Parahawking Mixes Falconry and Paragliding

Scott Mason, an award-winning bird trainer, invented parahawking, which is best defined as a mix of tandem paragliding and falconry. The concept arose as a method to enrich non-releasable rehabilitated raptors and to discover new ways to address vulture conservation problems in Nepal. The idea was there, a training program was created, and a brand-new adventure activity was born.

When parahawking, you fly with trained Egyptian Vultures, a truly unusual species of bird. Egyptian Vultures are not only extremely intelligent (they are one of only two bird species in the world that utilize tools to seek food (they will actually pick up and drop pebbles to break into eggs), but they are also extremely energy efficient. The vultures rely on heated pockets of air, known as thermals, for lift, allowing them to soar with little effort. The higher they fly, the broader their perspective gets, allowing them to find food more quickly. If there are no thermals, the Egyptian Vulture will perch on a tree and store energy until it is ready to try again. Egyptian Vultures are a fantastic bird to paraglide with because of their inherent attention to energy conservation, as gliders also rely on thermals to achieve lift. So, whenever you want to go up in a paraglider, just follow the birds

Location: Nepal