Camel kisses

We have some lovely friends, Robert and Jenny, who we socialise with pretty regularly. I've been going through some old emails that I skimmed over when it was really busy over the Christmas period and found this wonderful general email from Robert, sent to us and other friends of theirs after they went to see a camel race. The email was so good I just had ask them if I could post it here, feeling a bit envious that I haven't been along to see it for myself yet. Maybe in October...

"Today I received sweet kisses from ...................... a camel.

Today we went on a field trip to the camel races with the Qatar Natural History Society. What an experience !!!!. There were about 150 people on the trip..................First we visited the saddling area where we received a talk on camels. Then we were allowed to touch and feed the racing camels ............ remember folks that a racing camel can cost as much as ZAR400,000. [South African Rand400,000 ~ NZ$64,000]......... but no problem for the owners .... they were very nice and encouraged us to interact with the camels. Part of the talk was about the temperament of camels and their reputation for spitting and biting people. The owners assured us that the temperament of a racing camel is very mild and that in fact they like to greet you “face to face” so to speak. Racing camels tend to be smaller than working camels. These camels are pampered ..... they get hand washed each day after training, not just a spray with a garden hose. The top class camels are shipped between the various Gulf states to participates in camel races. A SHORT camel race is 3 km with the average race being 5km or 8km. The Qatar camel racing season is from October to January with 5 or 6 races taking place each day of the week starting from 2 pm.

We were told that if you put your face forward, they will reach forward to smell and interact with you. So yours truly decided to try .............. see the photo .......... I leant forward and the camel responded ............I must tell you that they have a very hairy area (long whiskers that tickle) around their mouths but ............. ohhhhh ............ soft lips.

Very interesting ............. then on to the camel race track itself. Again, What an experience ............... the race is a combination between a horse race and a formula one race.

Let me explain .....................Firstly when you arrive at the track it looks very un-organised as there are camels everywhere ...... we were told that there were 3,000 racing camels in the complex. .......... but it works. The race track itself is sand and running parallel to and on either side of the race track is a tarred road. There are no “jockeys” in camel racing. A special “robot” is fitted as the rider of the camel. The robot has a whip and a loud speaker. During the race, the owner / trainer rides in a 4x4 next to the race track on the tarred road watching how their camel is doing and talking to it through the loudspeaker and activating the robot whip as necessary.

Now each race has 20 to 30 camels participating .............. so what you get is somewhere between 30 and 40 cars (including spectators who do not want to sit in the stands) driving like Michael Shumacher (but at +/- 60 km per hour) jockeying for positions to keep close to the camels ............ very hair-raising – how the hang they do not have accidents I do not know ............ because they are watching the camels not the road .......... so if someone slows down or stops because their camel is not doing well ????? ................ but it works because we did not see any accidents.

We met the manager of the race course who offered to arrange a bus for us ............... to take us so that we could be part of the “camel drive”. Wow ............. 30 people in a bus ............... in places doing 60 km per hour on SAND ( we were “forced” off the road by cars on some of the corners) watching the camels and their owners ............. quite a different but exciting and entertaining experience.

The end of the race is different .................... you get the lead camels coming down the main straight .......... with these cars on either side ......... honking their horns and with people hanging out the windows or up through the sun roofs shouting and waving flags etc. to encourage their camel. Definitely worth another visit ............ but ............ as we were informed by the course manager, this year the Qatari Camel Racing season ends on ............ 28th January. ............ so we will have to wait until October before going again."