Atlas / Falconry

Learn Falconry in Bayan-Ölgii, Altai Mountains

On horseback in the Altai you apprentice to the Kazakh berkutchi, heirs to a 3,000-year-old eagle-hunting lineage and the closest thing to falconry at its true source.

Birthplace of the discipline

Bayan-Ölgii, Altai Mountains, Mongolia

●●●●○ Thriving living community · Season: October (Golden Eagle Festival) to February (hunting season) · Intermediate to advanced

On horseback in the Altai you apprentice to the Kazakh berkutchi, heirs to a 3,000-year-old eagle-hunting lineage and the closest thing to falconry at its true source.

BirthplaceMeccaHeritageRecord holderUnbroken lineage

Honest level: Intermediate to advanced — ask the school exactly how far that goes in the time you have.

Where it is taught — hand-verified

Schools in Bayan-Ölgii, Altai Mountains

Checked by hand against each school's own course pages. No school paid to be listed.

What you walk away with

The credential

Master Falconer (national licence) / Raptor Award qualification · Certifying body: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage practice; national permit/apprenticeship systems; UK Raptor Award (Raptor Awards-accredited)

A recognised qualification an outside body stands behind is not the same as a certificate a school prints itself. We name which it is — you should ask the school the same.

Bayan-Ölgii, Altai Mountains pulls you? Leave an email — we'll introduce you to the school and the people going as the map grows toward it.

Prices are a verified starting point — no checkout, no hard sell. We introduce; you decide.

Same discipline, other sources

Also for Falconry

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
●●●●● Legendary
Gloucestershire & Hampshire countryside, United Kingdom
●●●●○ Thriving
Why you can trust this map

What I check before I send you anywhere

I'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.

Before you trust any school — mine or anyone else's — ask these five things
  1. Who actually teaches it? Can you find them by name, with a track record you can check yourself?
  2. Is the craft alive in that place, or is the school the only thing there? A real scene has more than one good option.
  3. What exactly do you walk away with — a recognised qualification, or a certificate they printed themselves? Ask which.
  4. Can you speak to someone who did the course? A real person, not a testimonial on their own page.
  5. What happens on a bad day — weather, an injury, a teacher who doesn't show? A serious place has an honest answer.

If a place dodges these, that's your answer. It costs you nothing to ask, and it tells you everything.

This is the short version. The full method is here — the six questions, in order, for any craft anywhere.