Seeing and Riding Camels

Did you now that a camel can run up to 65km an hour for a short period of time? On our third day at Wadi Rum we got up early to see camel racing! These camels ran 40km an hour and had been raised to race. The camel race track was 6km long and they could easily run it in under ten minutes which is how long it takes me to walk 1km. The owners of the camel that won the race win 500 dinars (the 3rd most strongest currency in the world).

Females and male camels are used for different things. Males are generally used for camel rides, races, and sometimes for breeding. Females are used for milk, hair, and usually wonder around the desert with their young. Both females and males are used for transportation by the Bedouin people that live in Wadi Rum.

We saw many camel crossing signs but didn’t actually expect to see any crossing (like at home when there is a moose crossing sign and there is never a moose). We were surprised that we have already seen tons of camels crossing the streets! There are no wild camels in Jordan anymore but owners tie the camels front legs together so that they can still walk but can’t get far. We often saw camels hopping in attempt to go faster, it is very funny that they hop when their legs are tied but also kind of sad.

Later in the day we got to ride camels! At 5:00 pm we sat in the trunk of the truck where there was a bench and drove to an area where we started the camel ride. All the camels were tied together and laying down. Each had a saddle covered in blankets for comfort. Then we sat on there backs and the guide got them to get up it was kind of scary because they started by going up on their front legs and while their back legs were still down in a sitting position. If we weren’t holding on the handle tightly, we would have fallen off!

We each named the camel we were riding, I named mine Pineapple who was a tan color, Rylee named hers Peaches who was also a tan color. My mom called her camel Juicy Fruit and my dad named his Bob. There was also a very young camel in training who was following next to my mom who called her Munchie because she kept nibbling her toes. Later we found out that Bob was actually a girl so my dad “creatively” changed her name to Bobette 🤣.

At the end of the ride, Juicy Fruit suddenly decided to lie down without warning. My mom fell off and hit the ground hard! My dad jumped off Bobette to help her. She was in so much pain, it was even hard for her to sit up, even with help. She could barley walk, we got driven to a clinic but they did not have an x-ray machine so we had to drive half an hour to a military hospital. Luckily, she got no broken bones that they could find and they gave her pain meds and then we went back. Unfortunately, her pain was not getting any better and we are now in Dubai. My dad found a clinic there and they discovered a broken bone in her back 😭.