What's with all the camels?

I thought it might be time to give some sort of explanation for the many photos of camels that appeared on our facebook pages last week. Not that pictures of camels need an explanation! :)

Darren and I joined the Qatar Natural History Group early in October (I've mentioned this before). Besides monthly lectures on topics of interest to "nature people," there are also monthly field trips to less well known places around the country. In addition, there are regular rambles or hikes all over Qatar. Last Friday the ramble was at the local camel race track. That sounded interesting to us, so we got a driver to take us to the meeting place and then hitched a ride (in a car; not on a camel!) the rest of the way.

The race track was pretty much in the middle of the desert. There is a single set of stands for spectators, as well as a tower, probably for judges. The track itself is huge! I heard a couple of figures - some said it was 2 km walk around it, others said 5km. All I know is that it seemed to go on forever!


We were not there for a race; instead, we simply watched camel "training." From what I saw, training means tying the young camels to more experienced ones to get them used to the track.


We did see some camels running on a separate track. None had trainers on their backs; men are too heavy. Instead, a couple were being "encouraged" by the honks of land cruiser horns as they drove along beside the racetrack. The majority, however, were ridden by robotic jockeys. I was very glad to see this because a colleague of mine said that a few years ago she saw a camel race in the UAE and they were using children as jockeys. That would not have sat well with me.


The camels were "dressed" in beautiful blankets which are used to protect them from the sun and sand. I think it also helps identify them since camels owned by the same person usually had matching colours or patterns on their blankets.


Information about events in Qatar is hard to find and when you do hear it, it's often unreliable. For example, the lady who led the ramble said the camel races were held at 4pm, but a Qatari camel owner we spoke to while we were there said they're at 6am and 2pm. Whether they take place on both Fridays and Saturdays, and for more than the month of November no one really knows. But hopefully we'll be able to take in a race or two during our time here. If not, at least we've seen the camels!