Victoria Falls
Friday, May 6th, 2011
The team composed of Jacques-Olivier, Yohann, Denis and Estelle, is in Africa since almost three weeks with English cameramen to shoot a documentary for BBC Channel. The D-day of this exceptional adventure is about to come. Loala, a twenty years old African fish eagle (Haliaeetius vocifer) is about to be dropped right over the falls with a camera on her back. Our goal is to have the bird cross the Victoria Falls.
This tremendous project started nine months ago, when Loala came to the park “Les Aigles du Léman”, after nineteen years of unsuccessful breeding. This extremely scared bird had been trained in paragliding with the new method adjusted by Jacques-Olivier TRAVERS. The bird took then a complete training to manage to be dropped from a micro light at the Scorpio center in Cervens. Being small for an eagle, with a wingspan of 1m70 and a weight of 2200gr, she struggles to fly with a harness and a camera. Trainings with on-board cameras immediately showed that Loala needs easy trajectories. Flying with an on-board camera, as small as it can be, changes the bird’s profile and reduces its flight abilities to 50 % and more!
This trip in Africa has been a real challenge for Loala who had to undergo several tests to satisfy sanitary requirements. An edema developed in one of the wings due to the blood test made just before the departure day and the team had to deal with that since the beginning of the stay. It is therefore necessary to be very careful to develop Loala’s muscles before attempting this dangerous flight since each strong training session can make this edema worse.
It is with this shortened preparation that the team comes to the Victoria Falls. Listed as one of the seven natural marvel of the world, the site is impressive. The water cloud created by the strength of the falls (called “spray” by local people) rises up to more than 500 meters and is visible 30km away. The noise is deafening and makes the talking impossible. To have the team come, local people had promised low water level but the people in charge of the site explained to us that we came, in fact, right at the water level’s peak. The view is stunning but not really adapted to the attempt. The team spends two days to study the falls and to make Loala fly closer and closer. The best time is around 3 pm. The heat makes the spray lower and should enable the crossing…
Ten minutes flight from the falls, the team meets Pascal, a local pilot, who agreed to drop Loala. A pair of bateleur eagles flies above the forest and the falconers see this as a good omen. Jacques-Olivier decides to carry out an aerial reconnaissance with Pascal in order to choose the exact dropping point. It is 2 pm and though the heat reduces the spray, the conditions for flying are Dantean. Back from his flight, Jacques-Olivier is livid, shaken by the incredible african thermals and by the view of the falls from above.
After a long briefing with Denis (the one who will drop Loala) and Mickael (director of the operation), the decision to attempt the flight is made. The team takes its position; Yohann and Rob are in charge of the on-board cameras and will give the bird to Denis just before take-off. Jacques-Olivier will go to « Cataract Point » the only open space where Loala could be called, once being dropped. Before leaving, he gives the last instructions: « We change nothing. Loala needs to be on the usual work pattern and if our calculations are correct, she should make it. Always keep an eye on her and tell me the direction she takes by radio. Good luck to you all! » Everyone takes his position. A long waiting starts. In this kind of attempt, every single detail counts and everybody perfectly knows the stakes. From« Cataract Point » Jacques-Olivier and the filming team finally see the micro light coming. All know the exit from the machine is the first complicated step. Unlike usually, the engine has to run full power. Flying with only one engine or one slower than usual significantly increases the risk to fall into the falls. Within a second, Loala lets herself fall down under the machine, opens the wings and follows the direction the team had calculated based on the forecast of the day. The eagle goes right towards Jacques-Olivier, crossing the falls without any stress. But because of the camera, she has to land on a branch ten meters high from the falconer. The whole team expresses its joy and congratulates themselves: "for sure the shots will be amazing!" The adventure is a success, the last three months of work payed, euphoria is in the air …Getting Loala back on the glove from a distance of ten meters is normally a formality and no one expected what was going to happen …While the eagle was changing position to face Jacques-Olivier, the camera got stuck on the branch and Loala ends up hung in the tree. Getting her there is impossible because of the lack of branches to climb. Jacques-Olivier keeps on calling her and after a while she manages to free herself. Exhausted by these efforts, she misses the landing and finds herself on a branch one meter above the Zambezi, about a hundred meters from the steep falls and less than ten meters from the shore. Jacques-Olivier throws himself into the water without thinking and finally joins Loala, struggling with the current. Wet, tired but safe, both get to the shore under the relieved eyes of the rest of the team. Now, each can express his satisfaction. The camera is not damaged and the shots are intact. Jacques-Olivier’s impressions: « It is one of the most fabulous adventures I’ve lived with one of my bird. Everything was there, the stunning landscape, an amazing flight, a bit of stress and anxiety but in the end, such a happiness and an extreme pride to have overcome this challenge with Loala»
