Parahawking is an activity that combinesparagliding withfalconry. Birds of prey are trained to fly with paragliders, guiding them tothermals.
The roots of parahawking can be traced to aviators of the late 20th century such as naturalistBill Lishman who in 1988 became the first person to lead the flight of geese with a light aircraft, and inspired the 1996Columbia Pictures filmFly Away Home.[1]
In 2002 Italian aviatorAngelo d'Arrigo crossed theSahara and theMediterranean Sea accompanied by an eagle, in an attempt to learn from them their techniques for migratory flight, by taking advantage of thermal air currents for long distance flight with low energy consumption.[2]
The term 'parahawking' was coined by British falconer Scott Mason,[3] who documented his endeavours in a film entitledParahawking.Parahawking won the 'Air' category at the 5th Hory a Mesto International Festival of Mountain Films inSlovakia.[4]
Other noted parahawkers include Danish, two-time paragliding world champion, Louise Crandall,[5] whose filmFlying with Eagles won first prize at the 2007Coupe Icare film festival in St Hilaire, France.[6]
In 2010 the Nepalese government announced that Scott Mason's Himalayan Raptor Rescue Centre inPokhara was to be closed following allegations that it was illegally holding endangered birds and that its practice of parahawking amounted to cruelty.[7][8] Despite these allegations, Mason continued to practice parahawking in Nepal until at least 2017, when the Nepalese government confiscated a number of endangered birds of prey.[9]