King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival kicked off on Tuesday and will run until December 14

Tuesday marked the official opening of the King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival at the Saudi Falcons Club headquarters located in Malham, north of Riyadh. The tournament, which continues until December 14th, will include elite falcon owners from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, and throughout the globe.

According to Walid Al-Taweel, the official spokesman for the club, the event included the biggest falconry tournament globally. This fit into the larger picture of the Saudi leadership's desire to protect the Kingdom's rich cultural and historical legacy. Al-Taweel stated that since falconers' needs and progress grew yearly, the club was always striving to enhance its offerings.

The Al-Melwah and Al-Mazayen contests have a combined prize fund of about SR33.6 million ($8.96 million) for victors at the King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival. A falcon beauty pageant will also be held during the celebration.

Al-Taweel announced the addition of new categories, which included a worldwide auction for falcon production farms, ten foreign competitor rewards in place of the previous three, and twenty prizes in the Al-Melwah competition, as opposed to the previous five. In the Al-Mazayen competition, which is only open to Saudi nationals, there will also be a second round. The top three finishers will get SR300,000, SR200,000, and SR100,000, respectively.

Since its debut in 2019, the King Abdulaziz Falconry Festival has drawn a remarkable number of visitors. With 1,723 competitors, its inaugural edition became the largest falconry tournament in the world according to Guinness World Records. 2,350 falcons participated in the second tournament that took place later that year.