You have never seen so many camels, well I haven’t, since we actually stumbled upon the village of Al Shahaniya, where Qatar’s popular camel racetrack is situated.
To be honest, we were looking for a unique car museum but then found ourselves gripped by the sight of so many camels.
It was about a 45-minute drive out into the desert from Doha and with professional camel racking having begun in Qatar in 1972.
Eoin Clarke and I wandered about the camel paddock taking photographs and recording video of the camels, and with everyone who came past us on a camel cheerfully saying: “Hello. How are you?”`
It was impossible to count the number of camels but one thing stood out was that there was no ‘human’ jockeys on board the camels when they raced. Instead the jockeys were $2,500 radio-controlled robotic jockeys.
Radio controlled jockeys, cosing around $2,5000, are now used in camel racing.
The ‘robot’ camel jockeys, as you will see in the photo above, are clothed in colourful racing silks just like a ‘human’ jockey but only smaller and more compact.
This method of using remote controlled robot jockeys was the stop the old practice of using youngsters and virtually strapping them in to ride them.
They’re off & racing at Al Shahaniya Camel racetrack on the outskirts of Doha.
The robot jockeys are remarkably easy but effective devices. The electronic jockeys weigh about 25 kilos and right now it costs about five and a half thousand dollars. The operator can apply the whip antenna to spin remotely and they can be commanded to ‘pull’ on the reins, also the operator can also throw verbal abuse at the camel via the built in speaker. Professional camel racing is a big deal in Qatar and these camels can run at speeds of up to 40 mph in short sprints and can carry on to 30 mph for an hour.
The race track itself was amazing and we were informed during the weeks of the main camel racing festival it is not uncommon to race the camels over distances of 6, 8 and 10 kilometres. And on this morning, there was the sight of 4-wheel drive vehicles driving alongside the race track, sounding their car horns and keeping pace with the camels as a form of encouragement or whatever.
Camels on the move at Al Shahaniya Camel Racetrack
It is not uncommon for more than 6,000 camels from Qatar and elsewhere to participate in the annual The Al-Shahaniya festival.
Prizes include golden and silver daggers in addition to the sword of HH the Emir which is awarded to the winner of the final event of the festival – HH the Emir’s Main Race. The festival is held under the sponsorship of the race’s organizing committee and his highness Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Faysal Al Thani.
Anyway I hope you like the photographs of a morning spent at Qatar’s famous Al Shahaniya Camel racetrack.
