Camel farm

A friend who edits a local magazine asked me to write an article about camel racing.  Let me preface this by saying I know nothing about the sport or even when they race.  I had never even been to the camel racing track. I took my friend Abdelrahman with me to translate.

We came across many groups of camels like this one.  The color of the sheet on the camels designates the tribe (family) the camel belongs to.  "Wouldn't it be hotter under the blanket?" I asked.

"Yes, it helps them sweat."  These camels are being bred for racing, and just like wrestlers you don't want them to get slow and fat.

It was my lucky day.  The very first people we talked to were two brothers who had both went to college in California.  They invited us to their farm a short distance away.  In this picture they are posing with their younger brothers and cousins.  I didn't see - and didn't expect to see - any women on the camel farm.

 I think camels are incredibly beautiful animals.

Here's a young camel being taken to dinner by her(?) trainer.  Since the guys travel and have school the family has hired people from other countries to train the camels.

The prime season for racing is November through early April.  From now until November only the young camels will race - and race at 6:30 AM, before it gets too hot.  They raise and race two kinds of camels:  The purebreds that come from a lineage of camels from this region and the mixed breeds from other regions.  The racing season spans across the UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.  One of the jobs in the first year of a camel's life is getting them used to travelling by truck.

I'll write more about the racing after I actually go to a race this Saturday or next.

Having grown up on a farm I have to say, camels are much more dignified in the way they eat than most animals.  I did, however, almost get in the way of an excited camel running for his food.  I thought, "Death by camel trampling.  For you, Steve, that seems plausible."

The sun is extremely intense here.  During the heat of the day the camels are kept under these metal sheets.

My hosts joked as they were showing me around:  "Here is the dining room. Here is the kitchen.  And here is the bedroom."

I asked about the rocky ground they sleep on.  The reason for the gravel is to keep sand from burrowing in between their toes and causing irritation.  By the way, camels sleep on the ground - unlike cows.  So farm kids here will never know the joy of the horrible sport of cow camel tipping.

I spent a little over an hour visiting with the family and seeing their camels.  They were incredibly generous with their time and answering a hundred of my questions.  I may have lived here for three years but as long as I get to see and do cool new things like this?  I can stay for a while longer!