Flying first class? It’s good to be a falcon in Abu Dhabi.
Mar 13, 2019
4 minutes
Long before natural gas and oil discoveries in the 1950s transformed the United Arab Emirates into an economic powerhouse of skyscrapers and tech firms, it was an eat-what-you-catch way of life for the region’s nomadic Bedouin inhabitants.
But the Bedouin had a secret weapon, equipped with basic desert tools and instincts, that could make or break a winter’s hunt: the falcon.
While the mostly arid desert had limited grazing lands, it did lie under the flight path of migrating birds moving south from Europe to Africa for the winter. The Bedouin would trap falcons stopping to rest at desert oases and then,
Preserving the traditionThe falcon hospitalThe patientsTraveling in styleYou’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
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