transiting Qatar

I had a few hours in transit in Qatar, enough to allow me to go into Doha.  Sadly it was on a Tuesday, when the famous Islamic Art Museum is closed, but I was able to find a bus to take me to Souq Wafiq, with its stalls, coffee shops and restaurants.

I indulged in a pot of Earl Grey tea (no alcohol here!) and an apple-flavoured shisha, then wandered around fairly aimlessly, happy just to soak up the atmosphere and gain a general impression of the place, until I heard the cheeping of birds up ahead.  I had found the pet section of the souq.  Aside from a few rabbits and puppies, this was all about exotic birds.  In one way the selection on display was really impressive, with birds ranging from African grey parrots, through Australian galahs and cockatoos to South American macaws and toucans.  I was able to hold or stroke several birds and it was lovely to see them all - and all seemed to be in good condition.  However at the same time it made be said: they should not be there, they should be flying free in the jungles they come from!

Some of the birds should legally not have been there, both the toco toucan and the white-breasted toucan being listed in the Convention on the Trade in International Species as among those birds in which international trade is prohibited.  It was sad to hear the latter species of toucan (pictured right) calling from the cages, having so recently heard that same call from the trees in the botanical gardens of Georgetown.

African greys, although endangered, can be legally exported by two countries (Cameroon and the DRC), although up to a total of only 8,000 a year.  This small souq alone had hundreds if not thousands of these birds (I counted 60 African greys in one small shop alone) and the research shows that the limit of 8,000 is not respected.  It reminded me of my flight in a cargo plane within the DRC, with crates of these birds on their way to Kinshasa [see my blog post from September 2011], now I know where they might have been headed for.

I asked how much a macaw would cost, and it was the Qatari riyal equivalent of around $25,000 - thus this photo shows $125k-worth of stock: