Spread out at the foot of a vast plateau in the desert in Sinai, hundreds of excited Bedouins gathered to race their camels after a six-month break due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shrouded in a vast sand cloud kicked up by the hump-backed beasts, more than 500 camels were loudly cheered on by their owners dressed in traditional jalabiyas and headdresses.
Camel racing is a popular traditional sport in many Arab countries, most notably in the Gulf region. In Egypt, Bedouins of the South Sinai desert have kept up the tradition.
Photo: AFP
However, race events have been suspended since March following a COVID-19 outbreak and orders only came down at the beginning of the month that they could resume last weekend.
The camels ran around a 2km track in the Tih Plateau, completing it in a matter of minutes as they were followed by spectators and owners riding in SUVs to get a close-up glimpse of the action.
The competition “is a training for the international race, which should take place in October in Sharm el-Sheikh,” Nuweiba Camel Club head Saleh al-Muzaini told reporters.
One group of camels after another, placed in different categories according to age and sex, made their debut on the dirt track lined by sand embankments on each side.
On their backs sat mechanical jockeys, which are lighter than human riders, wearing racing jerseys and brandishing whips.
In a different race, young boys mount the camels to complete a 10km course.
Among the audience was 32-year-old Mostapha Abu al-Fadl, a geologist at an oil company in Cairo, who came especially to watch.
“When I heard they were organizing the race again, I told my friends how crazy, how wonderful it is... We had to come and see,” he said.
To the Bedouins, the race is a way of keeping a traditional heritage alive.
“There was camel racing in the past, but we revived it” in recent years, said Sheikh Hassan of the Alegat tribe, which organizes the event. “Camels will not disappear for us. We can use them for centuries. If the camel goes away, the Bedouins will also go away.”
Camel races — held every two or three months — often attract large audiences of tourists, visitors and Bedouins to the middle of the desert.
Suspending the races caused heavy losses for the camel owners, who still had to pay for their animals’ training, food and health checkups.
Over the six months alone, the owners lost 10 million to 15 million Egyptian pounds (US$635,000 to US$952,000), Sheikh Hassan said.
For owner Soleiman Hamad, Saturday’s race ended on a high note as his animal came first in its category.
There is no prize money, but the winners carry off a prestigious trophy, which also helps boost their animal’s value.
For Hamad and others, camel racing represents a source of additional income, provided that they also have the means to train, feed and care for the animal.
“It’s costly, but it’s our passion,” he said.
Each camel costs up to 2,000 Egyptian pounds per month to feed.
A well-trained camel can sell for up to 2 million Egyptian pounds, Sheikh Hassan said.
Bedouin of South Sinai usually eye Gulf countries, where camel racing is a popular and lucrative activity.
Now they are hoping for precious support with a visit to the peninsula due next month by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, which could boost their business.
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS