Blogs from Empty Quarter, United Arab Emirates, Middle East

To compete in a a beauty pageant in the desert, it is not good enough to just show up with your pretty face or perfect hump. You must bring a little glitz to the show ring if you want to be taken seriously. And the glitz is serious business. Each camel or camel herd brought their own style to the grandstands each day. Much of the bling involved gold or silver foil sparkle and some designs with beading. The accessories were designed to add to the camel's beauty without obstructing the camel's beauty. The fancy finishings were draped over the hump, tied around the neck or placed on the head. And when an entire herd was being judged, the herd all wore matching accessories--like a team uniform of glitter. As with anything involving animals, there were ... read more

So we have arrived at the prized destination: Al Dahfra Camel Festival. We are here to take care of one of my bucket list items: to see the main event, the world's only Camel Beauty Competition. Yes, my heart is pounding just typing this! The festival, lasting two weeks, draws over 25,000 camels from the Gulf countries of United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Jordan and Yemen. The camels involved in the judging are either Asayals (purebred tan camels who originated in UAE and Oman) or Majahims (purebred black camels who are from Najed, in Saudi Arabia). Both breeds are gorgeous, but very different in disposition and appearance. The most striking difference is the size. The Majahims are massive, absolutely huge. They are more spirited, talkative and downright intimidating. When the Majahims come toward ... read more

Every afternoon around 4:30 or 5:00 pm the honking starts and so does the yelling. People are shaking camel sticks out of their car windows. All activity comes to a stand still with no plans of moving any time soon. Cars are at a standstill and so are the caravans of award-winning camel beauties. Everyone knows it will happen, but no one can predict how long it will last. The welcomed chaos can be heard from far away and there is no denying what is happening. It is not your typical big city rush hour. In the desert, particularly during the Al Dhafra Camel Festival, it is party time. The Million Street, which runs near the grandstands, turns into a traffic jam of celebrations and sheer joy. The winning camels leave the grandstand for the day, ... read more

When we first read about the Al Dhafra Camel Festival in National Geographic, we were taken aback by the breath-taking photos often found in the magazine. The bright colors, the vivid scenes and the unusual sights...we were drawn to the notion of a festival that celebrated the beauty of camels. There were photos of baby camels riding in the back of pick-ups, dark black camels often not found in the USA and other scenes we hoped to encounter in our real life experience at the festival. But there was one photo I never imagined we would see duplicated in action. This was a photo of a fully grown camel being lifted, by a crane, into a large livestock truck. The National Geographic photos illustrated a camel gracefully dangling in the air, her legs tucked neatly underneath ... read more

Anfangs Oktober hatte ich das erste und einzige Wochenende frei seit Januar 2011... ich war mit ehemaligen Gaesten campieren. Das war ganz witzig, denn die beiden Maedels waren noch nie in ihrem Leben zelten! Feuer machen und Abendessen kochen hab ich uebernommen. Beide haben ganz erstaunt zugeschaut und wollten Informationen warum ich das Holz auftuerme oder wie lange Kartoffel in der Glut sein muessen... war ganz einfach die beiden mit nem leckeren Abendessen zu verwoehnen! Habe gefuellten Fisch & Steak gegrillt und Kartoffeln in der Folie. Als Dessert habe ich ihnen Schoko-Bananen gemacht. Wir fuhren vom Resort nach Dibbah an der Ostkueste, direkt an der Grenze zum Oman. Urspruenglich war ja eigentlich ein 3 taegiger Dhau trip geplant mit Freunden von ihnen, aber das Wetter war angeblich noch zu heiss dafuer. Von Dibbah fuhren wir das ... read more