Today we ventured off to find the camel races, which are rumoured to occur on Fridays and Saturdays at 6am and 2pm. Camel racing, “the Sport of Sheikhs” is an old Bedouin tradition in Qatar, but the races have changed in recent years...for the better. Before 2004, children as young as three, four and five were used as jockeys for the camel races. Most disturbing is that these children were kidnapped and stolen from Africa and Asia and their “owners” starved them of food to keep their weight down. There are some enlightening and very upsetting documentaries on YouTube about this topic; an HBO Real Sports story convinced the governments of Qatar and UAE to stop using children in this sport.
In 2004, the Emir of Qatar followed UAE’s actions, and banned child jockeys. Robot jockeys are now used.
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| The start |
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| robot jockeys |
When we arrived, we saw the camel owners, all Qatari men, and camel trainers, Indian and Pakistani men, getting their camels and robot jockeys all organized for the races. The robot jockeys are operated by remote control and are also outfitted with a walkie talkie. It’s quite funny to see fifty or sixty camels all sitting down with little tiny robots strapped to their backs. We saw the start of the race and were then ushered into a bus which drove along the inside of the track to watch the camels race along the 6km course. We drove alongside the camel owners in their Landcruisers and listened to the camel race commentary at full volume in Arabic. Camels are not very graceful runners, but they can maintain 40km/h for quite a distance.
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| Camel trainer chatting on his mobile phone |
After two laps on the bus, we decided to give it a go in our own little Suzuki. So off we went - it was crazy!! The camel owners drive on the road beside their camels and yell into their walkie talkies and beep their horns incessantly. It’s amazing that the cars didn’t bump into each other the way they were driving! What a crazy experience!
From the boys:
- Ben thought that the best part of the day was cheering for the camels, but the worst part was getting camel poo on his flip flop.
- Will thought the whole thing was “awesome” and “cool”. Usually not a man of so few words...
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| Go Camel Go! |
Fun Facts about Camels:
- Camels can cost as much as 1 million QR ($360,000)
- One hump = dromedary and two humps = bactarian
- Camels can be white, black or beige
- Camels have excellent memories.
- They can travel up to 160km in the desert without water; a thirsty camel can drink 135 litres in less than 15 minutes!
- They can run at speeds up to 65km/h
- A camel’s hump is not filled with water; it is filled with fat that is metabolized for energy and water when needed. But when all the fat is used up, the hump will become flabby or even look non-existent.
- The word "camel" comes from an Arabic word meaning "beauty" (?!)
- There are 17 million camels in the world (90% of them are dromedaries)
- A camel can weigh up to 1600lbs!
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| Thumbs up for camel racing! |
Today we ventured off to find the camel races, which are rumoured to occur on Fridays and Saturdays at 6am and 2pm. Camel racing, “the Sport of Sheikhs” is an old Bedouin tradition in Qatar, but the races have changed in recent years...for the better. Before 2004, children as young as three, four and five were used as jockeys for the camel races. Most disturbing is that these children were kidnapped and stolen from Africa and Asia and their “owners” starved them of food to keep their weight down. There are some enlightening and very upsetting documentaries on YouTube about this topic; an HBO Real Sports story convinced the governments of Qatar and UAE to stop using children in this sport. In 2004, the Emir of Qatar followed UAE’s actions, and banned child jockeys. Robot jockeys are now used. 
*Bactrian not bactarian. Thanks Jane!
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