Ever wondered how easy it would be to get your hands on your very own dromedary? Holly Sands navigates the livestock quarter of Al Ain Central Market to learn more.
Around 378,000 camels call the UAE home – that’s roughly one camel for every 21 people living here.* If you’ve been in Abu Dhabi for any length of time, you can’t fail to have spotted these desert-dwelling, single-humped creatures, whether being led, going solo, taking tourists for a ride across the dunes, charging across the perilous highways that run between the emirates or sitting on your plate, in a bun, next to a side of fries. Maybe you’ve even attended the annual Al Dhafra Festival, held in December, which typically sees more than 20,000 camels take part in a beauty pageant and vie for cash prizes.
With the rise of camel products in supermarkets and available in restaurants, you might think that camel as cuisine is a new concept. Indeed, perhaps due to the low fat content of both the meat and milk, it does seem to be experiencing a surge in popularity at the moment – even the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, was seen tucking in on a recent visit. But the reality is that camels have been used as much for food as transport for as long as tribes have wandered the region’s deserts. Wealth was often associated with the number of camels owned and as such they were used as payment and traded like currency.
More than 2,000 years since they were first used domestically, camels are still very much big business in the UAE. Curious to find out more about the trade of these animals, and whether we might even be able to own one ourselves, we decide to hit the road and head for Al Ain, home to one of the UAE’s biggest livestock markets.
Today, the buying and selling process has had a bit of an upgrade – most recently in the past five years, when Al Ain Central Market was built, bringing a large part of the region’s livestock trade out of the dunes and into the suburbs, directly behind Al Ain’s shiny Al Bawadi mall to be precise. Earlier this year, there was also talk of closing down the main Abu Dhabi abattoir and camel market, but this has apparently since been scrapped in favour of upgrading the existing facilities.
Despite the rather central location of the Al Ain market in the oasis city, and apparently regular visits from tourists, our arrival still inspires a flurry of activity, and several sellers make their way over, with insistent invitations to see baby camels. It’s not quite as dubious as it sounds, but research has told us that viewing newborns can come at a price, so we politely decline and make our way – audience thoroughly in tow – towards one of the many pens.
After leaping, rather dramatically, out of the path of an oncoming 4×4, the drive-thru nature of the market is one of the first things to tickle our mouth into a smile. Much of the bartering takes place through wound-down windows, with buyers cruising between pens and salesmen to pick their beasts.
We turn around and ask those forming our new entourage how old the smallest creatures in the pen are, and how much they want for each. For a four-month-old, roughly the size of a pony, we’re quoted Dhs3,000. Apparently if we take a few, we can have a discount.
As we conduct our disjointed conversation through a combination of gesturing and the odd bit of English (we’re ashamed to admit our Arabic and Urdu skills are left wanting), our Pakistani guides explain that the livestock comes from around the emirates and at the market we can buy either for milk, meat or racing – the latter comes with a much heftier price tag, and we’re quoted Dhs55,000 for one particular dromedary, who peers out at us through a set of lashes Elizabeth Taylor would have been proud of.
Unfortunately, for soft-hearted spectators the goings on here are far from cute. We watch as workers at the market wrestle ropes around some of the younger stock to load them onto trucks. It’s a noisy affair; the camels let out loud, low-pitched groans as they attempt to resist and stay with the herd in the pen.
Throughout the morning, as more camels are loaded onto trucks, we learn the majority are destined for dinner tables. We’re struck by sadness when we watch a former racing camel being led out of a truck and herded into a pen with others destined to be meat – he’ll be sold for around Dhs12,000, they tell us. No peaceful retirement for this poor fellow.
Some destined for food are bought for wedding feasts – serving a whole camel is a tradition that goes back many years, sometimes involving stuffing the animal with a whole goat.
Taking in the dozens of pens on the other side of the road, all filled with goats, we wonder how often someone pulls up to buy one of each for such a meal, but we’re told it’s uncommon. Noticing a smattering of week-old kids leaping around energetically (of the goat variety, not human, we hasten to add), we can’t help feeling a small wave of relief for them. When we’re told they could be ours for Dhs300 each (less than brunch), we’re certain we could sneak them past the porter in our building. But thankfully, reason is regained at the thought of the damage that could be inflicted on our living room furniture and we’re prevented from reaching for our wallets.
According to Mohammed Yousif Al Shaikh Al Hammadi, head of the Dubai Municipality’s veterinary control and treatment unit (which can carry out a free blood test on your camel to check it’s healthy before you buy), anyone can own a camel – there’s no special licence necessary. Before we get carried away he is quick to add, ‘Not in a large garden or in the city. It should be on a farm or in the countryside.’
Sadly, no matter how many green and leafy plants we’re trying to keep alive on our little sliver of balcony, we’re not quite sure we could persuade anyone to call it a farm.
Camel commodities
If you can’t own one, here’s where you can ride one
Arabian Adventures
Check out the website for all of the activities offered, but they do an early-morning trip with dune bashing followed by a camel ride and then a traditional Bedouin-style breakfast.
From Dhs295. Corniche Road, www.arabian-adventures.com (02 691 1711).
Arabian Nights Village
Take advantage of being out of the city and indulge in a range of desert activities such as sandboarding and dune bashing as well as camel riding.
Al Khatin, www.arabiannights.ae (02 676 9990).
Al Maha Desert Resort
This luxurious hideaway on the outskirts of the city offers an hour-long sunset camel trek, with bubbles if preferred. These beasts are shampooed and have no odour at all.
Activities package Dhs950 per person. www.al-maha.com (04 832 9900).
