There aren't many hospitals where the patients arrive with their own passports. At the Abu Dhabi Falcon Hospital (ADFH), falcons carry official documents, get feather repairs and talon pedicures, and have made the facility one of the UAE's most awarded cultural experiences.

Opened in 1999, ADFH was the UAE's answer to a gap in its own heritage: falconry sat at the heart of Bedouin and Emirati identity — once a matter of desert survival — but the birds had nowhere specialised to be treated. The hospital filled that gap and grew into something bigger, spanning veterinary research, conservation, education and, since 2007, public tours. More than 185,000 visitors have passed through since, including George W. Bush and Queen Camilla.

The two-hour tour is no staged show. You start in the falcon museum, learning about falconry tools and the country's falcon registration and passport system, before moving into a working examination room where you might watch a feather being repaired. Then comes the free-flight aviary — falcons here can hit 320 km/h — and the part everyone remembers: a falcon on your own gloved forearm. Executive Director Dr Margit Gabriele Müller says visitors react with a mix of shock and delight, and that standing face to face with a falcon changes how people care about protecting them.

The conservation work is serious, too. Through the Sheikh Zayed Falcon Release Program, wild Saker and Peregrine falcons are examined, treated and returned to their migratory routes across the Arabian Peninsula. ADFH has treated more than 170,000 patients since opening, runs a Pet Care Centre that has handled over 130,000 animals, manages the Abu Dhabi Animal Shelter, and serves as the UAE's national reference laboratory for avian influenza.

Practical bits: tours run Sunday to Thursday at 10am and 2pm, and Friday at 10am, starting from Dhs178.50. Book ahead — at least two days in advance for individuals, a week for groups. The hospital sits on Sweihan Road in Al Shamkah, handy to Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Why bother? Because this is an authentic window into Emirati identity rather than a purpose-built attraction — a two-time winner of the World Responsible Tourism Award. If you have a morning in Abu Dhabi and want a story no one else at dinner will have, this is it.