Thursday 28th February 2013 +4.0 hrs GMT: Dubai, United Arab Emirates ­ Racing Camels & Robot Jockeys

Camel racing is very popular and very big business in Dubai and in fact throughout the Emirates so we were very lucky on our way back from the balloon trip to pass through the area where racing camels were accommodated.  Close by is a camel-racing track that I had seen from the balloon and it turns out that today was the last day of a very important camel racing event.

Camels are reared for racing just like horses and indeed camels can achieve speeds of up to 45km per hour.  The jockeys used to be small boys from India or Bangladesh but there were so many fatalities that this practice was stopped and today the camels have robot jockeys controlled by their owners from 4x4s that race beside the camel track.

You can see immediately that these camels are pedigree – slightly smaller, sleeker and long legged.

The photo shows only a small section of the encampment, there must have been thousands of camels all being readied for the early races since it was still only 8.30am in the morning.  Sadly I don’t have any pictures of the races or of the robot jockeys but enjoy the photos of this important sport.