I spent some time with the camels in the Egyptian desert at night, with the beautifully lit Pyramids of Giza in the distance. I’m sharing a few pictures that we took. I don’t know much about camels, but this seemed like a particularly happy crew.
The first picture has our calm, cool, and collected camel. Notice his elegant stature, which is accentuated by the blue glow of the pyramid in the distance.
Camels relaxing in the desert with the pyramids glowing in the distance.
The next picture shows our content camel. Notice how relaxed he is- eyes half closed with a smug grin.
A very content camel.
Next is the jokster camel. Is it me or is this camel smiling? He is very energetic and upbeat and smiles with all his teeth.
Is it me or is this camel smiling?
Last, but not least, is my nighttime camel ride. Note the smiling camel, smiling Susie, and smiling John. I think John is smiling because I haven’t fallen off.
You mount the camel when it is laying on the ground as shown in the pictures above. The camel is draped with very heavy large fabric, so while I was on the camel I couldn’t touch its fur. The camel cover has a large knob that you hang onto when mounting and riding the camel (see my clenched fist in the picture?). It also has a foot strap, so you can mount it as you would a horse. The trickiest part is not mounting and dismounting the camel; it is when the camel gets up and down from the ground position. The guy says “Lean Back!”, so I hold the knob and lean back. As I wonder why I’m leaning back, the camel lifts his back legs to a full standing position, which makes the slope of his back on which I’m sitting really steep. My heart fluttered for a second and then I realized that if I weren’t leaning back I’d flip over forward like going over my handlebars on my mountain bike. Fortunately, I leaned back and hung on tight, so I did not fall off. Then the camel lifts his front legs, and up you are sitting on the camel. The same thing happens in the reverse direction- front legs go down first so you’re in that steep position (lean back!), and then the back legs go down and you’re free to dismount.
I went for a 20 foot loop on the camel at breakneck speed. OK ok- it was a slow sauntering walking speed. But what can I say: I rode a camel by the Pyramids of Giza in the desert in Egypt. Check! (Not that I have a check list of things to do in this lifetime, but if I did this would be on it.)
