Nepal - Parahawking
One of the highlights of the trip was a chance to go parahawking with Kingsley. We both flew as tandem passengers and took off at the same time. They then release Kevin an Egyptian Vulture who quickly caught up to us and then took turns flying between the two gliders landing on our arms for a quick snack (raw buffalo meat) and showing us where the best thermals (column of warm air that gives the gliders lift) could be found. It was truly spectacular to see!
Kevin is 5 years old and was found as an infant during the monsoons, he had fallen out of the nest and was abandoned by his mother. The parahawking crew took him in and hand raised him. He has since been trained to fly with the paragliders - to find thermals and to land on the passengers arm for a quick mid-flight snack. Part of the proceedings from each flight go to support the many critically endangered vultures in Nepal.
"Egyptian Vultures are the smallest of all the Vulture species, weighing in at around 1.5 kg, about 40 cm tall with a wingspan of around 1 metre. They are the true scavengers of the raptor world, being the first and the last birds found on a carcass, picking off every tiny morsels of meat from the left over bones. They will also feed off rubbish sites, rotten vegetables and anything else you might consider to be food. But despite some of their unsavoury eating habits, they are highly intelligent birds with one clever trick up their sleeve, possessing one particular skill that no other raptor has. Egyptian Vultures will pick up rocks and drop them onto Ostrich eggs to get at the food inside. The Pharoe was so impressed with the Egyptian Vulture, he vowed that if anybody was caught harming them, they would be punished, this made the Egyptian Vulture the first ever bird to be protected by law.
Unfortunately recent studies in India have shown that the Egyptian Vulture numbers have dropped by around 80% in the last 10 years. It is assumed that the cause of this massive decline is the same which has decimated the population of three other Vulture species in Asia - the White Backed, Long billed and Slender billed Vultures - which is the poisoning from the drug Diclofenac, the pain relieving drug which is administered to sick livestock. The Egyptian Vulture has now been placed on the critically endangered list."
Not only was the paragliding flight beautiful but having the experience of a beautiful bird of prey landing on your arm is truly incredible. Kevin looks heavy but he is actually very light weighing only 1650g. At one point during the flight I looked the other way for a moment and when I looked at my arm a second later, Kevin had already landed and was happily eating away perched on my arm. I hadnt even felt him land! I estimated that Kevin landed on my arm apx 10- 12 times during the flight and each time was incredible.
Unfortunately recent studies in India have shown that the Egyptian Vulture numbers have dropped by around 80% in the last 10 years. It is assumed that the cause of this massive decline is the same which has decimated the population of three other Vulture species in Asia - the White Backed, Long billed and Slender billed Vultures - which is the poisoning from the drug Diclofenac, the pain relieving drug which is administered to sick livestock. The Egyptian Vulture has now been placed on the critically endangered list."
Not only was the paragliding flight beautiful but having the experience of a beautiful bird of prey landing on your arm is truly incredible. Kevin looks heavy but he is actually very light weighing only 1650g. At one point during the flight I looked the other way for a moment and when I looked at my arm a second later, Kevin had already landed and was happily eating away perched on my arm. I hadnt even felt him land! I estimated that Kevin landed on my arm apx 10- 12 times during the flight and each time was incredible. 
Labels:
Nepal,
Travel Adventures
I have watched this several times and find it simply enthralling. This is a definite on my bucket list!
Just amazing!!
Hello,
Im a brazilian journalist living in Nepal and Im writing an article about Parahawking for a brazilian magazine. Would you mind to answer few questions about the experience of flying with Parahawking?
Thank you,
best regards,
Elka