Ever been to a camel race? I have.

Last weekend, I did something that I had been wanting to do since my first weekend in Qatar- I went to a camel race. 


Camel races in Qatar are held every Saturday, twice a day.  Once at 5am and then again at 3pm.  I don't have to tell you which time I attended.  The races take place outside of Doha and are not widely advertised in the city.  Many Qataris actually look down upon it.  When you first get to the race track, if you've never been before, it is really confusing as to what to do.  We were lucky enough to find an empty bus in the parking lot with some other 'westerners' in it- so we jumped in.  The bus was small, holding about 15 people.  It drove us around to the track. 


The track itself is about 6 miles long and dirt with metal railings on both sides to keep the camels in.  Outside of the dirt track, there are three pavement tracks that follow along the camels' track.  Two on one side for spectators to drive along and one on the other side for the owners to control their camels, while driving beside them.  Viewers and owners drive along in their large, white Land Rovers and follow the camels as they race.


Until recently the camels were ridden around the track by small orphan(or kidnapped) children controlling them- that has now, thank goodness, been banned.  The replacement jockey is a small robot that hooks onto the saddle of the camel.  It has a whip attached to it that is controlled by a remote that the owner has on the side of the track.  Depending on how fast the camel is running, the owner will speed up or slow down the whip.

The start of the race, before the camels are released.

And they're off!

The race begins when the gate is lifted.  Oversized cars rev their engines and screech their tires.  Our bus was off before we knew it.  Yala yala yala!  (Go, Fast, Hurry)  

For six miles we followed the camels as they galloped around the track.  If you see in the pictures above, the lane to the right was where the owners followed and controlled their camel's whip by remote.  Meanwhile our bus radio station was tuned into the announcer for the race, who yelled in Arabic as different camels took the lead.

At the end of the 6m race, the exhausted camels fight for the finish.  The winners are then taken to the side for photos with their owners and another race with a new set of camels begins almost immediately.  

After riding around the track on the bus for two races, we finally got off the bus and watched from the side lines of the start/finish. This was an experience that I will never forget.  I am not sure that I approve of the camel races and the whipping robots, but I think it is an interesting part of the culture and is something that everyone should see.

Oh- I was one of the only females in attendance at the race.  Not only was that uncomfortable, but as we had been to the beach earlier that morning, I forgot to pack leggings to go under my beach dress.  So here I was at the race, with an above-the knee dress and all men.  It was not what you would call appropriate, but I had driven all the way out to the track and didn't want to just sit in the car, while others watched the race.  I was also with all men- not sure that looked so good.  Unfortunately, let's just say the camels weren't the only ones getting attention at the race track that day.