In eastern Kazakhstan, hunting with eagles is a centuries-old tradition preserved by a handful of families who pass the skill from generation to generation.

"The noble eagle is our life and art. It is in our blood and our genes," says Erbol Muptekeuly, an Arabic language teacher from a traditional hunting clan.

Clad in fur hats and embroidered tunics like those worn by their nomadic ancestors, hunters, or berkutchi, gather in the shadow of the Tien Shan mountains each year for the winter hunt.

Bearing golden eagles on their leather-gloved forearms, they huddle on a hill, some murmuring ancient incantations and stroking the birds' smooth feathers.

A fox, released from a wooden crate in the valley, is spotted, and in a single gesture, the hunters unleash the leather straps attached to the eagles' legs, sending the birds into the air. The hunt is on.

With a wingspan of 2 metres (6.6 feet), a curved beak and razor-sharp talons, the golden eagle can dive at the speed of an express train - up to 300 km an hour (190 mph).

"Our men used the eagle before they invented bows and arrows," said Toligen Makhambichin, a 41-year-old from Kazakhstan's northern steppes.

"We've now got rifles and markets where we buy meat, but we still come here every year to hunt like in the old days."

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The scene in the mountains of Tien Shan might seem like a throw-back to the times of Genghis Khan - said to have kept hundreds of eagles - were it not for the crowds of tourists, kitted out with digital cameras, mobile phones and binoculars.

As the hunters, many on horseback, prepare for the event, techno remixes of Kazakh folk music blare from loudspeakers and makeshift stalls sell drinks and kebabs.

Winters can be freezing here with temperatures dropping to -40 Celsius (-40 Fahrenheit), but the fans don't care.

"Kazakhs are still nomads in their heart. People from big cities get tired of sitting in their offices all day doing paperwork," says Bagdat Muptekekyzy, who organises the hunt.

"They come here from all around Central Asia to reconnect with their ancestors. They turn into nomads again," she said.

Some fans come from as far away as Australia and Western Europe, where the sight of a trained eagle tearing a fox to death would upset many animal rights activists.

"This is truly amazing, just incredible. I've never seen anything like this in my whole life," said Jaap F. de Boer, a Dutch businessman who cut a strange figure in his stylish suit and necktie among the crowds wearing fur and sheepskin.

"It's like bullfighting in Spain, it's culture, it's traditions. Why care about the animals? We humans kill animals and eat meat ourselves, don't we?" he said.

The foxes are captured from the wild and then released for the hunt. The eagles chase the animals, and eventually most foxes are hunted down and killed.

Makpal Abdurazakkyzy, a bashful 19-year-old with bright-red cheeks, is the daughter of a famous berkutch and the only professional woman hunter in Kazakhstan.

"I grew up among the eagles," she said in a shy voice. A gigantic eagle perched on her arm, blindfolded with a small leather hood and twisting its head impatiently.

"In Kazakhstan many things are done by men, especially hunting. But it is not we people who train the eagle but the other way around. I've learnt a lot from them."

Kazakhs say the eagle - depicted on the country's national flag - is a symbol of statehood and independence. During 70 years of Soviet rule, eagle-hunting was frowned upon because it was considered an elitist sport.