A bouquet of falcon events

January 18, 2025, to February 4, 2025

The focus of this trip through the UAE was clearly falconry. We were able to attend several different events and were amazed by the capabilities of these beautiful birds of prey. Finally, we experienced a camp in the Liwa Desert with our local friends, a wonderful conclusion to a wonderful leg of our trip.

Falcons in the UAE

Falcons were our theme for this leg of our trip in the UAE. First, we attended a falcon show by Wildflight with Veronica, Graham, and Ibrahim. They explained to us in detail the life of falcons and their struggles during a hunt. Falcons hunt other birds, kill them with a bite to the neck, and then consume them on the ground. In dives, the falcons reach extreme top speeds of up to 300 km/h. Since they have excellent vision even from great heights, the prey birds have little chance. However, the flights, especially against the wind, are extremely strenuous for the falcons, so they usually need to rest for a while after catching prey. The falcons here have become very accustomed to humans and are happy to be touched and stroked by strangers.

Thanks to Mike, we were able to attend a larger falcon training session as our second event in the desert. Several trainers and many falcons trained for an entire morning. The falcons have to learn how to catch prey. The symbolic prey is attached to a drone or a small remote-controlled fixed-wing aircraft. Once the falcon has grabbed its prey, it is released from the aircraft, and the falcon lands with its prey. The falcon is then fed and can rest again. All falcons are equipped with a GPS transmitter so they can be located at any time. In addition to the symbolic prey on the aircraft, pigeons and even a rooster are released for the falcon to catch. The pigeon is surprisingly agile in the air, while the rooster is relatively easy, but very large, prey. The trainers were extremely open and appreciated our interest; they explained a lot to us – unfortunately, only in Arabic!

The next and third event was the falcon hospital in Abu Dhabi. There is actually a hospital just for falcons, run by a German Lady veterinarian. Here, the staff showed us how they give the falcons a wellness treatment, trim and grind their nails and beaks, and replace any broken flight feathers. Surgery is also performed here if necessary. These high-performance falcons are extremely valuable and achieve prices comparable to successful racehorses.

The fourth and final stop was a falcon competition in the desert with Casey. It was only a small competition; we estimated several hundred vehicles, each with at least one falcon. Each falcon was given a pigeon, which they had to catch and eat. The falcon owners were all boys under about fourteen years old. The falcons were obviously not very well trained either; at most half could catch their pigeons, which then had to be collected somewhere in the desert, and the escaped pigeons could breed again in the wild.

Happy moment

Mike organized a desert camp for us and our friends in the UAE in the Liwa Desert, the most beautiful desert in the UAE. Mike gave us two possible camping spots, and I camped in front of the first spot. The desert is incredibly beautiful; Mike drove us even deeper into the dunes in his small off-roader to show us all its beauty. He also cooked a South African oxtail potjie for all of us over several hours. This, along with the exceptionally friendly company, was a great blessing that we were able to experience. Thank you very much.

Encounters

Patrick and Christine visited us in Dubai. Patrick is also building an expedition vehicle, but one that he will use primarily in the desert. Like almost all the people we met here, these two are, of course, expats.

Technology Pitfalls

When we’re on the road, our freezer is always full to the brim. Gabi feels comfortable when we have at least a month’s worth of food in stock. However, the Dometic freezer seems to have lost some of its performance lately and isn’t always able to cool to the desired -18°C. I suspected that some of the refrigerant gas had escaped and needed to be refilled. Dometic has good outlets in the UAE, but repairs are impossible. The technicians we met were very unconvincing. The workshop we visited is run by a crook, and the regional manager, whom we met by chance, was the least convincing. We therefore had an air conditioning technician come, hoping he had experience. Air conditioning units are so widespread in these countries that there must be technicians who can handle this. Unfortunately, we didn’t catch any of them. While removing the freezer, he caused a short circuit and burned out the DC part of the freezer! Now, at least, it was definitely defective and not just limited in performance. It’s always good to have a clear starting point. We sent him, the technician, away! Gabi was furious; everything in the freezer would spoil, and with the current outside temperatures, it wouldn’t take long. I discovered that the high-voltage part was still working and laid an overhead line across Globi, so nothing could spoil, but the living space was therefore very limited. By now, it was already night. Denis, our friend, was trying to organize a night exercise at the shop we visited two days ago. I was sure that UR Off Road had the new Dometic freezer in stock and that it would fit our shaft to within a centimeter. The guys actually showed up at our overnight spot at 10 p.m., delivered the new freezer, and were installing it right there. Sensational service, we were extremely impressed, and our food supplies weren’t damaged at all!

For a smile

Friends of Mike, a falcon trainer from Pakistan, came to our desert camp and cooked for us the Pakistani way, a very labor-intensive affair. One was more in charge of the grill, and his colleague was more involved in the preparation, including chopping vegetables and potatoes. Mike treated them both to a bottle of Williams as a thank you, since we didn’t have any beer, which they would have preferred. Muslims don’t really drink alcohol and therefore have a harder time bearing with it. They weren’t familiar with Williams and drank it from large water glasses like white wine. One of them didn’t like the liquor, while the other drank more than half the bottle in a very short time. The alcohol was obviously taking its effect. The Pakistani found it all extremely funny, and we sincerely hoped he didn’t also take his fingers into account while chopping. His hands were still in one piece until the end, but his colleague drove him and the bottle home before dinner, just to be safe. Nevertheless, the evening was extremely successful, and the food was excellent.