The Camels are Coming!

Actually they’re here, next to the campsite. The site has been carved out of a coastal strip of scrubland the remainder of which provides grazing for a herd of several hundred camels. This is a quite extraordinary sight at first, but as they are there all the time you soon get used to seeing them scattered about. This photo is a typical evening scene.

The young camels look bizarre and cute at the same time. This little one looks as if his legs have been dipped in white paint.

And this one only has eyes for Jane! She stroked it for about 10 minutes, and the camel gradually developed that glazed, transported look of ecstasy that says, “ I want you to do this FOR EVER”. We moved off eventually to continue our walk and the camel remained transfixed for a short while but then ambled towards Jane, we presumed, for some more affection. Suddenly it broke into a run- heading straight at Jane. I shouted a warning and she quickly leapt out of the way, sustaining a bruise to her arm (as opposed to a set of hoofprints along her back). A guess at the camel’s thought process – “If I can’t have you, then NOBODY will”.

The best camel stroll had to be the new baby. One camel was lying down with the camel herder in attendance. We approached cautiously so as not to alarm the female, and within about 10 minutes a baby camel was born. You could see it getting stronger by the minute, and within half an hour was sitting confidently alongside mum but fell over every time it tried to stand up. The shadows were now long and the sun near setting: it looked as if they would be sleeping and resting until morning, so we left them in peace.