Kyrgyzstan
A republic of mountains, lakes, and stories told on horseback.
The Switzerland that travel writers always promise — except here you can ride alongside eagle hunters, sleep in a yurt for $15, and have the lake to yourself.
Things most travelers never get near.
You have ridden a horse on a beach. You have not galloped across a 3,000-meter alpine plateau, behind a Kyrgyz nomad whose family has summered there for fourteen generations.
- 01
Hunting with a Berkutchi — a master eagle-hunter — whose golden eagle was hand-trained from a chick and weighs more than your laptop.
- 02
Listening to the Manas epic — half a million lines, recited from memory by a Manaschi. UNESCO calls it the world's longest oral poem.
- 03
Sleeping by Song-Kul, an alpine lake at 3,016 meters where the Milky Way is so bright it casts a shadow.
- 04
Watching kok-boru: full-contact horseback rugby with a goat. You will never see lacrosse the same way again.
Places that stay with you.
Song-Kul Lake Yurt Stay
Sleep in a Kyrgyz family's summer pasture yurt. Wake to mares being milked, fall asleep to a sky thick with stars.
Eagle Hunting in Bokonbayevo
Meet a Berkutchi and his bird. Watch a tradition older than Genghis Khan, and learn why the eagle is family, not pet.
Tian Shan Trekking
The 'Heavenly Mountains.' Glacial valleys, wildflowers in July, and trails where you can walk a week without crossing a road.
More pictures before you go.
A picture board for planning the route: landscapes, architecture, tables, and the small details that make the journey feel real before it begins.
What you'll eat.
Communal, slow-cooked, and shared with strangers who, by the end of the meal, are no longer strangers.
Beshbarmak
Eaten across the steppe, but in Kyrgyzstan it's served with a strong broth and the shyrdak — the felt rug — beneath you.
Manty
Hand-folded steamed dumplings. Lamb, onion, a knob of fat. The dough is rolled paper-thin.
Kymyz
Mare's milk, fermented in leather. An acquired taste — and once acquired, deeply missed.
“A man without a horse is like a bird without wings.” — Kyrgyz saying