This weekend have breakfast with falcons

An eclectic selection of how to make the most of your Friday and Saturday. KT recommends...

- Bernd Debusmann Jr.
Falconry has a long history in the UAE. Over time, it has evolved from a way to supplement the local diet in inhospitable conditions and help important Shaikhs meet with their people, to an expensive hobby that brings in falconers from around the world to compete for massive cash prizes. It's a crucial part of Emirati culture - so what better way than to learn about it over breakfast?
There are a number of options to get a close look at falcons in the UAE. Arabian Adventures, for example, offers four-hour long tours, in which visitors are taken to a falconry campsite in the Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve.
After a leisurely drive among the dunes (keep an eye out for Arabian Oryx!) visitors are taught about the various kinds of falcons and the long history of falconry as a hunting method and as a sport. They are then able to watch expert falconers display the speed and agility of their birds. This is all in addition to a delicious traditional breakfast. What more could you ask for!
If you think training falcons is an easy feat, think again! Here they also make sure to brief visitors about the latest methods in which the birds are trained. Did you know, for example, that each falcon is named, and that they are deprived of food for the first several weeks of their training to bring them to an ideal flying weight and make them easier to train?
Another attractive but expensive option to see falcons is at the Banyan Tree Al Wadi in RAK, which has a private falconry session option (perfect for couples), a falconry deck, and a 'falconry mews' - an indoor and outdoor facility that doubles up as a training facility, and houses a wide variety of falcons, hawks, and owls. It's also where the Middle East's first and only proper falconry course is taught. Falcons are fascinating creatures - so why wait? It's time to get out there and meet some yourself!                  
bernd@khaleejtimes.com
Other things to do this weekend: (Click on the image to enlarge)
 
 

• UAE