You're here:
| Falconry & Conservation Magazine - 2003 | | Print | |
|
The Himalayan Parahawkers - words by Scott Mason Nepal is a country of immense contrast, diversity, warmth and wonderful, refreshing simplicity. From the epic proportions of the Himalayan peaks to the lush lowland valleys, the Kingdom of Nepal offers a range of opportunities and experiences for the adventurous soul. The Himalaya is home to eight of the highest peaks in the world all over 8000m, and some of the deepest river gorges notably The Kali Gandaki, which carves a path 4 miles deep, through the mountains providing a passage for a great number of migratory birds. Nepal is home to over 80 species of diurnal and nocturnal birds of prey, with some of the largest Eagles and Vultures including the spectacular Himalayan Griffon Vulture and the Lammergeyer to some of the rarest, the Rufus Bellied Hawk Eagle down to the tiny Falconets of the Terai. It truly is a mecca for Raptors This story starts with a journey of discovery. While traveling through Nepal on an around the world tour I noticed some paragliders flying above Pokhara, a beautiful lakeside town nestled at the foot of the mighty Annapurna range. As a Falconer I had always had a fascination with flying and decided to have a go at paragliding. This led to my meeting Adam Hill, a brit whose passion for flying and birds of prey had kept him in Nepal for the past 8 years, where he established and runs Sunrise Paragliding. The only Paragliding School in Nepal. Paragliding is a relatively new sport. The early days of unstable, dangerous gliders have now been replaced with a vastly improved technology - one which allows pilots to fly hundreds of kilometres in a day at anything up to 18,000 feet, and above all carry their equipment in a rucksack weighing only 15 kilos. The potential is limitless. Utilizing the same forces of nature which raptors have used for millions of years, paragliding pilots seek out thermals to take them to cloud base and into a new world. Once experienced in finding and utilizing this lift, pilots can hop from thermal to thermal and cover hundreds of kilometres without ever getting near to the ground. The holy grail of cross-country flight is the pinnacle of paragliding achievement, and in a country of outstanding beauty like Nepal, it is without doubt one of the most awe-inspiring experiences life has to offer. Unsurprisingly then, my maiden paragliding flight was an experience that changed my life. For here was an opportunity that I had only dreamed about during my falconry career. The chance to fly with the raptors that I so admired, but on their own terms, in their own element. During this flight I experienced more wild birds of prey than I could imagine, including Egyptian Vultures, Griffon Vultures, Red Headed Vultures, Steppe Eagles, Crested Serpent Eagles, Mountain Hawk Eagles, Peregrines, Kites to name but a few. I was awe struck. It was at this point that I realized that Adam and I shared a mutual fascination with these creatures and a bond was formed. Having been out in Nepal flying with these birds on a daily basis for the last eight years, Adam and Graham were keen to push this interaction further. So after a few beers and plenty of enthusiastic discussion, the idea of Parahawking was born. Parahawking is simply a fusion between Paragliding and Falconry. The idea being that the birds are trained to “hunt” the thermals, which allow the pilots to stay aloft. This was exciting stuff, to have one of the sky’s most gifted flyers as your own remote Variometer (an instrument pilots use to indicate lift or sink rates) was surely every pilots dream. It was here that my travel plans were turned on their head. I agreed to stay and teach Adam, Graham and his business partner Rajesh, Falconry and in return they would teach me to Paraglide. The end result being that we could all fly together with our trained birds, an ideal exchange of knowledge. It was decided that the Pariah Kite was the best option, being a truly gifted flyer with exceptional maneuverability and a gregarious bird with an inherent social and amiable temperament making it easy to train. The next challenge was how to obtain a bird. By an amazing twist of fate we received a phone call alerting us to a possible source. A local farmer had cut down a tree and in doing so disturbed a Kites nest. Unfortunately for the Kites the tree and nest were destroyed, fortunately for us they had two chicks. The mother wasn’t so lucky, the farmer had her chained up and wedged into an upturned basket, her chicks lay starving stuffed in a shoebox next to her, all being destined for the cooking pot. It was this mans belief that their blood would prevent certain diseases. After many hours of bargaining he eventually agreed to sell us the birds for 2000 rupees, about 20 quid to us but approx one month’s salary for the farmer. The chicks, we named Sapana & Shadoko were only a couple of days old, male and female as it turned out. We were now thrown in at the deep end, after all we had only decided it was a good idea the previous day. Whilst the two chicks were in relatively good shape albeit a little hungry, the mum was not so fortunate. The chain had cut heavily into her leg right through to the bone so she needed immediate care, she was placed on a course of antibiotics and fed a healthy diet of fish, chicken and buffalo meat. Her spirits raised as her weight began to increase, her dressing was changed daily and her wound cleaned and disinfected but it was clear she needed surgery. An advert was placed around town requesting the assistance of any traveling Vets. Within hours an English Vet had offered his help and coincidently had some experience with birds of prey, a rarity even in the UK. So armed with enough Ketamine to knock out a horse, Keith performed his magic. Despite the unhygienic conditions, it seemed the surgery was a success. After an hour or so of tense waiting, she eventually came round from the anesthetic and seemed none the worse for her ordeal. Now all that was need was a lot of TLC and a little bit of luck. Raising Sapana & Shadoko was a pretty standard procedure, all the while I was passing on my knowledge to Adam and Rajesh, Adam was teaching me to fly, The similarities between training birds and teaching me to fly were clearly evident, as the birds took their first tentative steps so did I. I could now empathize with the birds I had trained over the years, that first nervous reluctant hop to the glove. It was now me who had to take that brave leap from the safety of my perch, tera firma. Nepal is a primitive country desperately trying to modernize, but without the resources it struggles at every turn. Things take time and the simplest tasks can seem so difficult at times. Like building aviaries! The construction itself seemed an endless ordeal, DIY superstores are in short supply, the lack of simple things like Philips head screws, saws that cut the right way and electricity, things we all take for granted, hampered our progress. Added to this, the local builder was laying bricks at a snails pace and the regular afternoon thunderstorms would literally grind things to halt. The monsoon was clearly coming early and there was still so much to do. After a hectic few weeks of rearing chicks, teaching falconry and learning to Paraglide I felt I needed a holiday. The aviaries were finally complete, the birds were now branching, and old enough to be transferred to their new homes, after all, they had grown out of their nesting baskets and were creating havoc in the paragliding office, where we had been raising them. The mum’s operation was a success and the round-the-clock care she was given seemed to have paid off. She was now on the mend and ready to be transferred to her half way house. Then fate dealt a crushing blow as all the hard work and dedication came to nothing for shortly after my departure to Thailand the mum took a turn for the worse and despite the gallant efforts of the team she died. Without a postmortem examination, it’s difficult to diagnose the cause of death. Her injury was terrible and it was always an uphill battle, maybe in the end after such a traumatic time, she just lost the will to live. On my return from Thailand we commenced the training, which was smooth and predictable. The real challenge was how the Kites were going to be rewarded for their part in hunting the thermals. Various different methods were experimented with, the first being a 5ft aluminium boom which was attached to the harness of the pilot. We had reared the birds by feeding them from small green trays, so we decided to attach the tray to the boom. Food would be placed on the tray and the birds would come in to land and collect their reward. Simple! Unfortunately the boom proved too unstable for the pilot to manage solo so after Adam had modified his lovely new harness by gauging a huge great big hole in it, the idea was shelved. It was clear that Kites were happy to eat on the wing. This we encouraged during training by throwing food up for them to catch mid air, although after some thought this seemed like a bad idea, for if she missed the tip bit and it fell, she may follow the food down to the ground. So we settled for them to return to the fist. It was however impractical for the birds to land and sit on the fist for a number of reasons. Firstly, they found it difficult to actually land on the pilots moving fist during flight, secondly, the longer they stayed in close proximity to the glider the more chance of them getting caught in the lines of the canopy, as we subsequently discovered. Finally, the pilot needed both hands to fly. Through a process of trial and error we encouraged them to snatch the food from the glove of the pilot and eat their reward on the wing. Many hours were spent encouraging them to take food from the fist under an inflated glider, all the time ensuring that they fly out the correct way as to not get tangled in the lines of the canopy. In fact this became a real concern as on one occasion Sapana decided to snatch the food, swing up and back and straight into the lines. Luckily she managed to struggle free but her confidence took a severe knock and only after some gentle coxing did she start to come back to us in flight. Then tragedy struck, The Kingdom of Nepal woke one morning to discover that almost its entire Royal Family had been obliterated in a Palace massacre and the country sunk into a state of emergency and morning. Grey clouds covered the sky and the heavens opened, the monsoon had arrived, so it was time to hang up the gloves until the next season. It’s now two years on and the dream is finally being realized. Unfortunately for little Shadoko, he was lost during one of his epic 3 hour flights with Rajesh. Sapana however is carrying the torch and is an outstanding aerobatic. To watch her fly and interact with the glider and other wild Kites is a site to behold. She will happily fly for hours upon hours, marking out the thermals and returning for her reward. We call this experience Parahawking. The potential is limitless, and we are excited to see how far we can take the project. With over 80 species of raptor in Nepal, we have many years of discovery ahead of us. Unfortunately as is the case in many third world countries, the natural environment takes a second place to development. This development takes many shapes, habitat destruction, human population growth and pesticides have led to a serious decline in many species of eagle and vulture in the Himalaya. During the monsoon many raptors like Shadoko and Sapana are bought to us, either injured or orphaned or sometimes captured by locals and are just hungry. Many of these birds can be released or simply put back in their nests, however some, particularly the very young orphans need proper care and once imprinted cannot be returned to the wild. The Himalayan Hawk Conservancy is in its early stages of development. The aim is to develop a Raptor center to house a pool of Parahawks for private and commercial purposes. Plus, to rehabilitate wild raptors and to educate and inform locals and tourists of the conservation issues surrounding Birds of Prey in Nepal. Hopefully in time through our Parahawking trips, falconry coursers, breeding programs and research, the HHC will be able to contribute to the conservation efforts that others are making in this area. http://www.pwpublishing.ltd.uk/falconers/index.html Share this article 
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
