Desert beauties of the Camelus kind

Their long legs move gracefully as they stride down the catwalk and circle the judges. With heads held high, they show off their shapely figures, the tinsel on their humps taking nothing away from their beauty.

The ‘they' in question are camels – not women. And the setting is the area surrounding the Zayed City Camel Race Track, on the edge of the Empty Quarter, where the Mazayin Al Dhafra Camel Festival took place yesterday. The Mazayin Camel Beauty contest has attracted herders from around the region.

A festive atmosphere pervades the area. The dunes are peppered with tents, caravans and makeshift pens that are all set to house thousands of Bedouin and their tens of thousands of camels that have come to take part in the event to be held over the next seven days.

And they are hoping to take home part of the Dh35 million up for grabs in prizes, besides 100 pickup trucks and 4x4s.

The modern Bedouin, it seems, herds his Richaab (herd of camels) behind the steering wheel of a Land Cruiser, the new ship of the desert, with his trusty cane sticking out of the window.

Ali Bin Shalih Al Otaiba has come all the way from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to enter three of his dark-skinned camels in the Majahim (dark skin) category. "This is a great event that the UAE is conducting; it helps keep alive our age-old traditions," he said.

Al Otaiba comes from a long line of Bedouin and camel herders. "This trade was passed down to us from our ancestors; this is what we know best," he said.

The 58-year-old and his cousin Homoud Mutayib Al Otaiba have brought 20 heads of camel from Saudi Arabia. "The darker the pelt of the Majahim the better; it must have a large head, long slender neck and the ears must be proportionate," he explained.

Standing tall

Soghan Al Zaraf stands eight feet tall; his tail is surprisingly bushy and resembles a lion's mane, which is appropriate since the rest of his skin is also the shade of a lion's fur.

"Soghan is an Asayel [pedigree]; I have documented his family tree," said Ali Bin Sultan Al Mansouri who owns more than 200 heads of camel, and hopes that Soghan and his other pure breed Mushaihal will win him high honours at the contest.

"These camels are extremely rare to find now, since people began crossbreeding with Omani and Sudanese breeds to get racing offspring," explained the Emirati, a resident of Liwa.

"Asayels have a distinctive face, the cheeks must be full, the neck long and strong and the thighs must be straight," Al Mansouri said.