Falconry remains deeply rooted in Saudi culture. Keeping the tradition alive means preserving the skills and customs that define it while taking responsibility for the wildlife it depends on. Through its events, the National Center for Falcons is bringing Saudi falconry to wider audiences, helping secure its future, and sharing it with the world.
For generations, falconry has been woven into everyday life on the Arabian Peninsula. Falcons accompanied people on journeys across deserts and plains, and hunting with them called for patience, skill, knowledge, and an ability to live in tune with nature. Parents passed those skills and that knowledge on to their children. Over time, falconry became a distinctive part of Saudi cultural identity and an expression of the country’s close ties to its natural environment.
The knowledge behind falconry extends well beyond the bond between a falconer and a falcon. It includes understanding how falcons behave, what distinguishes one type from another, where they live, and when they migrate and breed. It also involves recognizing the importance of protecting natural resources and keeping ecosystems in balance. As concern for wild species and biodiversity has grown worldwide, environmental responsibility and sustainability have become central to modern falconry.
As interest in falconry has grown, wildlife conservation has become essential to its future. Protecting wild falcons means safeguarding their habitats and migration routes and limiting activities that disrupt breeding or threaten the stability of their populations.
Bringing falconry and conservation together helps people understand their responsibility toward wildlife. It encourages respect for the rules governing how people interact with wild species and builds support for breeding, release, and rehabilitation programs. These efforts help protect biodiversity and sustain a balanced relationship between people and nature.
The National Center for Falcons supports falconers, organizes events, and raises the profile of falconry in Saudi Arabia and abroad. Its initiatives, programs, and events preserve the tradition while helping it evolve. They also give more people a chance to learn about falconry and take part in it.
Some of the center’s programs protect wild falcons directly. The saker, which the IUCN Red List classifies as Endangered, is excluded from the center’s auction of falcons trapped in Saudi Arabia. That auction accepts only juvenile migratory peregrines.
Through its Hadad program, the center returns sakers and peregrines to their breeding ranges in Central Asia. Hadad carried out its first international release in Kyrgyzstan in November 2023, and in March 2026 the center released sakers in Altyn-Emel National Park in Kazakhstan, where the falcons are protected and monitored. The center is also collecting captive sakers and peregrines that are no longer used for breeding, ahead of an international release planned for 2027.
Two of the center’s events have become fixtures on the falconry calendar: the Saudi International Falcons and Hunting Exhibition and the King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival. Both have helped bring Saudi falconry to an international audience, creating places where people from different cultures can meet and share their knowledge and experience.
First held in 2018, the Saudi International Falcons and Hunting Exhibition now draws people interested in falcons, hunting, and related activities. It brings together companies, brands, manufacturers, craftspeople, government agencies, and specialists from Saudi Arabia and abroad. Alongside products and equipment, the exhibition showcases the culture of falconry, introduces visitors to new technologies and services, and gives participants a chance to make contacts, explore investment opportunities, and exchange knowledge.
A visitor with a falcon on display. Photo: National Center for Falcons
The exhibition also gives wildlife authorities a place to explain why conservation matters. They introduce visitors to hunting regulations and requirements and show what responsible hunting and falconry look like in practice. The goal is to help people understand their role in protecting natural resources and avoiding harm to biodiversity.
As more international participants have joined and the program has grown more varied, the exhibition has established itself among the world’s specialist events in the field. It gives visitors from around the world a chance to discover Saudi falconry and see how its practices, events, and services are evolving.
The King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival is one of the leading international events dedicated to falcon competitions. Falconers from around the world compete in Melwah flight races and Mazayen contests, where falcons are judged on their appearance. A range of events and cash prizes draws top competitors and enthusiasts.
A handler measures a falcon. Photo: National Center for Falcons
The festival has earned a place in Guinness World Records three times for the number of falcons entered. The records reflect both the scale of international interest and the festival’s ability to bring large numbers of falcons and their handlers together in one place.
The festival also gives falconers and breeders a chance to share what they know about breeding, raising, and caring for the falcons and to learn about different falcon breeds and their traits. It supports businesses connected with falconry and gives Saudi producers a platform to showcase their work internationally.
Keeping falconry alive also means investing in the next generation. Educational and interactive programs give children and teenagers a chance to learn about the tradition, experience it firsthand, and practice its skills.
Through initiatives such as Future Falconer, young people learn about falcons, what distinguishes them, and how to care for them. They also have a chance to compete. Activities alongside the major events introduce visitors to the history of falconry and the tools and techniques falconers use.
The way Saudi Arabia organizes and presents its falconry events, along with growing international participation, has changed how the country shares this tradition with the world. Falconry now brings together cultural heritage, sport, business, and knowledge of the natural world. It gives people in Saudi Arabia and abroad a place to share what they know and learn from one another.
A falconer and his falcon look out over the desert. Photo: National Center for Falcons
Leave a Reply