Camel racing is an old traditional sport that originated in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, and the Middle East and is a popular sport in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Australia, and Mongolia. The South Sinai Camel Festival is an annual event that takes place at 3:00pm on the 1st of May of every year and lasts for the duration of the month, thus finishing on the 31st. and over 250 camels take part in this race from 17 different Egyptian tribes. It might sound bizarre; camel racing, when we are used to horse racing instead however camels differ just lie humans and some are better for racing than others here is how you can tell:

•    The feet of a racing camel to be small enough to allow for agility and quickness, but large enough to support and balance its weight, so the front feet should be as straight as possible, and the rear feet are better if they are slightly turned outwards.

•    The front legs should be close together, straight, and long. Well muscled elbows that are away from the chest pad are ideal.

•    The rear legs should also be straight and long rather than bow-legged. They should muscular as well as the loins area.

•    The thighs of the camel should be thick, full, broad, and muscular.

•    Muscular forearms, heavy knee joints.

•    The cannon bone should be flat and clean


•    The overall build of the racing camel should be long-legged, slender, with a strong bone structure.

Even though, camels may look heavy and slow they are in fact incredibly fast; camels can run up to 65 km/h (40 mph) in short bursts and sustain speeds of up to 40 km/h (25 mph).So, maybe its time you know a bit more about these amazing ‘ships of the desert’ and how they are able to stand the heat let alone run and race in it.

The two main types of camels are: dromedary or Arabian camel which has one hump or the Bactrian camel which has two.
The average life expectancy of a camel is 40 to 50 years. A fully grown adult camel stands 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) at the shoulder and 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) at the hump. The hump rises about 30 inches (75 cm) out of its body. An interesting fact is that when a camel’s energy is low from lack of food, the hump shrinks and becomes soft and will actually flop over to one side. Humps, however, are not used to store water as it is generally believed, but rather fatty tissue.

Camels are able to go five to seven days before having to drink but they then make up for it as they can easily drink, up to 21 gallons in about 10 minutes. Their bodies are able to endure changes in body temperature and water content as their temperature ranges from 34 °C (93 °F) at night up to 41 °C (106 °F) during the day, where their coat reflects sunlight, thus shielding them from the intense of the desert sand with their long legs keeping them further away from the hot ground. Also, did you know that Camel milk is richer in fat and protein than cow milk? Bedouin tribes believe that camel milk has great curative powers, but only if the camel's diet consists of certain plants. So, these spectacular creatures deserve all the respect they can get.

Well, now you know a bit about these impressive animals, go attend the festival and have fun. 

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