Adian Botha - A Life of Falconry & Ebony

Although my family and I have holidayed in Dullstroom since I was a little girl, I can only remember the Dullstroom Bird of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre faintly through the fog of childhood memories. It was only in December that I returned after many years to watch a raptor demonstration with guests that we were hosting. The whole experience was fascinating - seeing all the birds watching you with sharp eyes, captivated through the wire of their enclosures, and reading all of the quirky signs, riddled with jokes between information about all of the different species of raptors. The demonstration itself was incredible, starring a cheeky Jackal Buzzard called JB, and another owl that had crowds in fits of laughter with his constant hooting like a nervous mother. The awe-inspiring capability of all of these birds in terms of flight and hunting is really beyond description, and up until that day, I never realised to what extent these birds were built to hunt.

The crowning glory for me, however, was just before the show ended. Adian Botha, one of the falconers at the centre, brought out Ebony, the Black Eagle. With a wingspan of more than one metre, Ebony was a glorious creature, four kilograms of pure stealth, but despite the impressiveness of her physical prowess, this was not what made an impression on me. Ebony’s tenderness towards Adian seemed completely uncharacteristic of my impression of an eagle; a bird built to hunt and to kill, with the crushing power of more than a ton in her talons, which were now so gingerly wrapped around Adian’s glove. When the demonstration was over and the audience had left, Adian took out the mask back over Ebony’s face and take her back to her enclosure, but before he placed it over her face, he gently placed a kiss on her face. Nobody saw this except me, but the immense affection between this bird of prey and her handler was touching. I immediately wanted to know Adian’s story, and several days later, we sat down to do a telephonic interview.

Adian’s journey at the Dullstroom Bird of Prey Centre started as simply as any story could have. After finishing matric, he briefly moved to Britain to join the army, but returned after six months to work at a wedding venue. One day, however, his life changed dramatically in a way he could never have imagined. “One miserable, misty morning, my grandmother and I came to the Dullstroom Bird of Prey Centre to watch a demonstration. I thought the whole thing was so cool that I asked if I could volunteer.” The Centre agreed, and after three weeks of volunteering, they offered him a permanent job.

Falconers are a rare breed in South Africa, with approximately 100 in South Africa, and only 80 – 90 that actually fly birds. Because of the extremely few numbers in the profession, paired with the lengthy process of becoming a falconer, only the most dedicated will eventually qualify. All over the world, falcons have proven that they help conservation. Falconers need to require a permit or licence to ‘trap’ a wild bird. Usually, this is a young bird, as 70% - 80% of juvenile birds die in the wild. Falconers usually fly a specific bird for one or two years, so that they accumulate hunting experience, and they then release the bird back into the wild. From a conservational stance, there is a lot of room and support for improvement, especially in South Africa.

However, this all changes when we’re looking at human imprinting, and imprinted birds. Imprinting is the way that birds learn about their identity as a species, which baby birds learn from their mothers. So, when a bird’s first contact is with a human, that becomes its imprint – the bird now thinks it is a human. This was exactly the case with Ebony, but with eagles, it is a bit of a different story. Because they live for such a long time, and like most other raptors, are monogamous, they have a very strong bond with their partner, whether human or another eagle.

When Adian first started working at the centre, Ebony was housed in an enclosure with a male Black Eagle. The centre decided another Black Eagle was needed for demonstrations, and they needed to decide between Adjani (the male eagle), or Ebony, and they were then separated into two different enclosures. “Whenever I walked past the enclosure before, the two eagles always acted in the same way - lunging at the fence to attack me. As soon as we split them, and I walked past, her behaviour towards me completely changed, because she no longer had a male in the enclosure with her.” Thus, began a completely unlikely romance (from Ebony’s side, at least). Ebony would now hop onto the ground and run after Adian, or take a stick from him before circling the enclosure once or twice before bringing it back.

It was at this point that the centre decided that Ebony would be the eagle used for demonstrations. “We took her out of the aviary and I started training her, and in the beginning it was very difficult. She gave me lots of hassle! Eventually though, when she settled down, she became such a sweet bird. I’m so privileged for her to have bonded with me the way that she did.” In the process of training and bonding with Ebony, Adian spent a lot of time with Ebony, even taking her home to watch movies with him. Because of all the time that he invested into the relationship, it took Adian six months to work with her with the confidence that he does today.

The time came when Adian received a job opportunity that he could simply not turn away. He moved to the United Arab Emirates to work for a company called “Wild Flight Dubai” to train falcons and set up a centre. From there, he became a personal falcon trainer for a man from Bangladesh. Although it was an incredible experience for Adian, especially with the culture of falconry being a coveted profession in the UAE, yet back home in South Africa, Ebony was waning. “When I left, the other falconers could work with her to a certain extent, but eventually it came to a stage where Ebony became so aggressive that she became a liability –we were never sure whether she was going to hurt the public. I love that bird very much. She’s one of the big reasons that I came back to South Africa, and the Dullstroom Bird of Prey Centre.” These days, Adian is back and completely invested in his work at the Dullstroom Bird of Prey Centre.

Typically, Ebony sees Adian for the first time at 10 o’clock in the morning, when she, along with the other birds, are taken out of the aviary and weighed. After that, she is put back in the enclosure. Ebony is also the last bird that Adian works with, so after the final demonstration, he will take her back to her aviary and take off all of the equipment. He will then sit with her, offering her a bone to play with if there is one left over from the previous day. “All the time that I have spare, I’ll spend it with her. Obviously I love her very much,” Adian tells me, yet he is also constantly aware of her power. “Obviously, you need to keep your wits about you, because she is free in her enclosure. If she decided to, she could hurt me very much. If I go in there and I don’t trust her, she’s going to know and she’s not going to trust me back, and then I’m going to have a problem.”

But Adian has perfected the solution to this problem: by putting complete faith in Ebony, and trusting that she will not hurt him. Throughout the whole interview, I had a sense of awe for both Adian and the his trade as a whole. I realised that there was a reason behind referring to it as the art of falconry. The training and bonding procedure is a lengthy and delicate process, and only the most persistent will go on to succeed in this profession. The commitment that Adian and the rest of the team at the Dullstroom Bird of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre is astonishing to see, and the work that they do is so incredibly important. Adian and the other people who work at the centre contribute massively towards the conservation and rehabilitation of raptors in the area, and I for one definitely think that more exposure for the Dullstroom Bird of Prey is overdue.

For more information on the Dullstroom Bird of Prey & Rehabilitation Centre:

Website:

www.birdsofprey.co.za

Phone:

082 899 4108

Demonstration Times:

10:30 and 14:30 daily