SILENT HUNTER
Out in the desert dunes, visitors can try their hand at the ancient sport of falconry
I’m standing on a sand dune, several metres away from Mitch the falconer as he spins a feathered lure attached to a length of rope around his head. Even though the sun is close to setting, the ground is still radiating heat, so I take a swig of water as I turn to watch Kelly, the black shaheen falcon, flying a second lap around us. As she comes in to take another dive at the bait, before I know it she’s whooshed past me, just inches away. “She used you as a human shield – as a way of hiding herself from her prey,” Mitch says with a laug laugh. “She wasn’t going for you, so don’t worry.”
M Mitchell Olivier is a South African who has been pract practising the art of falconry for the past decade in the U UAE, but the taming of birds of prey has been part of local Bedouin culture for about 2,000 years. Inter Interestingly, falcons are not native to this part of the worl world – traditionally, they would have been caught whe when passing over Arabia on winter migration pass passages between Africa and Asia.
As the birds would not survive the roasting summer temp temperatures, the Bedouins kept them only for a few mon months, releasing them in time for them to complete their migration. Today, they tend to be bred in captivity and kept indoors, with the hunting season taking place in the cooler months of the year.
M Mitch looks after five falcons and two Harris hawks at th the Banyan Tree Al Wadi nature reserve in Ras Al Khai Khaimah, along with seven native desert eagles and four barn owls. Both hotel guests and visitors from outs outside the resort can book time with the birds – expe experiencing either a display or a hands-on course, whe where they can feel what it’s like to have a powerful set o of talons latch on to their wrist.“These birds are so stron strong they could crush all the bones in your hand,” Mitc Mitch says.“They can easily take down a 4-5kg desert turke turkey, a hare or even a small oryx.”
Un Unlike modern-day Emiratis who only fly falcons for fu fun, the Bedouins harnessed their hunting skills to ca catch animals for food – in this arid, inhospitable envir environment, it was one of the few sources of protein they had, and the most efficient way of getting it. After digging a hole to hide in, with a pigeon tied to a rop rope as prey, and a noose of knotted camel leather, the f falconer would catch the raptor, appease it with
some flesh and slip a hood over its head to keep it calm. Even today, all the birds wear one unless they are flying – this is because falcons rely almost entirely on their sense of sight, so when the hood is put on, it essentially “switches off their brain”, as Mitch explains.
After a cool glass of sparkling grape juice, we take Salma, a black Harris hawk from Arizona, for a flight. As she grips Mitch’s outstretched arm, he gently releases the tie for her hood with his teeth, plucking it off with his free finger and thumb, and then encourages her to step off on to my left hand (now safely protected in a stiff leather glove). A simple command sees Salma lift off and fly to a perch some distance away – meanwhile, a piece of meat has been put on my glove and, in a split second, she has seen it and is gliding back to devour it.
We repeat this three or four times, before Mitch rewards her with a whole baby quail on his own glove – an important way of maintaining the bond between falcon and falconer. As she tears it apart, she hides her prize by “mantling”, opening up her wings to conceal it from view. (In nature, other birds might try to steal it from her.)
The peregrine falcon is the fastest creature on Earth
While the Bedouins valued falcons for their practical worth, for today’s Emiratis they are a symbol of prestige, particularly the most expensive gyrfalcons from the Arctic, which are white and can cost up to one million dirhams (£160,000). Seeing a raptor in motion, you can understand the fascination – the peregrine falcon is the fastest creature on Earth, able to reach speeds of 200 mph in a dive (a cheetah can run at up to 75 mph). No wonder I barely saw Kelly coming.
One of the problems working with raptors is that there is nothing to stop them flying away except the promise of regular food, an association that is entrenched from the early days of training. For this reason, a small tracking device is attached to each falcon so that Mitch, with any luck, can find them again. “I’ve chased Schnoo for six days across five emirates,” he says. “If they get more than 20km away, you lose the signal and can’t catch up, so you have to set off quickly.”
Luckily, on this occasion, his sharp-beaked friends all return. Kelly, exhausted from her final flight, sits in the sand panting as her trainer affectionately sprays her with water to cool her down. For Mitch, his falcons are more than just his charges – they are his companions.