Karak: the unofficial drink of the Emirates :)

I love karak... I love that my students love karak... I love that the best karak comes from the cheapest shops... (2 dhs in Abu Dhabi, sometimes cheaper in the Northern Emirates) - but the absolute TOP BEST MOST WONDERFUL karak is made by a person who loves karak!

I have had karak in 6 of the 7 Emirates and in countless homes... one term we had karak each morning delivered from Yadoti to class :) (I did have mine no sugar at least)

Karak, for those who do not know, is an Emirati twist on chai tea (hihihihi I know that chai means tea, but I mean spiced tea with milk, that was an inside joke with someone). When you go to an Emirati home you are first offered a small cup of gawa and then a larger cup of karak... there are two fancy thermoses on the go all day, everyday.

Yesterday, at the falcon training, I drank karak made by Mohamed's cousin Ahmed - a true master who took the job of making it seriously and it felt like art how he did it... so the following photos will take you through how to make it... and you don't need a carpet in the desert to experience it... just relax on the sofa and enjoy the caffeine kick.

At first I didn't understand what Ahmed was doing... then I realized he was setting up the stove to make karak!

They bring this kit... wonderfully organised... to make karak when and where needed :)

11 teabags (yellow label lipton) with the tags removed... 

Wait for the water to boil (with 2 gawa cups of sugar already in it) with the lid off (ignore Dr. Connie very politely when she says that it would boil faster with the lid on) - watching the pot boil actually is pleasurable I know!

Boil everything together and add 1 small can of evaporated milk with cardamon in it (or boil real green cardamon if you have it) until it reaches the deep colour seen above...

 Then enjoy :) At home it is usually served in small glass tea cups - and I always accept the second cup... not even sure if I should etiquette wise, but I do!

Falcon training in Abu Dhabi

This first video is the mini-helicopter taking off...

The second video is Mohamed's bird taking off to hunt the bait!

The first "rain day" of my 4.5 years in Abu Dhabi (3 pm classes and beyond were cancelled due to rain and impending storms) and a wonderful invitation by a student to watch he and his friends train their falcons resulted in this photo heavy blog post.

Last month at the falcon azba I learned a lot... and today I learned even more and saw things "in action"... and it was marvelous :)

Voilà the falcon training adventure (5 minutes from university!)

The helicopter that is used to lift the bait into the air for the falcon to track, chase and catch

Falah - she has just started training and needs to be tied with a rope

Taking off the mask....

Feeding her a little...

And calling her name so she gets used to hearing it...

They go for the protein rich parts after the blood...

Two Abu Dhabi young men training their falcons...

Ready for the next bird! The birds need to be trained each day...

The remote control for the helicopter

My student's falcon...

This falcon caught the live bait... and then did what she is trained to do, but she can't eat too much...
because she will need to train again

So the "bait" was covered with a sac and she was given a smaller something to eat

My student Mohamed and his falcon

Mohamed prepares the bait for his bird (not yet named) - the bait comes frozen in boxes of 35 birds from England... talk about a successful SME with a nice market!

Ready to fly!!!!

Off it goes...

Relaxing with gawa and karak after training... (this is a MASTER karak maker!)

Me and Mohamed's falcon

That is me in the background uploading photos to facebook :)

Photo taken by a budding photographer!

Taking photos for social media :)

Falcon Quest: a falcon azba in Al AIn

There is a strong tradition and long history of falcon hunting in the UAE and the larger region. I have held falcons at different times and seen them hunting in old videos... but have never been to a working falcon farm - of course, given my tremendous luck as a professor here - last month our strategy class went to such a farm.

We went to the farm around 8... at the end of a long afternoon of Al Ain adventures (the first INCREDIBLE azba story will follow this one).

I will let the photos do the talking... It really was a strong lesson in the efforts made by individual families to keep tradition alive through modern methods and a strong love of their culture.

Khalid explaining the new methods used to train falcons - in the past it was just releasing birds, then small hot air balloons were used and now small guided aircraft are used to get very high and very precise (so the bird doesn't gt lost!)

Everyone was fascinated and asked loads of questions - many hadn't been to a falcon farm before - we also heard about a new falcon competition sponsored by Sheikh Khalifa (the President of the UAE) to keep the tradition alive and ensure it is passed on to younger generations 

Really cool to have all the falcons behind us

Heading to the long and huge barn that holds the falcons... it is 800 metres long and there are huge fans for cooling and at then end there is an air conditioned "room" for the falcons from colder climates to go to (I may have picked up a few feathers)

A gift of a feather to me :)

Khalid placing the falcon on my hand (yes I have 2 feathers in my hair)

Walid from RAK who had also never been to a falcon azba 

Beautiful bird - she is called heart for the heart shaped markings on her back

A dinner hosted by Abdullah's family and Khalid's family - it was delicious

It was a great way to end an amazing day... keeping tradition alive is as much about the future of the UAE or the "modern" UAE as it is a thing of the past. While hunting is almost exclusively done in other countries - the training and use of these falcons is very much a concern for many families in the country. We were all grateful to get a glimpse of the vision of this azba and the constant stream of innovative methods being used for training... Thank you Khalid (and your family and team of course) for organizing this!