Nomadic Expeditions on funding golden eagle conservation in Mongolia

24 Jul 2020by Madeleine Barber

After founding a festival to preserve the ancient Mongolian tradition of hunting with eagles, Nomadic Expeditions has partnered with a conservation centre to protect the birds of prey. Madeleine Barber speaks to the tour operator’s president to find out more.

Madeleine Barber

Head of partner content

Madeleine Barber

Head of partner content

With a fearsome black-and-yellow beak and a wingspan that stretches for more than two metres, the golden eagle is a formidable bird of prey. In the UK the species is protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act, but in Mongolia, where the Kazakh tradition of hunting with golden eagles goes back 6,000 years, little is known about its population.

In order to change this, Buddhist destination-specialist Nomadic Expeditions has teamed up with the Wildlife Science and Conservation Center of Mongolia to fund a research project focused on supporting golden eagle conservation and cultural heritage preservation in the country.

The time to shine

Nomadic Expeditions’ roots with the golden eagles run deep, with the operator founding the Golden Eagle Festival in 1999 and aiming to preserve the ancient Kazakh tradition ever since. The event takes place on the first weekend of October every year and had remained relatively under the tourism radar until five years ago when a few high-profile photographers caught on to the spectacle and opened the world’s eyes to the magnificence of the Kazakh people, their strong steeds and their birds of prey.

“[Last year] just under 2,000 foreigners came to the Golden Eagle Festival, so we thought this was the critical moment to start measuring what’s happening with the population of the golden eagles – we don’t want to hurt the wild population,” says Undraa Buyannemekh, president of Nomadic Expeditions.

The operator and conservation centre have a five-year plan to research and protect these birds, starting with a census. At the end of this month Buyannemekh and her team will travel to the Bayan-Olgii province in western Mongolia to meet the few remaining falconers and ask them for details about their golden eagles, such as how old they are and how long they’ve been training for. The duo will then generate guidelines for the eagle owners that will aid conservation of the wild population and tag the birds so their numbers and behaviours can be tracked.

Buyannemekh explains: “There are many examples around the world where cultural traditions need to be preserved without harming the wildlife – it’s our responsibility to protect the wild eagles and the cultural tradition, which is at risk of disappearing because of how unsustainable the wildlife situation could become.”

“It’s a part of the Kazak people’s cultural identity and something they feel they’re proud of, so we want to keep this alive,” she adds.

Selling the Golden Eagle Festival

Clients interested in learning about this Kazakh tradition and Mongolia’s golden eagles can choose from two Nomadic Expeditions tours: Golden Eagle Festival and In Search of Dragons and Eagles. These departures will also give travellers the chance to learn more about the conservation project at the centre and meet the biologist working on the science it involves.

“I think it’s good for UK travellers to be aware of the conservation aspect of our tours,” explains Buyannemekh, adding that “by learning what we’re doing and travelling with Nomadic Expeditions they’ll be helping projects like this.”

This new partnership comes at a time of uncertainty as the Mongolian government maintains a pandemic-induced ban on the arrival of all international flights, which is due to end on 1 August. While Nomadic Expeditions has had to rebook many clients for 2021, once Mongolia reopens to tourists it has a great deal working in its favour.

The country hasn’t experienced any deaths from Covid-19 and has only had 287 confirmed cases, which Buyannemekh says were “mostly imported”. The low population density and vast landmass has the potential to make the country even more appealing.

“The city has 5 million people but the countryside is very sparsely populated,” explains Buyannemekh. “There’s no place better to social distance than Mongolia.”