Camel racing

As the camels line up at the gate their trainers stand in front of them holding them in place. The gate pops up in an instant and the men let go of the leashes. The camels sprint forward and the men must quickly get out of the way. Even though many wear protective gear on their chests and head I found myself scared for them.

In the summer the races are run early on Saturday morning to avoid the heat of the day. Races are run every 10-15 minutes. On the days I went the races were 1500 and 3000 meters – which is quite long compared to horse racing. Camels are no longer ridden by human jockeys, having been replaced by a mechanical one that is run by remote control. The owners and trainers drive Landcruisers alongside the track as the camels run. They are able to yell directions into a walkie talkie and the camels respond to the voice of his/her trainer.

On my trips to the races I didn’t see any other Westerners.The appeal of camel racing to Westerners is a bit of a chicken and egg dilemma. Westerners show little interest in the sport and until they do Arabs have little reason to invite them in to their world. 

Part of my interest comes from growing up on a farm in the Midwest of the United States. While I have been around animals my entire life the only time we saw camels was at the fair. The camels in the US had a depressed look as parents would pay $5 (Dh 20) for their child to ride in a circle on the back of the camel. While they were fairly well-groomed these camels were nothing more than circus animals and treated as such.


In my attempt to learn more about the sport I drove to the track in Nabbagh. (To get there take the underpass near Jimi Mall and keep heading to the Dubai bypass road. In years past the road would take a person straight to the track. With construction it is a bit more complicated, but the place can be found by looking for signs for Nabbagh.

On my first trip, in early April, I found a pair of brothers who spoke English. They were on spring break holiday from studying in the US and UK. With incredible generosity they invited me to their farm, offered tea and took my questions for over two hours.


I learned that most farmers in the area raise two breeds of camels:  One is a purebred race whose ancestors were raised in this region for hundreds (thousands?) of years. The second set of camels are mixed breeds from all over the middle east and western Africa.

Racing has been going on in this region for at least 50 years. His Highness Sheikh Zayed loved camels and propelled the sport during his lifetime. In recent years the racing season has expanded across borders. The sport begins in late October/early November in the UAE and then moves on to Qatar and Saudi Arabia. Now even Kuwait wants in on the circuit.

I asked about the logistics of the sport. For example, “Is it difficult to transport camels?”  Having grown up on a farm I know some animals don’t take kindly to riding in a truck. My host smiled and said, “Good question. Camels need to learn to ride in a truck in their first year. Otherwise, it can be very difficult.”

Camels start racing as one year olds. They train in the mornings in the summers. (Older camels only race from late fall to early spring.)
 

Camels wear colorful garments that match the tribe and family to whom s/he belongs. While visiting the camel farm, I noticed the camels  were wearing quite a lot of blankets and I asked, “Won’t that make them too hot?”  My host responded that it is like wrestling in the US. “We don’t want them to gain weight.”  Keeping them hot will apparently burn more calories.

The process of discovering which camels have the “right stuff” for racing can take months. At that point maybe only one in ten will go on to be a racing camel. “What happens to the other nine?” I asked. “Are they slaughtered and eaten?”

My hosts’ eyes grew wide like I had just suggested eating a family member. “Oh, no, we let them live and they carry stuff for us.”  They said camels can live for 40 years. The economist in me is still perplexed on how anyone – no matter how compassionate – could afford to keep a camel alive for 40 years when it has long since stopped serving a useful purpose. Then again, I know Americans who will spend $300 (Dh 1100) on a ramp so their aged dog can climb onto the couch.

Once the camel’s racing years are over, they are moved to different farms where they live out the rest of their natural lives.

My visit to the camel farm was at the end of the day when the camels were being brought back for dinner. I mistakenly got between a camel and his dinner and was almost trampled. In a split second I wondered how my parents would react to losing their son that way.

I have seen dogs, cows, pigs, chickens, sheep and many other animals eat. None are as graceful as camels. It’s almost as if their table manners are befitting the colorful clothes they wear.

How big of a sport is camel racing?  The best my hosts could tell me is that hundreds of families in the Al Ain area alone take part. One said to me, “It is a hobby - a very expensive hobby, to be sure.”  If one of the camels successfully wins a big race, however, it can also be lucrative. I still don’t understand how this sport pays for itself given that betting on the races is illegal. Companies sponsor races but there was apparent marketing for those companies at the training races.  It is the gambling that funds horse and dog racing in the US. Regardless of how it is funded, the size of the sport is huge and growing.

The training races

In each race one or two camels will become confused and run in the wrong direction. I look forward to returning in the fall to see the older “professional” camels race.

For me, it isn’t a trip to the desert if it doesn’t involve getting stuck. In my three trips I got stuck twice. Perhaps that’s why most people would not drive a Nissan Sunny in the sand.

Back home in the US it is common to get stuck in snow in the winter. The tips for getting unstuck are similar, too. I tried rocking back and forth and slightly deflating my front tires. Neither idea worked. In fact rocking back and forth only seemed to dig me in deeper.

I was fortunate, however, in that each time men came along and helped to get me out. In that way, farmers are probably similar around the world. Where I come from farmers will travel many miles to help a fellow farmer in need.