CPOY

CPOY 72 International Picture Story Gold: In Her Footsteps

For 2000 years, Kazakh men have been hunting with golden eagles. Since the past centuries, most of them live in the Altai mountains of western Mongolia, where the traditions and knowledge have been passed on through the generations, always from father to son.

But recently, fifteen year old girl Aisholpan Nurgaiv changed the circumstances and shocked the eagle hunting society by being first female to enter and win the world's biggest eagle hunting competition.

This project follows the life of thirteen year old Bor Dameli Shokan, one out of very few young girls that are following in Aisholpans footsteps and started hunting. Right now Bor is training her own eagle to reach her dreams, hoping that one day she will become famous and accepted as a true eagle hunter.

Caption
Slide 1 of 8
March 8, 2017
Bor Dameli Shokan, 13, is one of a handful Kazakh girls in Mongolia that are practicing the art of hunting with eagles. In western Altai Mountains she move around with her nomad family and their cattles between different places to live, eight times each year. When Bor was born as the second girl in the family with no older brothers, she got to do the mens shores from an early age. Among duties of taking care of the animals, she've always had a good hand and fascination in her father and grandfathers eagles. Since the male tradition always been taught from father to son, she never thought she could be a eagle hunter herself. But when a girl just two years older, Aisholpan Nurgaiv, participated and won the biggest eagle hunting competition there is and became famous, Bor finally saw the opportunity to start hunting herself.
Erik Nylander / Mid Sweden University
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