Desert beauties at Al Dhafra Camel Festival 2011

Gulf News

More than 2000 camels from across GCC participated in the 5th edition of the annual Al Dhafra Camel Festival held in the Western region of the UAE. Read about it here: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/heritage-culture/camel-festival-gets-underway-1.952734. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00Gliding through the sand, these ships of the desert come from all over GCC to take part

00:20in the Maza'in al-Dhafra Camel Festival held in the UAE's western region.

00:24They gather in the thousands along with their owners to compete in a beauty contest, auctions

00:30and heritage races.

00:34Officials say that the festival is held to showcase the important role that camels play

00:39in the Arabic culture.

00:40The purpose of the festival is to encourage the camels to preserve their camels and the

00:41heritage, as well as to encourage the breeders and to create a commercial market for camels.

00:55Dressed in all finery, the participants are allocated a number which is painted on their

01:00body.

01:01Some of the participants run out of patience and start to groan.

01:10While some are just simply bored.

01:16There are also those who use their time to connect with their caretakers.

01:19The young ones seemed happy just to be around their elders.

01:25The judging committee calls the camels out by the numbers and they are paraded in circles

01:29around the judges.

01:31Points are bagged by the camels on the shape of their head, neck, hump and back.

01:38The festival is also becoming a tourist attraction and offers visitors a glimpse of the unique

01:44bond between the camels and the people of the land.

01:50This is all new to us, so we're just here to explore and see how the emirates exist.

01:59We've had all Christmas together here, the first Christmas we've had without snow.

02:06So we're enjoying it very much.

02:08We just want to go see the camels.

02:11When asked how they feel about these festivals, the camels had this to say.

Category

Transcript

Recommended