'It's something we will never give up' - A look at the treasured Bedouin tradition of falconry

Record ID: 1700988

  • Title: 'It's something we will never give up' - A look at the treasured Bedouin tradition of falconry
  • Date: 5th December 2022
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 43-YEAR-OLD LOCAL FALCONER, SULTAN BIN NASER AL-HUMAIDI, SAYING: “The relationship I have with the falcons - they are now like our children. We care about the falcons like we care about our children. If your child is sick, you would lose sleep over this - it’s the same for the falcons, if it gets sick, you don’t stop worrying until you take it to the clinic, figure out what’s wrong and treat it. When it gets better, it feels like your soul has returned to you.” AL-HUMAIDI AND HIS SON AHMED FALCON AHMED CHECKING HIS FALCON (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 43-YEAR-OLD LOCAL FALCONER, SULTAN BIN NASER AL-HUMAIDI, SAYING: “This is my favourite falcon. I’ve used this bird for hunting and he’s been successful, so it’s my favourite only because of how it’s helped me in my hunts, how fast it is, it’s one of the fastest falcons, the best hunter, we’ve been hunting together for several years, he was with me for three years, and this is the fourth - the falcon makes me happy.” FALCON (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) 43-YEAR-OLD LOCAL FALCONER, SULTAN BIN NASER AL-HUMAIDI, SAYING: "Qatar has taken big strides in football, it is well known for its focus on football. But football is different to falconry. Qatar puts a lot of emphasis on local customs and heritage, and parallel to this there is also a focus on football, I don't think it will have an effect on falconry. On the contrary, the heritage has seeped into the World Cup, it shed a light on it." AHMED HOLDING HIS FALCON VARIOUS OF FALCON ON MEN'S HANDS AHMED HOLDING HIS FALCON VARIOUS OF FALCON
  • Embargoed: 19th December 2022 08:45
  • Keywords: DOHA FALCON FALCONRY WORLDCUP
  • Location: DOHA, QATAR
  • City: DOHA, QATAR
  • Country: Qatar
  • Topics: Middle East,Sport,World Cup,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA003418803122022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Every day, falconer Sultan Bin Naser Al-Humaidi drives out before sunset to train his beloved falcon in the desert in Doha, a traditional sport that dates back thousands of years among the bedouins, a group of nomadic Arab tribes.
    The 43-year-old local Qatari owns five falcons and trains them to catch live ducks and pigeons six days a week as a family tradition. He owned his first falcon when he was 10 or 11 years old.
    “I’ve been surrounded by falcons since I was born, this is a tradition we inherited from our grandfathers. Our fathers and grandfathers in turn inherited this from their grandfathers. The love of falcons is something deeply ingrained in us - they’ve been with us since we were kids,” says Al-Humaidi.
    “The relationship I have with the falcons - they are now like our children.”
    Speeding with the latest generation of 4 x 4 Land Cruisers across the rocky desert, the falcon lovers need to keep up with their falcons when they are hunting high up in the sky. It’s an expensive sport besides the cost of the falcons.
    Al-Humaidi said the falcons come from different regions, some are bred on farms in Europe, including the United Kingdom, and some in Iran. However, people do catch wild ones too for training.
    The most expensive falcon Al-Humaidi has seen was sold for up to 800 thousand riyals. However, among the most expensive falcons, one was auctioned for up to 100,000 riyals ($27,468 USD) in 2013 in Doha.
    Al-Humaidi bought falcons for his children and he’s glad that the children are also passionate about the traditional sport.
    “This is something we will never give up,” he said.
    (Production: Thomas Suen, Bushra Shakhshir)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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