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Making baby owls in Malindi

The only bird sanctuary for birds of prey in Kenya, Falconry of Kenya, is running a breeding program for the rarest of the raptors, the owls that are the centre’s biggest attraction, alongside Mzee Kobe, a huge aldabra tortoise, currently aged 117 years.

Mr Darragh, an Irishman, started rescuing helpless birds in 1980 as a hobby, but soon received so many he opened his site to the public as a sanctuary in 1982. The centre, which is now one of the larger collections of birds of prey in the world, receives many helpless and injured animals, rehabilitates them and releases them back into the wild. The birds of prey are the most threatened of the bird species with many killed because they are considered dangerous.

The sanctuary is home to over 50 birds of prey of 20 different species, including eagles, owls, hawks, kites and buzzards. Kenya has around 1100 bird species, out of which over 100 are birds of prey. At the sanctuary, each of the birds has its own cage, but during the day, most of them are usually on perches in the open, where the falconers take the visitors round, explaining each of the bird species.

Birds of prey feed on flesh. They are rare and not easily spotted, and a tour around the cages and perches at the sanctuary gives you an encounter with some of the rarest birds of prey of all, among then the barn owl ,the wood owl, black kite, the eagle owl, and the spotted eagle owl.

The eagle owl has characteristics of both the eagle and the owl in both appearance and hunting habits and is the largest bird of prey in Africa, with the added oddity of feathery feet.

Although most of the birds of prey do not look as ‘beautiful’ as other birds, with their thick feathers and big eyes, they are quite harmless to humans and actually help in ecological balance by scavenging and controlling rodent populations. Falconer Charles explains that in some countries they are actually trained to control small birds and reptiles at the airports.

Another interesting bird at the sanctuary is the barn owl, which is nocturnal, sleeping in the day, and hunting at night. The bird mostly stands on one leg with the other hidden behind the feathers and has a yellowish grey top with light spots, white below with dark spots and a white heart -haped facial disk . The young ones are usually darker than the adults.

The owl breeding program sees at least 6 birdlings hatched every year, with the release to the wild happening every two to three years. Charles, the falconer, says they also used to breed the eagles and the hawks too, but they currently have no breeding pairs.

Before being released into the wild the birds are trained how to hunt and fly. The falconers use lures - leather pouches with two short strings on each side for attaching pieces of meat making them look like birds. Pieces of meat are attached to the two strings and the lures are then swung, for the birds to catch them.

To teach them to fly, the birds are let free nearby, then a whistle is blown and they all come back.

After two to three years, the birds are then released to the Sabaki camp, where they are tagged and monitored for two months, and given half the amount of food they are given at the falconry to ‘make them less dependent’ until they get used to the wild. Sabaki camp is the falconry’s ‘special place with a conducive environment for the birds to breed’. Some, like the kites, are however released in town as they do breed well in town.

The sanctuary also has reptiles, brought in 2002 and including Nile crocodiles, monitor lizards, leopard and hinge back tortoises, as well as snakes; including black mamba, green mamba, and python ,among others.

There is also a baboon and a bush baby, both orphans, brought in six years and three years ago.

Mzee Kobe, is the only aldabra tortoise, and one of the largest tortoises in the world. He was brought in 20 years ago from a park that was collapsing in Seychelles, and is darker than the others, and according to keeper Michael is the major attraction to visitors at the falconry, alongside the owls. Aldabra tortoise can live up to 300 years, while the hingeback has a lifespan of 15years, and the leopard tortoise up to 70 years.

Located along Lamu Road, opposite the casino and near Moriema cottages in Malindi, the Falconry of Kenya is open every day from 9am to 5.30 pm. Charges are sh100 and Sh50 for citizen adults and kids, Sh300 and Sh150 for resident adults and kids and Sh500 and Sh250 for non-resident adults and kids respectively

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