King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival soars high

The King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival kicked off on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Saudi Falcons Club in Malham, north of Riyadh.

Elite falcon owners from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and around the world will take part in the event, which runs until Dec.14.

The club’s official spokesman, Walid Al-Taweel, said the festival included the largest falconry competition in the world. This was within the framework of the Saudi leadership’s keenness to preserve the Kingdom’s cultural and civilizational heritage.

Al-Taweel said the club was constantly working to improve its activities as each year saw increased development and support for falconers. The total prize pool for winners at the King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival is an estimated SR33.6 million ($8.96m), which includes the Al-Melwah and Al-Mazayen competitions. The festival will also feature a falcon beauty pageant.

Al-Taweel said new categories had been added, such as 20 prizes in the Al-Melwah competition instead of the previous five, an international auction for falcon production farms, and 10 international competitor prizes instead of three. There will also be an additional round in the Al-Mazayen contest exclusively for Saudis, where the top three will receive SR300,000, SR200,000 and SR100,000 respectively.

The King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival has attracted exceptional numbers since its launch in 2019. Its first edition entered the Guinness World Records as the largest falconry competition in the world, attracting 1,723 participants. The second event, later the same year, did the same, with 2,350 falcons taking part.