Oryx

Thirty falcons swoop around a huge aviary on a property in Al Khor, one hour north of Doha. Some sit, watchful, on perches around the aviary’s perimeter; others fly in dramatic circuits, their wings spanning up to 120cm. There are gyrfalcons, saker falcons and peregrine falcons – the world’s fastest animal, capable of reaching speeds over 320kph. I’m at the Al Khudaira Falcon Center, Qatar’s largest falcon breeding and research venue, which was founded in 1996 by His Excellency Sheikh Muhammad Bin Faisal Al-Thani. It’s a quiet period when I visit in late September, just before the six-month hunting season begins in October. My guide, Mohammed Soliman, who has managed the farm and breeding programme for the past six years, tells us that there can be up to 70 falcons in this aviary, which has a 30m diameter, and up to 200 in another nearby that spans 50m. 

“I studied journalism and planned to be an editor,” says Soliman. “Then, I started falconry as a hobby and I never looked back.” He founded his own breeding farm in Scotland and, in 2012, H.E. Sheikh Muhammad Bin Faisal Al-Thani asked him to move to Qatar to manage the Al Khudaira Falcon Center. 

The centre owns around 300 falcons – 100 for breeding – and, last year, hatched around 60 chicks. Depending on a bird’s bloodline, peregrine and saker falcons can sell for between US$5,000 and $25,000, while purebred gyrfalcons – an Arctic bird so valued in medieval Europe that flying one was the preserve of kings – can sell for as much as $250,000, with the most expensive birds being caught in the wild, rather than captive-bred. Rumours suggest that a particularly prized bird was recently purchased for just under $1 million. Clearly, falcons are big business.

To understand why falcons fetch as much as a top-end Lamborghini, you need to understand the role that falconry plays in Qatari culture. The first known reference to falconry in the Gulf states dates back to 750 BCE – with some suggestions the sport could date as far back as 2000 BCE – and it was originally a way for the Bedouin, the region’s traditional inhabitants, to hunt small prey for food. Every household, regardless of status, would be involved with falconry, and in some cases a falcon would be considered part of the family. Today, falconry remains an important part of Qatari culture, not only a link to tradition but a national pastime, and symbol of pride and status. The Al Gannas association was founded in 2008 to promote traditional Arabic hunting; and in 2016, UNESCO added falconry to its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List for Middle Eastern culture.

While the tradition of falconry dates back thousands of years, the approach of falconers has changed. “In the early 1980s, I would go out into the desert for a month with my friends without a sleeping bag or a tent. We didn’t care about anything except for hunting,” says Hamad bin Sowaidan, a renowned Qatari falconer. “Now, the hunters have luxury tents, big cars, electricity, air conditioning, and GPS trackers on the falcons. Life has changed. It’s not a bad thing – it’s just different. Back then, we didn’t even have the falcon souq.”

The falcon souq is yet further testament to the country’s passion for falconry. It opened in Doha’s Souq Waqif around 15 years ago – part of a concerted effort by the Qatari government to protect and nurture the tradition – and bin Sowaidan owns one of the biggest shops there. 

Inside, dozens of falcons sit on perches, wearing tiny, ornate leather hoods to keep them calm. At the front of the shop, two artisans handcraft these hoods; at the back of the space, bin Sowaidan sits on a large sofa, sipping Arabic coffee with other falconers – one nonchalantly balancing an enormous bird on a gloved hand.

Like most Qatari falconers, bin Sowaidan was a young boy when he was introduced to the sport. “I was only five when I started flying falcons. By the age of 15, I was going to Pakistan to hunt with friends. Now, every morning before the sun comes up, I take my falcons out to fly and train.” Alongside the shop, he also owns Windrush Falcons in Scotland, where he breeds falcons that sell around the world for up to $150,000. Last year, he sold more than 80 birds.

Next to the falcon souq is the Souq Waqif Falcon Hospital – an impressive facility that would rival many medical facilities designed for humans. I step into the waiting room – which has more perches for birds than it does chairs for their owners, and television screens displaying X-rays of spread-eagled falcons – and am met by Alhakam Ali Taymoor, a medical engineer who has been working here for five years. 

Founded in 2008 by Dr Ikdam M Alkarkhi, the hospital’s team of 30 staff saw an astonishing 30,000 falcons last year. “Before buying a bird from the souq, people bring them here for a full check-up,” Taymoor explains. “We also microchip birds so that they can be issued a passport; falconers bring their birds in for check-ups before the hunting season; and we get trauma injuries. You can imagine that if a falcon hits the ground at over 300kph it will break something. In the wild, these would be life-ending injuries, but here, our success rate is over 90 per cent.” 

As we tour the three-storey hospital, taking in everything from endoscopy rooms and DNA testing labs to spotless surgical theatres, Taymoor explains the hospital’s mission. “We are trying to bring falconry into the 21st century, replacing the old herbal remedies with new medicines and new equipment,” he says. “Most of the medical equipment we use is also used for humans, and much of the medicine we prescribe is the same as you would find in any pharmacy. We even have vitamins we give the falcons when they rest during the moulting season.”

We pause in the “imping” room – a kind of beauty salon for falcons, where damaged feathers are replaced, beaks are polished, and talons are trimmed. “It’s a bit like a manicure-pedicure for the birds. We even use some of the same equipment that nail salons use,” says Taymoor. Replacement feathers are sourced from an extensive “feather bank” which houses tens of thousands of plumes sorted by colour, pattern and size. Not only do these replacement feathers help birds continue to fly correctly during the hunting season, they also help win the falcon beauty competitions that are becoming increasingly popular. The winning bird at an annual competition that is part of the Katara International Falcons and Hunting Festival, for example, will take home 500,000 Qatari riyals in prize money – close to $138,000. 

But, falconry in Qatar is about more than expensive birds and prize money – it’s a deeply ingrained way of life. As Mohammed Soliman says: “Falconry is in our DNA – and there’s nothing else quite like it. If you train a dog, it will follow you blindly. But, you can never really own a falcon – it will always challenge you.” alkhudairafalcons.wordpress.com, swfh.com, algannas.net