This day was truly amazing. I was accompanying a “falconer for a day” – an unusual, yet super exciting way to spend a day on the outskirts of Hamburg. I had the chance to spend an entire day photographing the most amazing birds of prey from just inches away at a wildlife park.

Both of us enjoyed the day to the fullest, me photographing the entire day, him holding, stroking and feeding these beautiful animals and getting to know a lot about life as a caretaker. From the tiniest owls to falcons and the majestic eagles we were introduced to a lot of birds today.

Some of you may have seen one or the other flying demonstration show, but life in between, both for animals and humans, is totally different and we had the chance to experience all of that in one day. It can’t just be a hobby – during the day the caretaker dropped some information about how it is not possible to go on holidays for him and his last trip was nine years ago because there is simply no one who takes care of the birds during the absence. It’s not only a full-time job to love these birds…  it means dedicating a great portion of your life to them.

How to get there and become a falconer for a day

I don’t have a car but all those car sharing services in Hamburg are just perfect for spontaneous (but also well-planned) trips. Normally the pricing model makes you pay for each minute driving, but you can even rent a car for the whole day and pay a flat fee. This is all configurable as soon as you get to the car and open it. Compared to the regular rental cars, car sharing comes without the hassle of reserving a car in advance, picking it up and getting it back to the station, queueing, having to fill up before you hand it back, etc…

I opted for DriveNow this time because they have convertibles by Mini and it was a warm and sunny day. It takes about an hour to get to the location from Hamburg.

While the park itself with its German wildlife animals and petting zoo is more of a family attraction, the opportunity to go for the falconers day was clearly an adult activity. It took me some research because there are actually some offerings. Why I picked this one? Now I think of it, it offered the best total „package“ or set of activities and we were not disappointed.

// Wild animal park: Greifvogelzentrum SH

// car sharing: BMW Drive Now