A South African falconer in Dubai’s desert is shaking up the ancient sport of falconry, marrying one of Arabia’s most cherished customs with the cutting edge world of drones and tiny cameras.
Few foreigners are accepted into this traditional realm, which served as a means of survival in the barren wastes before the era of abundant oil and glassy skyscrapers.
But tour operator and trainer Peter Bergh has honed his skills for more than a decade, winning the trust of Dubai’s falconing elite.
Bergh puts their flocks through an aerial “gym” he has fine-tuned to give them a 21-century workout.
On a recent desert trip, Bergh and his colleagues demonstrated just how far falcons will go to catch the bait dangling at the end of a drone.
Video cameras attached to the flying mechanisms show the falcon chasing the food, going in repeatedly for the kill, until finally, the hunt is successful and the bird flies off with its reward.
The drone training in effect increases the hunting potential of the birds and, consequently, their performance in the various falconry competitions, where thousands of falcons showcase their flying talents every year in the region.
“So what we’ve been able to do now is make them go faster, higher, stronger, by using technology. So in order to achieve that it’s about food. So by attaching food to these flying devices we are able to dangle that carrot everyday just a little bit further, little bit further, little bit further thereby taking them to a new level of fitness which is really really difficult to obtain those levels of fitness in the animal without using this high tech equipment,” explained Bergh.
Teaming up with creators of the rising sport of drone racing, Bergh tinkers with aerodynamic bullet-shaped cameras and superfast aircraft to give guests attending his tours a futuristic view into the primal experience of being devoured.
”As crazy as it sounds, we are very close, in fact if we’re not there already, of being able to live feed the experience, or the action that’s taking place up in the sky down to the ground in real time and with that, we can potentially give our guests a pair of virtual reality goggles, and either through real time live flights or on a replay, they can now potentially become the prey,” Bergh said.
Operating from Dubai Desert Conservation Reserve’s rolling dunes and gnarled trees, the group cling to the educational uses of drones and seek to capture the action for the sake of its beauty alone.
Bergh and his team at Royal Shaheen tours take into account the scorching conditions in the country, keeping the birds in air conditioned environments, only taking them out to fly in the early hours of the morning when the temperatures are cooler.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016
