Camel Racing

Camel racing is an exciting sport where camels and their owners congregate at racetracks around the country. Racing camels are bred for the track and are highly prized posessions. A good racing camel can fetch a price of RO 30,000 (US $ 77,400). Jockeys are drafted for their size (or lack thereof) and some make their professional debuts around five years old. Crowd enthusiasm is high on these occasions. However, raceday is not announced long in advance, so it is best to know someone who has an inside track as to when a race is scheduled.

This is a popular sport where camels compete at speeds of up to 64 kilometres per hour on tracks specially built for this kind of race. Races take place regularly. Camels, the "ships of the desert," have played a vital role in the region over thousands of years. Camels have impacted all aspects of daily desert life. Besides being a means of travel, food and shelter, camels are also used for entertaining, celebrating and competing in festivals and special events.

The sport is greatly similar to horse racing. Camel racing is an authentic Arab sport, famous especially among the Arabian Peninsula Arabs. Camel racing has evolved into an official and professional race that includes race tracks, specialised farms for raising camels and running intensive training programmes, as well as using new technologies.

A schedule of camel racing can be found on this link: Race Schedule