Qatar Camel Farm

If you are from England, a farm may be a place with green fields, white sheep and pretty black and white cows. However, Qatar’s first camel farm will be radically different from this.

The camel farm is to be established in one of Qatar’s most arid areas, and will be powered though solar and wind power – and possible also from camel dung.

One of the aims of the farm is to prevent or reverse the process of desertification. Ironically, the cause of the desertification is overgrazing by camels. However, the key word here is overgrazing – camels in the right number form a key part of the eco-system by both fertilizing and pollinating the desert.

Having a camel farm makes a lot of sense – in fact, in Australia it makes so much sense that there are fifty of them, although tourism makes up a fair proportion of their income.

Unlike the Middle East's pampered cows, the indigenous camel does not require air-conditioning. Furthermore, camel milk contains three times as much vitamin c as cow’s milk, and is also high in iron, vitamin B and unsaturated fats.

It is also very popular. Many people in this region believe it is an aphrodisiac, while across the world it is regarded as an effective medicine for many ailments.

Despite this, there is a serious under supply of camel milk, and people in some countries have to trek hundreds of miles to buy it. In other words, as Anthony Bennet, of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation, said: “Milk is money".

Also see:

The Next Thing : Camel Milk (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation)

Qatar Plans First Camel Farm (The Peninsula)

Camels: God's Gift to the Bedouin

Qatar Camel Racing

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The camels were held back by green netting. Their handlers stood tense in front of them, holding onto their ropes. Arab riders on large camels jostled by their robot counterparts on smaller camels. Then, with a crack, the netting shot up and the handlers went scampering out of the way as the camels galloped off, closely followed by their beeping and hollering owners.

The Place

Shahhaniya. Head out of Doha along Al Rayyan road. Follow the signs to Dukhan. A few kilometres after passing Al Rayya football stadium, you’ll come to a roundabout. Take the first exit, and turn left about a kilometre further on, just after the Oryx sign.

The Jockeys:

Child jockeys Until recently, children as young as four were purchased from their parents or kidnapped and sold into use as jockeys. See Mental Mayhem for an account of child jockeys being used only last year, or the Ansar Burney Trust for some disturbing pictures and stories. While this was already illegal, Qatar has now introduced severe punishments for anyone caught using child jockeys, and is going to greater lengths to enforce these laws, in contrast to some other countries in the area. They have also established an orphanage for children whose parents cannot be found. Happily, when we were at the track we saw no child jockeys, and there were plenty of police to make sure everyone was obeying the law.

Robot jockeys Replacing the children are robot jockeys. These are controlled by the camels’ owners who are following in the four wheel drive vehicles. Not only can the owners control the robots’ arms to whip the camels and pull the reins, they can also hurl abuse at the camels through speakers. The robot jockeys weigh about 26 kilos and cost about five and a half thousand dollars, which compares to about two thousand for a child.

The race

At the start of the race the camels are accompanied by older camels and their jockeys. At a certain point they are released, and only followed by their owners. When the owners press the whip, the whip hand of the jockeys whirs round with an electric sound that can be heard clearly from the side of the race track, cracking the camel with a series of whacks on its rear end. You can get up close for the start and finish of the camel race, or watch it safely from the stadium.

Race information

Ring +974 487 2028 (mornings only) for race information.


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The start of the camel race

The end of the camel race

Also see:

Qatar camels

http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9389147/camel-racing


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Riding camels on the sand

Drive through the desert towards Saudi Arabia and past a load of oil and gas installations and you'll eventually get to Sealine Hotel and Beach Resort. (Don't give up when you think you are in the middle of nowhere!)




Although this is also a hotel, Sealine resort is open to guests for a fee of 25 riyals ($7) in the week, 50 ($14) on the weekend (Friday + Saturday). In addition to swimming pools, there is horse riding, camel riding, jet ski-ing, windsurfing and quads for hire. There are also two bouncy castles for the kids. The buffet is a little on the pricy side at 150 riyals ($40), the poolside food is cheaper but limited in range. On Friday afternoons Qataris descend in droves to speed up and down the dunes - be careful driving home on this day as the (surviving) locals return all fired up. Overall, well worth a trip - it kept my two year old entertained for the day!

Address: PO Box 50255, Mesaieed, Qatar

Tel: +974 476 5299 Fax: +974 476 5298

Getting there: Drive past Al Wakra and Messaieed and try to follow the scanty signs.

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“Up,up,” shouted the men at us, forcing a camel to its knees and gesturing at its back. The camel didn’t seem very pleased, baring its teeth and making a rather impolite noise (at least it didn’t spit), but one of our number was brave (or stupid) enough to get on its back.

The Camel Racing Track

We were at the camel racing track, located in the middle of the Qatar desert. (Don’t let this put you off – nothing is very far away in Qatar!) Although the racing season is still a few weeks away, nobody seemed to mind us photographing and videoing the camels and generally sticking our noses around. We even drove onto the road that follows the track round, chasing, photographing and videoing the running camels and exchanging waves with their riders.

We had a fantastic afternoon wandering around the camel track, and wondered if we could have poked around so freely if there had been a race on. The people we met couldn’t have been more friendly, and were happy to be photographed and to answer our questions, even waving us into compounds to look around – and have a ride!

The Camels

All the camels we saw were dromedaries, which have only one hump. Fully grown, these camels can measure more than 7 foot (from its toes to the top of its hump) and weigh 1,600 pounds. It’s clear that they are built for speed, because despite their great weight they are tall and slim with long slender legs. We were rather nervous to start with, but overall we were amazed at how calm and placid they seemed. (I wouldn’t want to be left alone in a dark room with one, mind.)

Speed

The camels we saw, although they weren’t actually racing, seemed to have an understated speed about them. They didn’t actually seem that fast, but by the time you’ve stopped the car and brought up your camera to photograph them they are half a mile away. I have seen reports that they can travel at up to 40mph – a fact I intend to try and verify next time I am following them on the track.

Training camels

We noticed that the larger camels had smaller ones attached them to by ropes. Further researched revealed that these were younger camels (13-16 months) attached to older beasts to steady them. They also have to learn to wear the Al Khidam (rope), and the Al Shidad (saddle). The training period is short, lasting for between one and three months, and some already had robot jockeys attached. (More on robot jockeys on the next post on camels).

(See http://www.zipzak.com/ for more information.)

The camel market

We wanted to find out how much camels cost in Qatar. A search on the internet produced no results, necessitating a trip to the camel market. (As if we needed an excuse!)

We wandered round looking for people to talk to – never hard to find in Qatar. A Sudanese man was happy to take a break in feeding his camels (I’m not sure if his camels were quite so pleased), and he told us the prices of camels we randomly pointed out. Two large ones were priced at 5,000 riyals (US$1400) each – these were 15 years old. To the left were some smaller camels, year olds, and these cost 3,200 riyals (US$900) each. These ones were for eating. A fast racing camel, he told us, would cost between 2 and 3 million riyals (US$550,000 – US$800,000 dollars), but the most expensive ones available on the market cost a mere 30,000 riyals (US$8000). We toyed with the idea of setting up a camel stable, but decided we didn’t have enough room in our apartments.

Information

- We have been told that camel racing will take place on the December 20th, 21st, 22nd, 23rd and 24 th from 5.30 - 9.30 a.m. and from 1.30 - 4.30 p.m. Last time we were given wrong information, so who knows?

-You can ring the track on 487 2028, but if there is an answer you will be having more luck than us. The person who answers may not speak English.

- Even out of the racing season, both the market and the track are worth visiting. In both places, we found people extremely friendly and eager to show off their beasts. (I’m sure we would have been given tea if it hadn’t been Ramadan!)

Also see:

Camel Racing

See a video of camels at the Shahhinaya camel racing track in Qatar on YouTube here



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