Rajasthan Camel Festival
13-14 January 2006
Camel Festival Information - Bikaner
The Camel Festival is an event organized in Bikaner by the Department of Tourism, Art and Culture, Government of Rajasthan, every year in the month of January. Desert region's Folk dances and Music, add on to what is otherwise an exclusive camel affair. A festival when the ships of the desert are seen at their best. Camels fascinate tourists from all over the world with their movements, charm and grace. A spectacle of unusual camel performances: camel races, camel dances, and the bumpy, neck shaking camel rides.
Activities
The festival starts with the procession of beautifully decorated camels. The procession heads towards the open sand grounds. Here, the festivities begin in earnest. The Camel Pageant is held on the first day wherein the camel owners show off their Camels' decorations and jewellery. Camel dance performances are also held. A competition for best decorated camel, fur cutting design, camel milking and the best camel hair cut is organized The camels display amazing footwork, dancing gracefully to the slightest direction of their drivers. Colourful bridles, bejewelled necks, jingling anklets and long, lanky camel shadows on dusky sands, cast a magical spell.
In this festival tea and sweets prepared by camel milk are made available to the visitors interested in enjoying them.
On the second day, the fleetest camels of the region take part in the camel races. The competition is fierce as the best camels vie for the honors. Thousands of excited tourists and locals cheer the favorites.
On both days, the evening ends with a rendezvous with the renowned folk artists of Rajasthan. The jubilant, skirt swirling dances, the awe inspiring fire dances and many other equally interesting performances entertain the visitors. The grand finale is a magnificent display of fireworks which illuminates the desert city of Bikaner.
History & Places to see
Situated in the heart of the desert belt, Bikaner was always an inaccessible land. Before the advent of modern motor vehicles, the survival of the people of this region depended on the 'Ship of the desert' - the Camel. The camels of this region were famous for their endurance as well as their strength and beauty.
In fact, the Bikaner army had an elite camel corps called the Ganga Risala which took active part in both the World Wars. The Ganga Risala was a Camel unit in the army even after the independence and it took part in Indo-Pak wars. Bikaner also boasts of the only Camel breeding center in India.
Camel can still be seen pulling heavy loads on carts in this region. With such a long association with Camels, it is but natural that the Department of Tourism, Art and Culture chose to hold the Camel festival in Bikaner.
Country: Rajasthan
Location: Bikaner
Climate: 45C - 9C
Reach There: Train/Road
Nearest Airport: Jodhpur Airport
Tourist Reception Centre:RTDC Hotel Dhola Maru, Bikaner.
Tel No.:+91-151-2544125
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Pushkar Camel Fair
12-15 November 2005
Pushkar Fair Information - India
The peaceful lakeside town of Pushkar is filled to bursting once a year during this unmissable event. Originally intended to attract local camel and cattle traders to do business during the three days of the Katrik Purnima festival, the Pushkar Camel Fair has grown into a major tourist attraction.
Indians flock with their camels to the small town on the edge of the Thar Desert a week in advance of the festival, which officially lasts for the three days of the full moon. The highlight of the fair is undoubtedly the camel racing, which takes place amidst singing and folkdancing in the amphitheatre. In addition, camels, sporting ornamental saddles and headresses and adorned with ribbons, are bought and sold. Although the fair is traditionally a sideline to the main Hindu festival, the carnival atmosphere makes the event accessible to all.
As well as being able to ride on camels or in carts, it is also possible to arrange camel treks into the surrounding desert with, well, just about anyone that you meet in Pushkar. At festival time the streets are overrun with tourists, travellers, hawkers, painted and bizarrely contorted sadhus (holy men), children, animals and bicycles - all of Indian life concentrated in one mass, funnelled through the narrow streets to the showground on the outskirts. All manner of delicious foods are available from countless vendors, and there's even a funfair of sorts.
For a break from the madness, visit either of the hill-top temples which guard the town and give a stunning view of the sunset. Each is only a short walk away. Alternatively, Pushkar's holy lake is beautiful, especially at night as you dine in a lakeside restaurant - visiting during the day allows you to view ritual pujas, or fall prey to the rent-a-gurus who line the ghats (steps).
Once the festival is over, life in Pushkar returns to normal. The town is peaceful and, without hordes of people, a very beautiful place to stay - countless hotels have rooftops on which to soak up the sun and enjoy the sight of locals flying kites high over the town and surrounding hills, vying for supremacy.
Pushkar, therefore, offers the best of both worlds. During the festival it is a vibrant, energetic, utterly absorbing example of everything that India can offer. Afterwards, if it has all been too much, just stay where you are!
Country: India
State: Rajasthan
Town: Pushkar
Contact Details:India Tourist Office
Ministry of Tourism, Transport Bhavan, 1 Parliament St, New Delhi 110 001, India.
Phone: +91 (0) 11 371 8379
Fax: +91 (0) 11 371 0518
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Camel Jockeys Issue:Child Camel Jockeys Return Home
4 January 2006
Omer and Mazin were only four and six years old, respectively, when their father sold them to a woman trafficker to work as camel jockeys in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
"We had no money, and I could find no way to work," explained their father, Abdelrazig. The children laboured in the UAE in exchange for a salary that was paid to their parents. After two years, they were returned home.
"I didn't understand what was happening at the time," Omer, now 10, said with visible difficulty when talking about his experiences. "But I was scared to be away from my mother and my home."
Young children have worked as camel jockeys in the countries of the Persian Gulf for hundreds of years. Their small weight and size allows the camels to run faster.
According to a May 2005 report by Anti Slavery, a British nongovernmental organisation, hundreds of children are trafficked to the UAE to work as camel jockeys each year. The majority of the boys, who come from Sudan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Mauritania, are kidnapped or sold by family and friends.
Since May 2005, however, more than 150 children who had worked as camel jockeys in the UAE have been returned to Sudan as part of a rehabilitation and reintegration programme implemented by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children Sweden, the Sudanese Ministry of Justice and Labour and other NGOs.
Ahmed Mahmoud Ahmed, secretary-general of the Peace and Development Volunteer Organisation (PDVO), a local NGO that works closely with UNICEF and Anti Slavery on this issue, said they had interviewed some children upon their return.
"Most of the children said that they lived in stables, that they were given one meal a day in order to keep their weight down and they were weighed everyday," Ahmed said. When asked about their experience, not one could provide a positive response, he added.
A cultural tradition
A situation analysis of child rights conducted by Save the Children Sweden in 2003 reported that the majority of Sudanese children who worked as camel jockeys in the Gulf were members of the nomadic Rashaida community, which had originated in Saudi Arabia and then moved to the eastern Sudanese state of Kassala.
According to Ahmed, most children in Sudan were trafficked by their fathers, whereas in Bangladesh and Pakistan, children were usually abducted.
"Camel jockeying is a part of their [the Rashaida tribe] culture, and it is a major source of income for them because they are very poor and therefore very vulnerable," Ahmed said.
He explained that parents usually exchanged their child for a down payment and salary. The child received very little, if any, money for their work.
"The children will race until they are about nine or 10 or weigh about 45 kilos. After that they will work as cooks or cleaners until 13, 14, 15, and then they will be sent back home," Ahmed said.
In July 2005 the UAE government formally introduced a law prohibiting camel jockeys under age 18. Under this legislation, offenders face up to three years in prison and/or a fine of nearly $14,000.
Response
In May 2005, representatives of the governments of Sudan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and the UAE, together with UNICEF, agreed to establish the programme to rehabilitate and reintegrate boys who had been forced to work as camel jockeys.
Part of the plan required the UAE to list all children currently working in the country as camel jockeys.
The list totalled 3,000 children, 2,800 of whom were under age 10.
Catherine Turner, child labour officer for Anti Slavery, however, said these numbers were misleading.
"Numbers need to be much higher to be confident that most children are being sent back and not simply hidden or re-trafficked across borders, she said. "Moreover, interviews conducted with repatriated boys in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sudan indicate that some children may have been left behind in camps in the UAE or sent elsewhere."
The agreement also required the UAE to return all camel jockeys to their countries of origin and to contribute financially to the rehabilitation programme. Since the agreement was reached, 150 children had been returned to Sudan from the UAE, only 10 in accordance with the agreed procedures.
Turner suggested that the UAE's obligation to fund part of the rehabilitation programme was behind its lack of commitment to the agreement.
Reintegration
Once the camel jockeys had been returned to their home country, aid workers said the children's ordeal was far from over.
"Because the children were so young when they left, they have forgotten their language. So when they come back they cannot communicate with their families and they remember nothing about the nomadic way of life," said Osman Abufatima, a UNICEF child-protection officer in Sudan.
Another problem the boys faced was locating their families, as they had rarely been allowed to contact them while they were working. To address this issue, aid agencies established a system for family tracing and family communication.
Turner explained that rehabilitation needed to include medical care for physical injuries, as well as psychiatric care and counselling to help the boys deal with their traumatic experiences.
"We need to give them their freedom back and make it possible for them to gain an education and bring them up to speed with their peer groups," she said. Turner also noted that the UAE government had to provide solutions for those children whose families could not be found.
Although most communities expressed their support for ending this practice, the members of the Rashaida ethnic group did not.
"One of their chiefs told me that by attempting to put a stop to this practice we are disrupting one of their major sources of income and leaving them with few options," Abufatima said. He added that the community did not view the act of selling children for camel racing as unjust and considered it part of its traditional and cultural background.
"The chief asked me, 'Why has UNICEF called it slavery and trafficking?'" he said.
PDVO's secretary-general Ahmed stressed that despite any setbacks, the focus needed to remain on ending the practice.
"Camel jockeying is one of the worst forms of child labour that has ever been reported. ... The work is very risky. So many reports have come in from children falling from camels during races and getting killed or seriously injured. It is very sad. Very sad," he said.
Children who survived the ordeal were emotionally scarred and ill equipped to return to their families.
"They all showed a lack of interest in living their lives," Ahmed said. "You see, this work has killed their spirits. Because of the harsh working conditions they have experienced at such an early age, it may be too late for them to live a normal life."
"There is nothing good about this experience," 12-year-old Mazin said. "I don't like to think about it, and I will try never to remember it."
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
Source: AllAfrica.com
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
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Virginia City Camel Races
September 9-11, 2005
Virginia City Camel Races Information
The Virginia City International Camel Races feature riders atop camels, ostriches, emus, bulls, and who knows what else. The weekend event, scheduled for September 9-11, 2005, began as a hoax in 1959 but now attracts competitors from Australia, Africa, and the Middle East. Set at a historic mining quarry in Virginia City, the camel races combine entertainment of all sorts with Virginia City's Old West history. Your pass entitles you to admission to the races on September 9 -- opening day.
Races consist of a 100-yard dash on a straight dirt track at the Camel Dome Amphitheater. Since the camels are not trained (and not particularly eager racers to begin with), reaching the finish line is often the key to victory. For those camels that follow the lead of their jockeys, a spot awaits in Sunday's final. Other unlikely racing events have been added over the years involving ostriches, emus, and bulls.
Most important, the races are conducted in a spirit of fun that spills over into the streets of Virginia City throughout the weekend. Spectators are come not just for the races, but to stroll the historic wooden sidewalks of Virginia City and relax in the town's many 19th century saloons and restaurants.
The annual event started in 1959 when the editor of a Virginia City newspaper printed the results of a fictitious camel race. Although locals paid little heed to the practical joke, the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle passed on the race results to their readers as fact. The next year, the Chronicle wasn't going to be fooled again. When the race was announced, the newspaper rented a pair of camels and issued a race challenge. Other newspapers and business groups took up the call to camels, and a real competition emerged.
The first race was won by film director John Huston, was in the area shooting "The Misfits". Since then, the Virginia City Camel Races have become an annual event in early September. In recent years, as many as 50,000 visitors have joined the fun.
Contact Details:Virginia City
P.O. Box 464
Nevada 89440
Phone:+702 847-0311
Camel Races in Dubai
Oct 2005 - Apr 2006
Nad Al Sheba Camel Race Information
Camel racing is taken very seriously in this neck of the woods, and Dubai's race track fills to the brim every Thursday and Friday during their winter months.
Camels tend to be owned by sheikhs and jockeys can be very young - sometimes only six years old.
Contact Details: Nad Al Sheba Racecourse
Phone:+971 4 322 277
Fax:+971 4 322 288
Website:Nad Al Sheba Racecourse
http://www.nadalshebaclub.com/
Voyages Camel Cup 2005 Australia
9th July, 2005
Voyages Camel Cup 2005 Information
If you’re looking for a fun event not just for your family and friends, this is it.
Not only do you get a good laugh just by watching the races (guaranteed that no two races are the same) you will also be entertained by fun and interaction between races, with lots of great local stalls.
Camels are not as they seem: the dedicated ships of the desert destined to serve their master.
These magnificent beasts can easily spit over three metres, have been known to bite, snarl and generally prefer to do things at their own pace.
The riders are either heroes or crazy! Either way, all of these bridled passions make for dynamic viewing, with the camels easily conquering the riders during the day!
The start of the race, with up to 15 camels, is confusing ... some off in good stride, others still grounded, some going backwards; it's a nightmare for riders and handlers, but spectacular for spectators - a camel in full stride needs the rider to hang on for dear life!
Contact Details: Alice Springs Lions Camel Cup Inc.
Phone: (02) 8296 8055
Fax: (02) 8296 8052
Website:Voyages Camel Cup 2005
http://www.camelcup.com
Voyages Camel Cup 2005 History
The first Camel Race was run in 1970 in the dry Todd River bed as a bet between two mates, Noel Fullerton and Keith Mooney-Smith, and was an added attraction at the Alice Springs Centenary Year celebrations.
The Camel race proved so popular and hilarious that plans were made by the Lions Clubs to hold the event on an annual basis.
The first permanent venue was at Traeger Park, but low fences and a grass track were thought to be too dangerous, so in 1975 the event was moved to Arunga Park Speedway, with some success.
Since 1979 the Camel Cup has been held on its own arena at Blatherskite Park, a section of the Central Australian Show Society grounds, with a commentary and judges' tower being erected, for telephone contact to the ‘pits’ and ‘centre arena’ to keep the crowd informed.
Boulia Desert Sands Australia
15 - 17 Jul 2005
Boulia Desert Sands Camel Race Information
This must-see event at the Racecourse and Rodeo Grounds in Boulia consists of three nights and days packed with thrilling entertainment, including camel races - the most prominent being the 1/4 Mile Flyer and the Boulia Desert Sands.
The fun starts on the Thursday night, as people gather in the camping area and have a street party in town with live music. Camel trials, skydiving, and the wild camel catching competition take place on the Friday, with the main events taking place at the weekend.
After Saturday's ten camel races, there are the finals on Sunday morning, as well as fun races, not only for camels but also celebrities, honeymooners and donkeys!
But expect more than just the racing; there is usually a great concert as well as a huge fireworks display. Sunday's two main races are followed by closing speeches and prize presentations in the early afternoon, while food and drink are served until 8pm.
Contact Details: Tourism Queensland
Address Level 36, 123 Eagle St, Brisbane QLD 4001
Phone: +61 (0) 7 3874 2800
Fax: +61 (0) 7 3406 5329
Email: tqinfo@tq.com.au
Camel Festival in Morocco
1-31 July 2005
Camel Festival Goulimine Information
The people of Goulimine hold an annual Camel Festival on top of their weekly Camel Fair (every Saturday). Don't come expecting a recreation of Lawrence of Arabia or you might be sorely disappointed - the event is more of a tourist attraction than an actual market, but fascinating all the same.
Once known as the "gateway to the Sahara", Goulimine is now less of a border town - due mainly to the decline of the camel as a mode of transport. In an era when the 4X4 truck is a faster option (and, unlike the camel, doesn't growl or spit constantly), the traditional art of camel trading is now fading away.
The festival also offers the opportunity to witness the ancient dance ritual known as the Guedra, which is associated with Goulimine. The dance is performed by a woman to the beat of a drum made of a kitchen pot (guedra) and the chanting and clapping of onlookers. The dance often induces a hypnotic state and is carried out to serve as a blessing or to submit oneself to God.
Country: Morocco
Town: Rabat
Contact Details: Morocco Tourist Office
Address: Angle 31 rue Oued Fès et avenue Abtal, Agdal, Rabat, Morocco
Phone: +212 (0) 37 681 531/532/533
Fax: +212 (0) 37 777 437
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