  She is a smart, well-educated, manager in her travel agency, who feels close ties to Russia, doesn't particularly like the United States, and thinks the Soviet Union provided a better life for most people, though she likes the political freedoms she and her family enjoy now.

Meeting our guide from last year's visit with her husband and new baby

Turkey's [relatively] new visa requirement

I've traveled to Turkey more than 10 times over the last 20 years and never needed a visa.  So, I was very surprised when 2 of our traveling  companions called me from the airport in a bit of a panic saying the gate agent wouldn't let them on the plane without their Turkish visas.

After a quick search on the State Department website, which has all the current visa information for Americans traveling abroad, I discovered that yes, indeed, Turkey had started requiring visas in April of 2014.

Fortunately, you can easily get a visa online in a matter of minutes by going to www.evisa.gov.tk/en/ and following their simple process.  Using my friends iPad at the airport and my computer at home, we soon had their visas and they were off to Istanbul.

So, if you're planning a visit to Turkey, which is one of the great tourist destinations of the world, be sure you get your visa before you try to board a flight to Istanbul.  And, from now on, I will be checking each country we plan to visit in advance just in case there's been a change in visa requirements.

From the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the Tian Shan Mountains of Kyrgyzstan

Mountain Meadows hike near Vail, Colorado

The Colorado Rockies are at their most beautiful right now, with the aspen shimmering in colors of gold, orange and bright green.  We just had 2 wonderful hikes in the Gore Range by Vail, with perfect weather and gorgeous scenery.

Wheeler Lakes in the Gore Range north of Copper Mountain

Early Tuesday morning, we head to Kyrgyzstan and that country's magnificent Tian Shan Mountains, which cover 93% of the country, with peaks from 15,000 to 25,000 feet.  These mountains are perpetually (for the moment, at least) covered in snow and glaciers.  Trekking is a popular tourist attraction.  We will be doing some shorter hikes up the glacial valleys between the peaks and along the glacier-fed rivers that run through the beautiful valleys.

Tian Shan peaks in Ala Archa National Park near Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

I'll be blogging about our trip through Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, the heart of the Silk Road, as I did during our planning visit last year.  I'll post photos and information about what to see and what we're learning in this fascinating part of the world.

Tian Shan Mountains looming over Karakol, Kyrgyzstan