Camels and Camel Racing

My first camel ride was on my birthday during a Desert Safari with my husband. The April moon was full and bright. I remember that my camel had a strange, uneven loping gait as he walked in the sand. He wore a muzzle over his nose and mouth so he couldn’t bite me. However, the weirdest movements were when he got up from his kneeling position with me on his back and then again when his trainer had him get down at the end of the ride to let me off. It felt like I was being pitched over his head and then thrown backwards.

I sat high off the ground on my very tall camel as we walked in the desert. What I loved most though was the shadow that the camel and I cast on the sand dunes because of the full moon. I felt like I was part of the Arabian Nights. What a ride! What a night!

Barbara and Rebecca - Desert Safari, Dubai

But, one of the most memorable experiences was going Dune Bashing, then visiting the Camel Farm in the desert on this same birthday Desert Safari. Our driver, Ali, drove us out of Dubai into the desert, stopping at a service station to let air out of the SUV’s tires so we could drive in the deep, fine sand. We finally went off-road into the dark red sand and started climbing up the dunes.

Driving up, up, up the sand dunes. Then, at the top of the dune, Ali, stopped and literally let the SUV slide sideways down the dune. The dunes were much higher than I thought they would be, so our view was incredible each time we reached the top ridge. Our driver would drive as fast as he could up, up, up and over the top of the dune with the SUV leaving the ground! We were airborne! Hold on tight!!! We went up and down, dune after dune, several times, laughing so hard that we had tears rolling down our faces.

After the dune bashing, Ali drove to the camel farm. We jumped out of the Range Rover literally moments after the birth of a camel that was born on my birthday! We watched the mother camel as she cleaned her baby, nuzzled him, and encouraged him to stand. He looked like he was dead because he wasn’t moving at all. He was grey, very skinny, wobbly long neck and tiny body.

Mama Camel and new baby camel on ground

Finally, after about 45 minutes, the baby camel staggered onto his four unsteady, scrawny legs. He fell over immediately, but his mama didn’t give up. She continued to lie down beside him, licked him all over, sniffed him, and just took care of him. After another 15 minutes, he was standing on his own and beginning to nurse his mother.

I loved the camel caretaker, Mohammed, who wore a red/white checkered headpiece and just seemed to belong to the desert. He was very dark skinned, smiled a lot and was very proud of the mama camel and her new baby. Our guide translated our conversation.

Mohammed said he would name the baby camel after me because he was born on my birthday! I now have a camel named after me living in the desert outside of Dubai.

Camels everywhere! One hump or two: while living in the United Arab Emirates, I saw only the Dromedary camel or the Arabian camel, which is a large, even-toed ungulate with one hump on its back and is native to this country. The two-hump camel or the Bactrian camel is not native to this part of the Arabian Gulf.

In Wisconsin, drivers often hit deer on the highways resulting in a lot of damage to our cars and the deer. Unfortunately, in the UAE, every camel has an owner; so, if you hit a camel and are caught, you will most likely pay a large fine or go to jail. Camels are usually fenced in the desert, but many roam freely along the roads.

Camels on road to Fujairah

I learned that camels are raised for racing and for their beauty, which I found odd because I didn’t find them particularly pretty. The Sheikhs own most of them with the average price of a camel being $100,000 to $1,000,000.

The former president of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed, endorsed camel racing because it provided work and financial support for the camel caretakers. He owned a personal stable of about 14,000 camels and 9,000 workers for their upkeep.

At a broad, sandy camel racetrack, camels stand in groups of four and five. The sight of the huge beasts next to the trainers and handlers in their long white robes and headdresses contrasted sharply with the Dubai skyscrapers, which gleamed in the distance like a desert mirage. The lifting of the large, multi-strand barrier signified the beginning of the race.

Suddenly, the trainers leapt into waiting jeeps and sped off on a road parallel to the racetrack. They left behind the handlers who clap and whistle, prompting the camels to start a clumsy gallop down the track as a training run for an upcoming race. There are no riders perched on the camel’s humps. Instead, the cylindrical robot jockeys are strapped to their saddles.

However, there are still some kinks to work out. For one, camels can be uncooperative. During the training run, one camel – robot in tow – broke off from the pack and sprinted the wrong way down the track. Several screaming handlers chased after the runaway camel, running barefoot in the sand.

Camel racing season is from October through April on Thursdays and Fridays (their weekend) because the weather is now cooling down. Two races are the norm, with the morning race beginning at 7:30 am and the afternoon race at 2:30 pm.

    I saw many more racetracks since first living in Abu Dhabi in 2004. Now, the UAE has 15 racetracks across the country with spacious, well-kept stadiums for viewers. They are located on city outskirts, complete with rest tents, connecting roads, electricity, water, telephone lines, equipment for live television and radio broadcasts, a team of doctors, stand-by ambulances, and print transmission capabilities.

    Race distances vary between 4 to 10 kilometers and may include 15 to 70 camels or more. The camels run about 40 kilometers per hour and learn to race at two years of age. Cameras are not permitted at the racetracks. However, binoculars are necessary if you really want to see the races.

    At the Nad al Sheba racetrack the morning races consist primarily of camels owned by Sheikhs, whereas the afternoon races are open to everyone. Sheikhs have been known to buy camels from owners who won the afternoon races, offering large sums of money to acquire the victorious camel.

    Currently, there are approximately 14,000 active racing camels in the UAE, which require large numbers of people to maintain them and keep them in top condition. The workers typically come from Pakistan and Oman. Many trainers take their camels and race in other countries, such as Qatar, which have extended racing seasons beyond the UAE season.

    But, the most disturbing part of camel racing was the past practice of having young boys as camel jockeys. These tiny little boys were only six or seven years old, weighing about 20 kilograms (44 pounds) so as not to be too heavy on the camel. The boys, usually from Pakistan and Bangladesh, were secured to the saddles with Velcro or tied on, often resulting in injuries to the little guys. This practice was condemned by human rights groups and became an international issue, in addition to the trafficking of child jockeys.

To address the problem, the UAE government issued a ban on child jockeys who are less than 15 years of age and weigh less than 45 kilos. Camel jockeys must carry government issued ID cards, which can be acquired after passing examinations by specially appointed doctors to ensure that the child is of racing age and has not been taken from a foreign country by owners claiming to be parents.

Robot Jockey Riding in Camel Race

The good news is that now ‘robot jockeys’ are transforming the traditional sport. At the Gold Camel Sports Equipment Trading Shop on the edge of Dubai, the robot jockeys sell for about $500 each in a variety of colors. A wireless receiver activates when the trainer presses a button on a plastic key chain. Then the robot jockey’s single arm spins furiously, whipping the air and the camel with the riding crop. The robot jockeys have also improved race times dramatically because the 10-pound robots are much lighter than the little boys are.

Robot Jockeys riding in the Camel Race

Betting on the races is illegal in the UAE, but winners receive different prizes, many times in the form of luxury cars. Very successful racing camels are worth millions of dollars and the most coveted prize is winning the King’s Cup in Dubai.

Nad al Sheba Camel Racetrack, outside of Dubai, fills to the brim every Thursday and Friday during the winter months. Camel races are also held in most of the other six emirates such as Sharjah, Ajman, Ras al-Khaimah, Fujairah, and Umm al-Qaiwain.

Camels at Global Village, Dubai

How about an unusual camel event? Camel Beauty Pageants! I thought it was a joke the first time I heard it on the radio. Then, I read about it in the newspaper.

Yes, the Camel Beauty Pageant is held each December during the Al Dhafrah Camel Festival in Abu Dhabi, when beautifully adorned camels strut their stuff for prize money, which in 2011 totaled Dhs 42 million ($11,444,141). The first prizewinners in the native Asayel and Majahim categories (for dark-skinned Saudi Arabian camels) each took home Dhs 1 million ($272,479).

Go figure… I have seen and heard everything now!