Camel Racing
Camel racing, unlike Falconry, is a sport for mainly the rich and royal family because camels are extremely expensive, both to buy and to look after.
In the olden days, tribes in the desert used camels to transport themselves and trade goods from city to city; in those days cars in the desert were not possible. For this reason, camels were very important. They were able to travel for days and days at a time with very little water and food and still survive; they are still referred to as ‘ships of the desert.’ Tribesmen back then had nomadic flocks of camels and bred them for their milk as well as for their meat. They eat almost any kind of food, from vegetation to meat, sweet or sour, and even bones; a camel’s stomach can take anything!
However, this is not quite so true for racing camels. Traditionally, they are fed on dates, honey, alfalfa, milk and seeds and are not allowed to feed for about 12 hours just before a race. Arabs now have camel farms, with sometimes as many as fifty camels roaming about the land. If they are thoroughbred, when they are about 2 years old, they start to train them for races. Each day, the young camels are made to run and obviously, the older they get, the further they are expected to run. Eventually, they are made to run a 2km gallop and then the owners decide which are the best camels to continue training for the biggest and most prestigious races.
The biggest races in Qatar have great prizes such as Toyota, Land cruiser, New Addition VXR and so the competition is huge.
To buy a camel like this would cost at least 70,000QAR and maybe more for the bigger and better camels. The most expensive camels are the best racers!
In the olden days, tribes in the desert used camels to transport themselves and trade goods from city to city; in those days cars in the desert were not possible. For this reason, camels were very important. They were able to travel for days and days at a time with very little water and food and still survive; they are still referred to as ‘ships of the desert.’ Tribesmen back then had nomadic flocks of camels and bred them for their milk as well as for their meat. They eat almost any kind of food, from vegetation to meat, sweet or sour, and even bones; a camel’s stomach can take anything!
However, this is not quite so true for racing camels. Traditionally, they are fed on dates, honey, alfalfa, milk and seeds and are not allowed to feed for about 12 hours just before a race. Arabs now have camel farms, with sometimes as many as fifty camels roaming about the land. If they are thoroughbred, when they are about 2 years old, they start to train them for races. Each day, the young camels are made to run and obviously, the older they get, the further they are expected to run. Eventually, they are made to run a 2km gallop and then the owners decide which are the best camels to continue training for the biggest and most prestigious races.
The biggest races in Qatar have great prizes such as Toyota, Land cruiser, New Addition VXR and so the competition is huge.
To buy a camel like this would cost at least 70,000QAR and maybe more for the bigger and better camels. The most expensive camels are the best racers!