I’ve been back in Saudi Arabia for a while, working in a place called Al Ula. It’s notable for the spectacular rock formations that circle the town and for a few touristy places such as Hegra, where tombs and accommodation were carved into the rocks of a trading route, back in the olden days.
It’s similar to the sort of thing that you’d see in Petra, Jordan, although on a smaller scale.
Whilst the surroundings are picturesque, there’s not a lot going on. The local football team is homeless as they await the construction of a new stadium and are currently playing their fourth-tier fixtures three hours away. I’ve yet to get to one of their games.
The lack of events meant that the announcement of the Camel Cup was very welcome, and I booked tickets for myself and a couple of fellas I work with for day three of a four day meeting.
We went for the VIP option, which turned out to be a wise choice. Apart from a large airconditioned lounge, there was a really good quality buffet. They were giving away bottles of aftershave, which I declined on the basis that I never wear the stuff, although in hindsight I suspect that my teenage grandson would have appreciated it.
As much as I welcomed the air-conditioning, I like watching my racing in the open air and so we headed outside once the action started. There were four races, all between six and eight kilometres in distance and on a single lap course. That meant that we only saw the camels as they approached the finishing line. The rest of the time we followed their progress on a big screen as they made their way through the distant countryside.
There were at least twenty camels in each race, and each had a small robot on its back that wielded a whip. I was disappointed that the camels weren’t ridden by monkeys. I’ve seen videos where that happens, and it was much more entertaining.
The robots were controlled by owners or trainers who followed their camel along a road beside the track. Each vehicle in the convoy contained someone frantically jabbing away at the ‘Giddy Up’ button on a remote to activate the whip and encourage his camel to get a move on.
Highlight of the day was when I got to ride a camel myself, not in a race, but just around the car park. It didn’t strike me as much different to riding a horse. So, overall, a good day out by Al Ula standards but one that would have been greatly enhanced by replacing the robots with monkeys.
Tags: Camel Racing, Giddy Up, Monkey Jockeys
Trail of the Lion King 
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